Alfa Romeo teams up with Hawes & Curtis

Craig of That Dapper Chap views the Alfa Romeo Giulietta and sees the suit designed by Hawes and Curtis to celebrate the launch

Since June 1910 Alfa Romeo, known then as Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili, have been making beautiful automobiles. Best known for it's significant contributions to racing driving, Alfa Romeo also offer less powerful cars for the likes of you and me. Still retaining the attention to detail, beautiful styling and performance.

The Giulietta is no different and I was really excited to get to know this particular model and get an insight into it's manufacture and the collaboration with Hawes and Curtis, who have created a suit showcase the design and detailing of the Giulietta.

THE GIULIETTA

Billed as being "Even more sporty. Even more Alfa Romeo" the Giulietta is a solid member of the Alfa family.

"For the first time the ALFA TCT is available with the 1.6 JTDM-2 120 hp engine. This innovative semi-automatic Twin Clutch Transmission with dual dry clutches allows you to select the next gear whilst the current one is still engaged, ensuring continuous power delivery during gear changes"

Inside you'll find high quality materials and the new Italian design upholstery and matte black grain dashboard offering class and elegance as you'd expect.

Also with this model you're always connected thanks to the Uconnect system, getting live traffic updates, Social networking, music and news. And speaking of music there's a 500 watt Bose sound system so you can sing your heart out to your favourite tracks while you drive.

With 6 airbags, ESC (electronic stability control) along with the Alfa Active Steering with Dynamic Steering Torque, you're in super safe hands.

THE HAWES & CURTIS SUIT

While at the shoot I spoke to Kate, the designer of the Alfa X Hawes & Curtis suit. After test driving the car, Kate set pencil to paper and started to craft her design for a brand new suit, directly inspired by the new design Alfa.

"we looked to design a suit that would have some kind of performance aspect to it. We used a really beautiful wool from Italy, so you have a lovely drape and hand feel. But what we've done is put on a water resistant finish"

I asked Kate to tell me more about the water resistant element of the suit.

"well I think it's the fact that in the UK as we well know the weather is generally not that great. Wool has natural breathable properties, so all we're doing is enhancing the performance of a natural wool fabric and by adding this water resistance it does add to it. If you get out of your car in a shower and you don't have your umbrella with you, the idea with this fabric is that the water will literally pool and run off you so when you get to the office you'll look as good as you did when you got into the car.

I asked if the water resistance has been fully tested.

"we tested the fabric before we actually made the garment. The mill that we use is a Biella mill so they're very reliable. But yes I did sit there in the office with some water, spraying it on the garment, just making sure that it did what it needed to do"

Looking at the design comparisons between the new Giulietta and the Hawes and Curtis suit, Kate told me.

"We've tried to take aspects from the car, so for example it's got some beautiful red stitching on the inside of the car so we've mirrored that in the internal aspects, in the lining, we've got little details. We've got a little bit on the cuff, on one of the button holes for a nice flash of colour. We've got the Alfa Romeo aspects there and we've got some really nice buttons that have a gun metal type finish so again it feels quite sporty. And I've used a mesh lining on the inside, so I've taken influence from things like the new alloys and the honeycomb grill"

I asked Kate to describe how she had incorporated the honeycomb design into the suit

"We've actually put it in the tie and we've also got a honeycomb like printed lining in the suit sleeves. So, we've taken aspects but not made it too fussy and too gimmicky. It's very complimentary to the car. It has that sporty influence but you still have a beautiful charcoal suit that you'd be happy to wear to work any day and not feel like you're too flashy"

I was curious to know what the fit was like.

"It's a slim fit garment. Single breasted. Two button. We've gone very simple with the styling, like much of the styling that we do at Hawes and Curtis already. The idea was that we were really enhancing the fabric and the detailing. With men's, it's particularly important, particularly with tailoring as a lot of men don't want anything that's going to make them stand out too much but they love the hidden detail"

"Alfa Romeo is such an amazing brand, you have the real Italian heritage and craftsmanship and performance, and we've got our British heritage at Hawes and Curtis and it's a real marriage of two really good heritage brands so it was a really exciting project to work on"

I asked when and where the suit will be available.

"At this moment it's just a concept. It's exclusive to Alfa Romeo, and if the interest is there it's something we can look to do going forward"