“10 years later we learned that the suit was designed for Vladimir Ilyich Lenin”: founder of the Mastersuit brand Ramon Palacios-Fernandez on fashion, business and famous clients

What do you think when you see someone wearing a perfect suit? About her status in society or her fine sense of style? Everyone’s connotations are different, but a properly chosen men’s suit sometimes tells more about a person and more than any words. We sincerely hope that anyone who disagrees with the above views will change their minds after this interview.

And all because our hero today is Ramon Palacios-Fernandez, the founder of the Mastersuit brand. If you follow the news of the fashion world in Russia, you should visit the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater and St. You must have heard of the large-scale demonstrations at Vitebsky Station in St. Petersburg. So all this is his job. It was the Mastersuit team that took classic suit fashion to a whole new level, proving that even in such a rigid fashion genre there is room for experimentation.

We met with Ramon at the brand’s boutique in the Rekka apartment building at Prechistenka 13 (the holy of holies) and talked about good things. In the context of fashion, of course. The founder of Mastersuit talked about famous clients, future plans and, of course, the fashion industry in Russia.

Mastersuit turned 25 last year. How did the idea of ​​creating a brand in this format arise?

Mastersuit is a family brand created by my mother in 1997. We started by making classic suits, and in the beginning it was a very small studio for literally 20 customers. After a while, word of mouth started to spread, people were talking about us and giving advice to each other. We opened a men’s store, a women’s store and a shoe store, then we started working according to individual standards. Then collaborations with stars emerged. Thus began a new round of development for the company. The Mastersuit brand became popular and this brought a new responsibility to the entire team; It was necessary to expand the workshop, speed up production, expand the product range, create shows and collections. We now have all the opportunities to develop and become not only larger in the international market, but also more global.

Do you feel how the industry has changed in these two decades?

Yes, the sector has grown a lot. I think Russian designers are great guys. Many of them are already known abroad and their clothes are worn and promoted in Hollywood. This development would be even more noticeable if we invested more in brands and creative people. However, great desire and ambition are faced with insufficient financial means. Many cannot reach an agreement with local authorities, receive subsidies or receive favorable conditions for building production.

So, is the main problem of the fashion industry a lack of funding?

Not just. There are a few more important issues. And the first is precisely the reason for the lack of funding. The fact is that the Ministry of Light Industry does not notice this cluster of the economy, partly because it overshadows tax and federal structures. I really want it to acquit itself in the future and show itself in terms of income and tax deductions. Then the state will take care of the development of this sector of the economy. By the way, this also happened in restaurants recently.

The second problem is the lack of quality equipment and hands, no matter how strange it sounds. Today there are many institutions that are trying to develop and are really putting a lot of effort into educating the new generation. However, there were no tailoring schools in the Soviet Union. My tailors are all 60+. These people are great masters of their craft. But young people need to be educated at their own expense. Today I have nine specialists in training. They all learn from designers, technologists, production managers and foremen. Only after that a person becomes free and begins to create. There may be two options: Either he stays with us for a long time, or he becomes self-employed and starts cutting at home. Of course, this is also possible, but this is again the shadow part because no one notices it afterwards. They receive money for orders, but the economy does not see them.

It turns out that finding a professional who can be hired without training is almost impossible.

It’s very difficult and very expensive. People who know how to sew have their own expectations from work.

So what is the third problem?

Lack of raw materials. There is no wool in our country. Everything was based on cotton and linen and in my opinion average quality. Therefore the only suppliers I work with are Italy, France and England. For example, Loro Piana and Ermenegildo Zegna. And as you know, there are now big problems in logistics. We have to move everything to four borders. Previously, the customer would receive the fabric within three days and the first fitting would take place a week later. Now we have been waiting only for the fabric for five weeks. All this requires a lot of resources and money. Sometimes it is not useful for ourselves.

How much have prices increased since the pandemic and the start of SVO?

We didn’t increase prices because we realized that if we did that we might lose customers. If we leave the price the same, on the contrary, we will gain more customers. Because after the Kiton, Brioni, Zegna, Loro Piana and Tom Ford brands left the Russian market, people started to look for a valuable alternative. And it turned out to be us. Although our suits are 2-3 times cheaper than foreign brands, we leave our competitors behind in terms of quality. We use handcrafted work, bespoke tailoring, horsehair trimmings, 99% hand sewn items. 2,000 hand stitches are made on just one jacket. In terms of time, this is 72 hours of manual work. 72 hours of manual labor is a week’s work for a master.

If you were told you could choose anyone from any era as your brand ambassador, who would it be?

Cristiano Ronaldo and Conor McGregor. But they are interesting not only because of their popularity and millions of viewers on social networks. They have a non-standard figure. Ronaldo is very athletic and making a suit for him is quite difficult. I notice in all the photos how poorly they fit her, and I see that she didn’t sew them one by one, she adjusted them. The situation is almost the same with Conor McGregor. She has a complex figure, so the suit doesn’t fit very well. Those who understand will definitely notice this. So Ronaldo and McGregor are interesting precisely because of the complexity of their figures and the fit of their clothes. For us, the more difficult the task, the more interesting it is.

By the way, Mastersuit was the first Russian brand to collaborate with Conor. In 2017, we prepared a special green New Guinea crocodile training bag for him. They also took handprints and made small boxing glove-shaped gold lace clips and presented them to Conor McGregor during his visit to Moscow.

Do you remember the first star customer and his words about the brand?

Prince II of Monaco by Sergei Shnurov and Vasily Vakulenko We work with many Russian and foreign celebrities, from Albert to Princess Martha Louise of Norway. And we value and respect each of them. But now I want to tell a different story.

One day, people came to us and said that we should make a suit for one person. We agreed and asked him to come to take measurements. Thereupon, it was said that the person could not come but would send the measurements. We tried to explain that we do not work like that, because the designer needs to see the person and the dynamics of the figure. But they still insisted on their own. Of course the team was surprised, but we received the work order. The costume was made, but the story was forgotten for 10 years. However, they later learned that this dress was designed for Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Directly to the mausoleum.

Many people say that it is better not to mix family and work. However, looking at your duet, you get the feeling that there are exceptions and there are some that are very successful. Tell us what are the pros and cons of a family business?

Since my childhood, my mother taught me that I should wear a suit to school and a coat and bag to university. Hence the company’s motto “Sooner or later everyone comes to the classics.” It doesn’t matter at a young age or at the end of your life journey. The family business is interesting above all because we answer with our face in front of our customers. We are not shady business owners that no one knows about. We communicate directly with every customer and are responsible for the products we produce.

Of course, we also encounter difficulties. We have different visions and sometimes fight with each other in meetings. But I want to say that the more ideas there are, the broader the perspective on the situation. The situation is much worse when there is only one authoritative opinion. Therefore, the business develops only on one plane. Fortunately, this is not the case with us. Over three years we have produced 230 of our own events, from very small to large, for 1,200 guests. So we are developing in many directions and we will not stop here.

The Mastersuit brand held a large-scale show at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater in 2022, and a show at Vitebsky Station in 2023. What awaits us in 2024?

There are really a lot of plans and they are all on a grand scale. We will be showing a new evening collection in March. I can’t reveal any details yet, I will just say that the location will be very unusual. We are also planning to open a store in Dubai. We’ve thought about this before, but there wasn’t an urgent need. We experienced a huge influx of customers after February 2022; everyone was wondering where they could get or order a suit hem. Even people we dreamed of working with started contacting us. The volume of business increased, so it was first necessary to optimize all processes here and only then think about entering a new market. Now such an opportunity has arisen. Also in large areas, perhaps St. We do not reject development in St. Petersburg. They also discussed opening a boutique in Miami and Kazakhstan.

Can you continue the sentence “The ideal men’s team…”?

The ideal men’s suit is one that hides flaws and highlights one’s strengths. It is a suit that suits the person according to his/her skin color, hair and eye color, figure and season. It should not wrinkle, not keep warm, and comply with the specified dress code.

Many men do not understand why they need a special suit. Can you share a few arguments supporting this choice?

Let me tell you, a tailor-made suit immediately catches the eye. Especially those who thorn themselves to order. And these are almost all influential people in the world. And I assure you, they notice it in others too. Suits help you create the right impression and even advance your career. Have you heard the saying “You meet someone by their clothes…”? So he prefers to wear a 100% tailored suit.

But we must also understand that we are stylists. We evaluate each of our customers and try to analyze which fabric and color will suit them. It so happens that a person comes and says: “I want it this way.” And we understand that he’s going to look like a loser in this regard. That is why tailors and designers must not only agree, but also try to choose exactly what suits the person in all respects. It is important not only to make money, but also to do everything possible so that the person is satisfied and tells his friend about us. Receiving this feedback inspires us and our tailors to work harder.