Wirral Life July 2018 | Page 66

W L THE MATTHEW O'BRIEN BRAND There is a saying in Italy: ‘molto tempo dopo che il prezzo è stato dimenticato, la qualità rimane’. It means: ‘Long after the price is forgotten the quality remains’. created so that you have an intimate connection with the dress so that you feel one with what you’re wearing. It’s one of the reasons why 89% of Matthew’s client are ‘regular wearers’ of the brand. In England we have been immersed to understand that the price always comes first. That’s why we have ended up with fish finger sandwiches, Wayne Rooney and Slough and the Italians ended up with Gianni Rivera, pencil thin cigars, Puccini and piazzas of aesthetic significance in provincial cities. To over concern yourself with price is an attitude that, in the end, costs the consumer. It has certainly cost our country. We think of those bespoke in terms of pricing. But if you want good clothes you don’t go to the bargain counter of high street fashion brands and hope for the best, you go to where it says quality and if that is the case then the price range you have in mind is commensurate with what you will otherwise pay for exclusive Matthew O’Brien designs anyway. It’s just that the only person you speak to at a high street fashion store is a rushed check-out assistant asking for your money. Clothing is your one shot at self-presentation. You can remain subject to the dictates as to how designers married to high street outlets want you to show yourself off to the world. Nothing wrong with that. It’s not quite you but it will do. After all, when you wear clothes in public that is the only conversation you have with the majority of people around you. Or you can spend a bit more and have clothes tailored just for you. You can enter the world of bespoke fashion and suddenly you start controlling how you look and how you present yourself. Matthew O’Brien offers bespoke tailoring. That’s not just designing an outfit. That’s a bespoke process throughout. From consultation, designing the concept, selecting the most appropriate fabric and measuring before producing the finished design. That’s not just going to a shop and letting someone else think for you. That’s engaging with what you are wearing, having a conversation with the person who is going to shape how you look so that your style is personalised and uninimitable. Wearing a dress is the last step in the journey, the design, the conceptualisation of what you will wear is part of the experience 66 wirrallife.com By paying just a little bit more Matthew O’Brien will sit with you, create a hand-made individual in-house garment available nowhere else on Earth. There’s no bits of piping sagging around arms, nor threads errantly pointing out from seams nor fabric that is intent on doing its own thing. This is a garment designed around and just for you. Just you. Your very own commission. Just think of that. Thought goes into every single inch as to how you look with Matthew. He has an eye on the finest quality British-made materials (the lacing is from the finest productions of Jole & Sons, those with the royal seal of appointment) but, where appropriate, globally-sources fabric. He might go global but the client experience at Chester’s own Matthew O’Brien boutique is to offer a level of service and customer engagement that can only otherwise be experienced in the fashion houses of Paris, London and Milan. To find out more, visit www.mattobrien.co.uk.