Celebrity Tailor Nigel Curtiss Opens Store in Meatpacking District – WWD

Nigel Curtiss has been flying under the radar for a long time. But now, the custom tailor, whose résumé includes 10 years with Rei Kawakubo at Comme des Garçons, as well as Yves Saint Laurent, Kenzo and a slew of celebrity clients, is coming out of the shadows.

Curtiss will open the doors to his first boutique today, a 2,300-square-foot store on West 13th Street in the Meatpacking District, where he will sell his off-the-rack collection for men and women and also relocate his custom studio.

Curtiss, a self-deprecating Englishman, got his start as a textile designer in London more than four decades ago where he sold fabrics to everyone from Paul Smith to Vivienne Westwood. At the time, he had long hair and a hippie mind-set — “I looked particularly scruffy,” he said with a smile — but that look appealed to Kawakubo’s team as they were searching for models for her fashion brand.

The Japanese designer took to the scruffy Brit and offered him a job in 1984. Curtiss relocated to Tokyo and together they worked on everything from furniture to alarm clocks. It wasn’t long before Curtiss suggested Comme start a men’s line, which led Kawakubo to now famously tell him: “Do it.”

“She slowly sucked me into working on men’s wear,” he said.

After establishing Comme des Garçons Homme, Curtiss felt ready to launch his own eponymous label, which he sold at Barneys New York, Joyce, Browns and other high-end retailers. “But I never made any money,” he said.

But what he did discover is that well-heeled clients such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mick Jagger wanted him to create clothes just for them. And a whole new business was born.

Today, Curtiss creates suits, sport coats, shirts and sportswear for everyone from Derek Jeter and Tom Brady to Mickey Rourke, Kyle MacLachlan, Tom Cruise and Pierce Brosnan. He even created custom outfits for the groomsmen at Paris Hilton’s recent wedding.

The polo shirts he began offering six years ago have been especially popular with sports stars and other clients, who have been known to stock up on dozens at a time.

And now, he has partnered with his wife Monica Mitro, former executive vice president of brand communications and events at Victoria’s Secret, to expand into ready-to-wear for both men and women. The collection includes everything from formal tailored pieces to the perfect white shirt, luxury loungewear, cashmere sweaters and tracksuits, silk and cotton pajamas, boxer shorts, denim and leather accessories.

Although Curtiss had dabbled in rtw in the past, it was pretty much limited to knitwear and pajamas. But with the opening of the store, the collection has been expanded.

Up until now, he serviced his clients at his home in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, but the new storefront will allow him to bring his custom studio to a popular neighborhood and hopefully attract new customers at the same time.

“We thought this was a good time to get new clients,” Curtiss said. “And it’s a good way for me to meet people and see what they want. I look at it as an extension of my living room.”

He said he chose the Meatpacking District rather than Madison Avenue, for example, because it’s less expensive and he admires the neighborhood. “I love this area, it’s like a little village,” he said. “They close the roads, there is always something going on, there are great restaurants. Madison Avenue is crazy expensive and I don’t want the pressure of having to make $20 million a year.”

The Meatpacking store will also house the company’s new e-commerce site from a space at the rear of the location.

Curtiss, who admits he’s not very social media savvy, said that he’s built his business on word-of-mouth recommendations. But Mitro, whose position is chief executive officer of Nigel Curtiss, will lead the creative, e-commerce, marketing and communications for the company and the new store. “People want clothes that feel as if they were made just for them — from the fit to the fabric and the style. Whether you’re buying ready-to-wear or tailoring for a special occasion, choosing clothing should feel like a personal conversation between the customer and the brand, and that’s what we are excited to deliver with Nigel Curtiss.”

The store will offer an equal amount of men’s and women’s wear in categories ranging from cotton pajamas that will retail for $200 and silk PJs for $550 to $800; polos for $295; jeans for $350 to $450, and off-the-rack suits for $1,800 to $2,200. Custom suits range in price from $3,000 to $5,000 and above.

“I want to make small quantities of the very best clothes. I want everything that is made to be worn and loved and kept and passed on to the next generation. This is not fast fashion; it’s arduous, passionate and beloved fashion,” Curtiss said.

To promote the store and the rtw launch, Curtiss and Mitro have enlisted their daughter Aiden Curtiss and her boyfriend Felix Prabitz to be the faces of the campaign, which was shot by a family of photographers: Sante D’Orazio, his partner Enga Purevjav and his son Nick D’Orazio.

In addition to the apparel, the store will also offer custom sheets from Peter Reed, which has been creating linens since 1861 and holds the Royal Warrant to provide bed linens for all the royal residences. The store also offers a coffee bar and lounge.