GIUSEPPE DE CORATO De Corato Atelier
Arriving in a whirl of energy and bearing a bottle of limoncello, Giuseppe de Corato, my stylist for a few hours, proves himself a good fit within minutes. He’s confident we’ll work well together because, he says, having looked me up online, we have a similar style, which is true.
With a long career in men’s retail— most recently helming his own business, De Corato Atelier, where he stocks small Italian producers offering expertise in different areas, such as Fedeli for cashmere or Cesare Attolini for tailoring— de Corato is part stylistic adviser, part cheerleader. He sources clothes for his clients for specific occasions or builds wardrobes for those with little time or inclination to do it themselves.
The task I set for de Corato is simple. I don’t want to be sold more clothes; what I need are more options from what I already have: sartorial matchmaking, if you will. Like around 8 percent of men, I suffer from a degree of color blindness—some greens and brown turn to mud in front of me, for example—so playing with nuances within the color wheel can be challenging.
I’ve gotten around this by sticking to blues, browns and grays, with cream, beige and black appearing in the supporting cast. And while de Corato does pair a few of my favorite sport coats with some of my shirts and pants I might not have reached for, the benefit I gain from him is structural. After a recent move, my clothes are still spread among closets in three different rooms of my apartment; de Corato suggests that’s half my problem, as I can’t see all of my outfit options in one place. Soon, we’re reuniting cashmere jackets with flannel pants and knitwear, while my summer wardrobe is dispatched elsewhere. Simple stuff, admittedly, but it helps. Getting dressed should never be complicated.