Demetrios Deligiannis learned tailoring in Greece. Stami runs the atelier and remembers the brides. Forty-five years on, the work — and the shop — is still done by hand.
Demetrios Deligiannis learned tailoring as a boy in Greece. There is a particular kind of apprenticeship that begins long before you are old enough to remember it: a father at the bench, a chalk pencil pressed into your palm, the smell of pressed wool and steam.
He brought the trade to Lincoln in 1981. The shop has been on the seventh floor of the Wells Fargo Building since the day it opened — same elevator, same suite, same demanding standards. His wife Stami runs the atelier. She remembers the names of every bride who has come through the door, the colour of her flowers, the year of her wedding.
The work has carried the word. A grandfather's suit, taken in by a quarter inch through the back. A wedding gown brought across three states because the third generation of a family is being married. A leather jacket older than the customer asking for the lining to be saved.
It is not a fashionable kind of work. The garment is examined, then measured, then marked. A written estimate is provided. The work is done by hand, returned in a week or three, and the consultation, like the tea, is always offered. The fitting room is quiet. The shop is by appointment because the work cannot be rushed.
The standards have not loosened. The materials have not been substituted. The lining is Bemberg or silk, not polyester. The lapels are pad-stitched by hand, not fused. The hems are hand-finished. The chalk is real chalk.
Forty-five years is a long time to do one thing. It is also long enough to know how to do it.
"Stami remembered me by name when I came in for my final fitting. My mother had been a bride here in 1992."
"I have not bought a suit elsewhere since 1996. The fit is better than off-the-rack in any city I have lived in."
"My grandmother's gown had been in a box for sixty years. Demetrios brought it back. I cried at the first fitting."
The first conversation is free. Bring the garment, or simply bring the question.