The Hepburn business/dinner suit from the Fusser Femme collection of Alan Flusser.
By Lily Hoagland
“If there comes a time when owning a custom-made black cashmere blazer or tweed hacking jacket becomes unstylish for a woman, I will hang up my tape measure,” Alan Flusser declares. The designer has no reason to worry: male couture on a female silhouette is an aesthetic that appeals to something almost primal within us. Picture Katherine Hepburn, moxie bouncing off every plane of her angular face, strutting around in 1940s men’s wear like Joan of Arc in her armor. It’s a style that communicates a certain strength of character.
The Elizabeth jacket, named in honor of a client who feels life should be both adventurous and fun.
The Piper, an alternative dinner jacket in fine Italian velvet.
The new bespoke women’s wear Flusser Femme updates that tradition. The fashion line offers women the exquisite process of getting a bespoke classic like the dinner jacket in anything from cashmere to velvet. “As in men’s wear, the well-cut jacket allows for more levels of formality and versatility than any other single article of clothing,” says Flusser. “A lightweight jacket or blazer can be paired with a T-shirt on one end and a silk blouse on the other, with all variety of personal style in between. It can accommodate trim or full-cut trousers, short or long skirts, old khakis, or silk-satin bottoms. Plus, its tailored shoulders and uplifting lapels lend women an understated authority and presence.”
The Polo Coat in authentic American-milled camel hair.
Functioning sleeve buttonholes.
The inspiration for the line came from Flusser’s daughter, Piper. She had been lusting after a men’s black tailcoat with satin lapels to wear with jeans or a long skirt. Flusser, who had been making custom men’s clothing for thirty years, was surprised at how few options existed of women’s couturiers for traditionally male pieces in Manhattan, one of fashion’s capitals.
As a master of the bespoke tailoring process, he turned his talents to gathering luxurious fabrics and details for his female clients and offering them perfectly cut trousers, skirts, and jackets. “Our promise is stylish longevity because we cut clothes not for fashion, but for the body that is going to wear them. As long as one wears clothes that flatter their specific figure and favor their particular complexion, one will always look stylish, no matter what the fashion gods may decree that day.”
A vintage Hermes scarf lining is the height of both style and luxury.
Navy blazer and grey flannels: a classic look for women in touch with their inner Astaire.
If a style is timeless, it stands to reason that the pieces themselves should withstand the years as well. Using the best fabrics, personalizing the details, and painstakingly tailoring each piece for its owner, the Flusser Femme line offers what could be any woman’s go-to piece to make her feel as confident and classy as Katherine Hepburn herself. As she said, “Why slap them on the wrist with a feather when you can belt them over the head with a sledgehammer?”
Anchors a-weightless with this silk/linen captain's mess jacket.