CNN
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Martin Greenfield, a tailor who dressed six US presidents, numerous A-list actors {and professional} athletes, died on March 20 at the age of 95, in line with his sons Jay, Tod and David Greenfield.
Dubbed by GQ and different media retailers as “America’s greatest living tailor,” Greenfield based the longstanding menswear store Martin Greenfield Clothiers in Brooklyn in 1977 after 30 years of working in a clothes manufacturing unit.
For many years, his {custom}, handcrafted fits had been sported by heavyweights of American tradition: Frank Sinatra, Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio and LeBron James, to call a number of. Greenfield additionally outfitted six US Presidents.
“My craft could be very tough to outline as a result of it’s many issues,” he defined in a 2016 video interview with Great Big Story. “I’m a maker of clothes. I understand how to measure. I understand how to suit individuals. Only a few individuals might match me.”
Greenfield was born Maximilian Grünfeld in 1928 within the village of Pavlovo, then Czechoslovakia and now a part of Ukraine. In 1944, Nazis compelled him and his household from their dwelling and onto a practice to Auschwitz, the place he was separated from his dad and mom and siblings and incarcerated for greater than a 12 months. Of his complete household — his mom, father, two sisters and brother — Greenfield was the one one to outlive.
The infamous focus camp was the place Greenfield picked up the talents that may later outline his profession.
Whereas assigned to scrub Nazi uniforms, he unintentionally tore a soldier’s shirt — and was brutally overwhelmed for it, he wrote in his memoir “Measure of a Man: From Auschwitz Survivor to Presidents’ Tailor.” He saved the shirt, and a fellow prisoner taught him how one can sew up the collar. He later determined to put on the mended garment underneath his jail uniform; individuals appeared to respect him for it, he recalled. He felt so empowered within the shirt, he wrote, that he risked ripping a second one so he might have two.
“Surprisingly sufficient, two ripped Nazi shirts helped this Jew construct America’s most well-known and profitable custom-suit firm,” Greenfield continued in his memoir. “God has an exquisite humorousness.”
In 1947, he immigrated to the US and adjusted his title to Martin Greenfield to sound extra American. He acquired a job as a flooring boy at a clothes manufacturing unit in Brooklyn, working his manner as much as manufacturing supervisor till he ultimately purchased the manufacturing unit to start out his personal enterprise.
Greenfield credited himself for turning Eisenhower on to three-piece fits: “As soon as he had the primary three-piece go well with, from then on you didn’t see Eisenhower in nothing however the three-piece go well with,” he informed Nice Large Story.
Along with Eisenhower, Greenfield additionally dressed Presidents Gerald Ford, Invoice Clinton, Donald Trump and Joe Biden. However a few of his most storied creations had been designed for President Obama, who earned typically reward for being a pointy dresser.
In 2010, the White Home contacted Greenfield to make some fits for Obama, in line with his memoir. The President didn’t wish to be measured, nonetheless, and requested Greenfield to copy the sizing particulars of considered one of Obama’s present fits. He refused to take action.
“Martin Greenfield doesn’t copy anyone’s fits,” he wrote. “All people copies Martin Greenfield’s fits.”
In the end, Obama agreed to be measured by Greenfield, thus starting a protracted, fruitful sartorial relationship. “Actually, just about each go well with he’s worn since February 2011 has been considered one of ours,” Greenfield wrote.
Apart from outfitting politicians and dignitaries, Greenfield additionally labored with the likes of Sinatra and Denzel Washington. And he ventured into Hollywood, making Twenties-era fits for the HBO collection “Boardwalk Empire,” in addition to costumes for movies equivalent to “Argo,” “The Wolf of Wall Avenue” and “The Nice Gatsby.” Maybe considered one of his most recognizable film moments is the brilliant crimson go well with and neon orange waistcoat Joaquin Phoenix wore within the 2019 movie “Joker.”
After Greenfield retired, his sons Jay and Tod took over the household enterprise, in line with the Martin Greenfield Clothiers’ web site. However Greenfield’s obsession with high quality and a spotlight to element has remained: The garments are nonetheless manufactured by hand in Brooklyn.
“Martin Greenfield labored on the manufacturing unit for 71 years, he cherished assembly, dressing, and befriending world leaders, celebrities, athletes, and everybody else,” his sons wrote in a tribute on Instagram. “Could his reminiscence be a blessing to everybody who had the pleasure to satisfy him.”