A Spanish Wedding - Santamaria Bespoke

Spanish Wedding Shirt

I'm attending a wedding in Spain next month and I'm very much looking forward to it. The ceremony will take place in soft and undulating Green Spain in the north, precisely the Celtic Asturian region — a region with its own language of Bable and a proud cider pouring tradition. The region is also fiercely proud of its role in the reconquest of Spain from the Moors starting with a historic first victory in the Battle of Covadonga in 722 led by Don Pelayo, who founded the Kingdom of Asturias. Do read up on Pelayo. He was quite the chap.

Okay — enough of the history. We're here to talk about shirts. I thought that as I was attending a Spanish wedding I would blend a little bit of Spain into my attire. Arbitrarily, I decided it would be a shirt.

Santamaria Come up Trumps

So I needed a shirtmaker and remembered a friend mentioning Santamaria. Santamaria Bespoke is a family-owned business based in Madrid that has been tailoring for thirty years. They have recently launched an online operation in which a shirtless gent can invest in their shirtmaking expertise from the comfort of his own home.

How It's Done

You supply the gen via the website on your upper bod measurements and the type of shirt you're looking for, and Santamaria do the rest. I though I'd give it a whirl.

From the website you can choose from over 350 shirt fabrics, including delectable offerings from Canclini (1925).  I chose a blue Canclini poplin cloth, slim fit with a high Italian collar and buttoned cuffs (sorry Francis).

All shirts are hand-cut and sewn in their own factory. Santamaria is committed to providing unsurpassed comfort and fit, and I think they achieved it here.

By the cripes, this is one comfortable shirt. It's an absolute delight to wear. The cloth is incredibly light and soft. You are going to get creases with it, but so you should — this isn't cloth of the non-iron formaldehyde-laden variety. The fit is great — the collar fits well and the cut across the shoulders is just right for me. The sleeves have a proper length, although the watch seems to be getting in the way on the photos. The cuffs are adjustable, so I can remedy that. All things considered — jolly pleased.

Of course a monogram — counter-cultural writers are never afraid to appear bourgeois in this topsy-turvy world. Let those billionaire social media entrepreneurs in Palo Alto dress like children off to play ten pin bowls at the local shopping mall. We dress like men. Right chaps?

I wanted a big collar as I'm wearing a wide-lapel suit to the wedding, which also means an unskinny tie too. It won't be this tweed one, so I'm now on the look out for a suitable tie. Poor me.

Tweedy's Thought: As I'm representing Great Britain at the wedding, ideas for a suitably British gift most welcome.