by Chrissy Iley
I met Domenico Vacca at an Oscar party at The Four Seasons, LA. He stood out by the sharpness and obvious quality of his suit and the fact he is Italian, although he now lives in New York.
He has very many gorgeous customers who adore his bespoke suits and shoes. They get involved in the design process, selecting the fabric which arrives from Italy and customising their immaculate jackets.
His customers include Christopher Plummer, Dustin Hoffman, Antonio Banderas, Ashton Kutcher and LA Reid.
He collaborated with Hollywood costume designers for the Inside Man where outfits for Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster and Christopher Plummer were all his. And the suits for Morning Glory (Diane Keaton and Harrison Ford) which were so perfect were also courtesy of Vacca.
Vacca is convinced he is a lucky charm. He tells me that the year Mickey Rourke was nominated for The Wrestler, ‘I made all of his suits for the Globes, the BAFTAs, every award, and he won. For the Oscars he told me he wanted a white suit. There wasn’t time to import the fabric and have it made so he bought an off the peg, and that was the one award that shocked everyone. He didn’t win.’He wore his suits to collect his Golden Globe, his BAFTA and his SAG (Stage Actors’ Guild). However, he would not be wearing Vacca’s shoes. He would be in fact wearing shoes he made himself. When he took time off from gathering Oscars he learnt shoe making.
Vacca twinkles. It’s as if he knew then what we all know now: his charm works.