Dandy Attire for a Night at the Opera

New York Times

27-05-2025

You don't need a ticket to experience some of the romance of Lincoln Center's operas and ballets. Arrive about an hour before showtime on a spring evening and you can freely observe people in varied finery making their way up the plaza's steps and past its fountain. Amid the parade of evening wear and cocktail attire on a Friday in early May, James R. Palmisano emerged from stage right — more precisely, from the northern edge of the performing arts complex on Manhattan's Upper West Side.
Mr. Palmisano, 32, who was on his way to see 'Salome' at the Metropolitan Opera, looked dashing in his ensemble of double-breasted jacket, pleated trousers and blue shirt and tie. He had bought the jacket secondhand a few years ago in Brighton, England, he said. He noted that his appreciation for clothes had been shaped by his job as a tailor at the Met Opera, where he had worked on productions including, yes, 'Salome.'
'Our head tailors are very skilled and they're good at getting the fit right,' Mr. Palmisano said. 'They're quite particular at the opera about that, so it's really enjoyable to see them work and to learn why certain things are done to get a shape for a particular person. You have to start somewhere, and you have to start with it on your body.'
When asked if there was any styling advice he would give to men in today's trend-forward era, Mr. Palmisano had three suggestions: Groom regularly, dress classically and stay away from synthetic fabrics. 'They don't feel nice,' he said. 'They don't last long.'
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