Xie Siyu hopes his suits can be more subtle, sophisticated and "me". Photos Provided to China Daily

Detail is everything as this law school graduate raises the bar on bespoke tailoring, writes Xu Junqian.

Fashion designer Xie Siyu is bold and brash about his ambition: to dress up the country's dandies or, as some would say, playboys. The 29-year-old's ambition has been achieved, four years after his bespoke suit brand, Allen Xie, was started in a signless, nameless apartment-turned-space in a central Shanghai high-rise. The country's young superrich are increasingly driving their Porsches or flying first-class to this Baroque-styled environment with white and blood-red chandeliers and starry night blue velvet carpet. Here they experience something their London counterparts have been enjoying for centuries on Savile Row, at a price that could be as high as, if not more than, purchasing a ready-to-wear garment from the likes of Zegna or Armani.

"The difference (from world-famed luxury houses) is that they don't have me," says Xie, half jokingly, fitted in a chalk-striped navy blue suit, or what he calls a "classic Allen Xie", occupying a cherry-colored vintage sofa at his Shanghai studio.

Above a designer or a tailor, he positions the "me" as a brand manager, who manages to innovate something "more playful but in a classy way" than others in the market. Translated into visual effects, the use of wide-spaced stripes, stern shoulder lines and, perhaps most importantly, fine cuts.

Indeed, the law school graduate from the University of Sheffield in Britain and son of a computer science engineer boasts little to do with the fashion industry, except his longtime keen interest in "anything related to beauty", "a fruit of (his) early exposure to the works from museums and art galleries all over the world while traveling with (his) father".

"I was born with a talent to tell the extraordinary out of the ordinary, though I don't have the know-how of the makings of 'extraordinary'," he explains.

What took him away from embarking on a career as a lawyer to become a "brand manager" in 2010 was the "insufficient supply of decent, sexy suits to his wardrobe", despite owning 40 suits. And he believes it's a worry that is as annoying for men as for women.

But Xie's customers, mostly of his age, owning at least one supercar and living on anything but a monthly paid salary, seem to buy the story of this Hubei native who, along with his staff, cuts a well-groomed and dressed look from head-to-toe every day.

Business has been growing "aggressively" at both his Shanghai and Beijing stores, the latter of which was opened in 2012. And a third one, in Chengdu, Sichuan province, is on the way.

Tailor-making a suit costs a minimum of 15,000 yuan ($2,416). The price is growing year by year, because "supply cannot meet the demand" with his small team of skillful tailors, ferreted about and found from all over the Yangtze River Delta, the seedbed of the Chinese textile industry.

Money aside, it also takes at least three personal visits to his shop, which could extend for as long as one month, from choosing a fabric, a pattern, deciding if it's a three-piece or twin suit, to lots of fitting. Service is strictly conducted on a one-on-one basis and the signless door of his store barely opens to passersby or those coming without reservations.

"It's all about the details," as Xie puts it, "and at the end of the day, it's the details that outplays."

One of the latest details he plays up on the suit is the "Eye of Allen", the buttonhole that is shaped after his own eyes. The newly cultivated variety of the classic Milanese buttonhole features slightly raised curves and a naughty finish at the end, "just like my eyes", he explains.

"People who are paying for an expensive suit like this would want others to know that it's a suit that costs, essentially," says Xie, comparing his "Eye of Allen" to the likes of Chanel's double interlocking Cs, or Louis Vuitton's monogram.

"But I want to make it more subtle, more sophisticated, and more me," he says, joking again.

Contact the writer at xujunqian@chinadaily.com.cn.

Light blue tweed doublebreasted suit, the Allen Xie.

Single-breasted blue-and-green check jacket.

Blue, dark-striped vested suit.

Tailed tuxedo.

Double-breasted overcoat.

(China Daily 03/30/2014 page8)