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Maestro Centofanti at a CDTA meeting in New York, 1976:
A more recent photo:
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RIP Maestro Centofanti
#1
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Posted 02 November 2011 - 10:20 AM
I have just received the sad news that the Philadelphia Maestro, Joe Centofanti has passed away at the age of 92. Rest in peace. It is sad to lose another great Master Tailor.
Maestro Centofanti at a CDTA meeting in New York, 1976:
A more recent photo:
Maestro Centofanti at a CDTA meeting in New York, 1976:
A more recent photo:
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911): "Tradition ist die Weitergabe des Feuers und nicht die Anbetung der Asche."
"Tradition is about passing on the flame, and not the worshipping of ashes"
"Tradition is about passing on the flame, and not the worshipping of ashes"
#2
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Posted 02 November 2011 - 01:44 PM
Yes pretty not many left, peace be with him his was a great Master tailor.
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Posted 02 November 2011 - 04:18 PM
RIP, there are not many left.
#4
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Posted 02 November 2011 - 09:14 PM
Centofanti was a wonderful tailor and a wise man with lots of knowledge and stories. He also was a good businessman who constructed a healthy atelier that will outlast his passing. My last suit from his shop, a Kent DB from Smith Finmeresco, the best I think, was actually constructed soup to nuts by a neopolitan tailor who works for Centofanti, Louis, I don't think the maestro even saw it or had anythng to do with making it. Louis is in his seventies.
His daughter runs the shop and is extremely capable and knowledgeable, as well as a very good and reliable person. Stepping into Centofanti's shop is like stepping into a traditional Italian workshop, it looks precisely like the pictures that have been copiously posted on the Internet from Sicily or Naples. And that is not artifice. His cloth library is the largest I have ever seen anywhere in the world, the only one close was at Charvet.
His shop is not for iGents. The relaxed cut it puts out is not particularly impressive in snapshots. But the quality of both its bespoke garments and alterations is impeccable, trust me anything you have heard otherwise is palaver.
His daughter runs the shop and is extremely capable and knowledgeable, as well as a very good and reliable person. Stepping into Centofanti's shop is like stepping into a traditional Italian workshop, it looks precisely like the pictures that have been copiously posted on the Internet from Sicily or Naples. And that is not artifice. His cloth library is the largest I have ever seen anywhere in the world, the only one close was at Charvet.
His shop is not for iGents. The relaxed cut it puts out is not particularly impressive in snapshots. But the quality of both its bespoke garments and alterations is impeccable, trust me anything you have heard otherwise is palaver.
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Posted 03 November 2011 - 12:58 PM
I worked for Centofanti over the past year doing piecework alterations and still do some work for the shop, so I knew a little about him. I also know a number of people who knew him well.
Mr. Joe was a product of his generation of Italian master tailors who were perfectionists and barked until the work was perfect, and wondered why aloud in the meantime. Our generation was taught that "if you don't succeed, try, try again." His generation was taught and stressed to "get it right the first time." I was told that in his day that his father's generation was worse; when Centofanti was first taught by his father, he would get hit whenever the results were not satisfactory. He was very tough but fair, and he rarely said anything that didn't mean something. He loved his golf and talking with people, and was truly a master who was a living encyclopedia on fabric and style in relation to the human form. Many people called Centofanti "The Professor," which he was. Unlike a lot of other tailors, he enjoyed teaching the craft and was willing to tutor anyone who had the patience and the onions to learn.
I apprenticed under Larnell Baldwin, another bespoke tailor in Philadelphia (Centofanti's shop is in Ardmore, a suburb on the Main Line where the old money traditionally lives). I did not learn much from him firsthand, but he was satisfied with my work, and Mr. Joe taught me to think like a custom tailor, which is what made me from a simple bushelman to a real tailor. He fully lived out his 93 years and did not pass through life like so many others, so we must use his example to remind us to smell the roses, live and be a master like Joseph Centofanti was.
Mr. Joe was a product of his generation of Italian master tailors who were perfectionists and barked until the work was perfect, and wondered why aloud in the meantime. Our generation was taught that "if you don't succeed, try, try again." His generation was taught and stressed to "get it right the first time." I was told that in his day that his father's generation was worse; when Centofanti was first taught by his father, he would get hit whenever the results were not satisfactory. He was very tough but fair, and he rarely said anything that didn't mean something. He loved his golf and talking with people, and was truly a master who was a living encyclopedia on fabric and style in relation to the human form. Many people called Centofanti "The Professor," which he was. Unlike a lot of other tailors, he enjoyed teaching the craft and was willing to tutor anyone who had the patience and the onions to learn.
I apprenticed under Larnell Baldwin, another bespoke tailor in Philadelphia (Centofanti's shop is in Ardmore, a suburb on the Main Line where the old money traditionally lives). I did not learn much from him firsthand, but he was satisfied with my work, and Mr. Joe taught me to think like a custom tailor, which is what made me from a simple bushelman to a real tailor. He fully lived out his 93 years and did not pass through life like so many others, so we must use his example to remind us to smell the roses, live and be a master like Joseph Centofanti was.
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Posted 05 November 2011 - 04:42 AM
clothessurgeon, on 03 November 2011 - 12:58 PM, said:
I worked for Centofanti over the past year doing piecework alterations and still do some work for the shop, so I knew a little about him. I also know a number of people who knew him well.
Mr. Joe was a product of his generation of Italian master tailors who were perfectionists and barked until the work was perfect, and wondered why aloud in the meantime. Our generation was taught that "if you don't succeed, try, try again." His generation was taught and stressed to "get it right the first time." I was told that in his day that his father's generation was worse; when Centofanti was first taught by his father, he would get hit whenever the results were not satisfactory. He was very tough but fair, and he rarely said anything that didn't mean something. He loved his golf and talking with people, and was truly a master who was a living encyclopedia on fabric and style in relation to the human form. Many people called Centofanti "The Professor," which he was. Unlike a lot of other tailors, he enjoyed teaching the craft and was willing to tutor anyone who had the patience and the onions to learn.
I apprenticed under Larnell Baldwin, another bespoke tailor in Philadelphia (Centofanti's shop is in Ardmore, a suburb on the Main Line where the old money traditionally lives). I did not learn much from him firsthand, but he was satisfied with my work, and Mr. Joe taught me to think like a custom tailor, which is what made me from a simple bushelman to a real tailor. He fully lived out his 93 years and did not pass through life like so many others, so we must use his example to remind us to smell the roses, live and be a master like Joseph Centofanti was.
Mr. Joe was a product of his generation of Italian master tailors who were perfectionists and barked until the work was perfect, and wondered why aloud in the meantime. Our generation was taught that "if you don't succeed, try, try again." His generation was taught and stressed to "get it right the first time." I was told that in his day that his father's generation was worse; when Centofanti was first taught by his father, he would get hit whenever the results were not satisfactory. He was very tough but fair, and he rarely said anything that didn't mean something. He loved his golf and talking with people, and was truly a master who was a living encyclopedia on fabric and style in relation to the human form. Many people called Centofanti "The Professor," which he was. Unlike a lot of other tailors, he enjoyed teaching the craft and was willing to tutor anyone who had the patience and the onions to learn.
I apprenticed under Larnell Baldwin, another bespoke tailor in Philadelphia (Centofanti's shop is in Ardmore, a suburb on the Main Line where the old money traditionally lives). I did not learn much from him firsthand, but he was satisfied with my work, and Mr. Joe taught me to think like a custom tailor, which is what made me from a simple bushelman to a real tailor. He fully lived out his 93 years and did not pass through life like so many others, so we must use his example to remind us to smell the roses, live and be a master like Joseph Centofanti was.
You are the one I was told he took as apprentice. Sad, you lost your teacher. Hopefully you had your eyes open looking and learning.
Your teacher was a real tailor not a talker (Schwaetzer), he produced and sold. What a loss.
If you don't love to work long hours for little money don't try to become a tailor.
If you go crazy cause you can't solve a certain tailoring problem then put the stuff aside and go for a walk it might be possible you end up in the funny farm. LOL
If you go crazy cause you can't solve a certain tailoring problem then put the stuff aside and go for a walk it might be possible you end up in the funny farm. LOL
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Posted 07 November 2011 - 05:54 AM
Forgive me but I do not believe that they are the same person. "Little Joe" is a young man who was college educated. He left his apprenticeship after disagreements with Centofanti.
Before anyone tries to read into this, I believe the disagreements were precisely as I predicted, the apprentice was relatively impatient to have a greater role in the business, and the maestro was relatively protective of his business, and conservative in the pace of the apprenticeship. It was the conflict of New World and Old World.
Before anyone tries to read into this, I believe the disagreements were precisely as I predicted, the apprentice was relatively impatient to have a greater role in the business, and the maestro was relatively protective of his business, and conservative in the pace of the apprenticeship. It was the conflict of New World and Old World.
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Posted 12 November 2011 - 01:34 PM
brescd01, on 07 November 2011 - 05:54 AM, said:
Forgive me but I do not believe that they are the same person. "Little Joe" is a young man who was college educated. He left his apprenticeship after disagreements with Centofanti.
Before anyone tries to read into this, I believe the disagreements were precisely as I predicted, the apprentice was relatively impatient to have a greater role in the business, and the maestro was relatively protective of his business, and conservative in the pace of the apprenticeship. It was the conflict of New World and Old World.
Before anyone tries to read into this, I believe the disagreements were precisely as I predicted, the apprentice was relatively impatient to have a greater role in the business, and the maestro was relatively protective of his business, and conservative in the pace of the apprenticeship. It was the conflict of New World and Old World.
That is correct. Young Joe is not at the shop anymore. He is now working for Martin Greenfield up in Brooklyn. This is Jay Tidwell, another tailor who helps out with their alterations from time to time. Was not an apprentice, but still learned a good deal.
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