Johannes Huebl Talks Ferragamo, Bespoke Suiting, and Olivia Palermo’s Style Don’ts

The Ferragamo man is a sophisticated, but also causal kind of dude, he likes his cars fast, his cashmere pure, and like any self respecting European, he has a penchant for the driving shoe (sans socks of course). For the first time, Ferragamo has launched a made to order service, allowing the Ferragamo man to create the driver shoe of his dreams. So who better to talk to Yahoo Style than the euro dream himself, model, photographer and husband to Olivia Palermo, Johannes Huebl.

Huebl tells us his first time was with Marc Anthony — not the singer albeit the same name — and it was in his hometown, Hamburg, Germany. (We were talking about made to order suits, what were you thinking?!) Anthony was introduced to Huebl through a friend and yes, he did receive the one-of-a-kind experience and got spoiled rotten. “Picking the best fabric, style, buttons was fantastic,” says Huebl. “Every time I slip into one of the suits he’s made for me, there is just a huge difference. That was about seven years ago and since then, he has done all my suits.”

According to Huebl, made to order is all about getting what you want and exactly how you want it. Take the Ferragamo Made To Order Driver’s shoes: “It’s great, and a very comfortable shoe and you can design it to your taste, but if you’re a person who would say I want them a little bit more pointy that’s not the case, you can get it made that way. Or you take it how it comes. Luckily enough it’s a really nice product in this case.” Well thank god we got that cleared up. Check out the rest of what Huebl has to say.

Yahoo Style: What advice would you give to a young dapper gentleman who wants to invest some clothing? 

Johannes Huebl: I think suits are a really nice, off the rack, blue, maybe two-button suit, single breasted. It’s very easy, hardly anyone wears black suits anymore so if you have a dark, or nude, or navy suit you can basically take that anywhere for black-tie events. For around $400-$500, you can get a nice suit which has fantastic fabric and a really good fit. The second, go and find your local tailor, they do fantastic jobs. Just get it tailored a little bit to your body shape.

YS: Where is your secret tailor in NYC?

JH: G&G cleaners on Grand Street and West Broadway. They’ve been doing a lot of stuff for Moncler, AG jeans, Thom Browne and a lot of big companies. I’ve been working with her for eight years. I bring my Orlebar Brown bathing suits there, and my James Perse T-shirts.

YS: Did I hear correctly that you get your bathing suit tailored? Man, so much to learn!

JH: They are too large for me. It’s such a small expense to make them look comfortable and good. You know some bathing suits, they go a little narrower so I take a size up in order to fit in the size. I might have to adjust the waist, but it’s easy.

YS: There you go… bathing suits must be altered to fit. Now, back to driving shoes. Where on the NYC pavement would one need driving shoes? Who drives?

YS: I have to say driving shoes are really comfortable for driving, but I have never considered wearing them in the car. I would say for any summer environment or weekend environment, swap your sneakers out for more a classy comfortable shoe and that’s the shoe you wear. I wear moccasins from June to October.

YS: How important is made to order service when everyone is so obsessed with fast fashion?

JH: I’m surprised there isn’t more bespoke service for the ladies, to be honest. The turnaround time in women’s fashion is much, much faster. There are so many trendy pieces. Someone like me, I don’t have any 20 pieces in my wardrobe. With women, they go to Topshop and H&M and even to the big brands, so sometimes I wonder why not go to a tailor and have that piece that you like from a low in brand made in a really nice fabric, but women just don’t do it. I think bespoke is not necessary because it is pricey and there are younger brands that sell shoes for under $250. Of course if someone is willing to spend the extra amount of money on the spokes service, it’s fantastic.

YS: So bespoke/made to order is kind of like a lifetime guarantee?

JH: Of course. And it will last much longer. I have a few friends who are willing to pay for their suits and shoes and watches, and some of my friends are not. It really depends on how much you are willing to or can spend on fashion.

YS: Is there anything you wear that your wife goes, “Oh please don’t hun!”?

JH: [Laughs] I have two or three things. When we were going on vacation and I didn’t want to fuss with my hair, instead of baseball cap I would wear a black bandana. Just on vacation or to go to the gym. It’s sort of like a Bruce Weber look-alike bandana. She always smiles when she sees me going out with that thing. And for a while there was a pair of Converse high tops that were a little bit too flashy.

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