Giuseppe Alessi obituary

http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2015/aug/18/giuseppe-alessi-obituary

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When my father, Giuseppe Alessi, who has died aged 82, arrived in Accrington, Lancashire, from Sicily in 1961, he had already been in tailoring since the age of 10, making his own suits by the age of 18.

As with many people from southern Italy and Sicily, postwar poverty played a large part in the decision to emigrate. Born one of six children to Giuseppe Sr and Calogera Maria (nee Falcone) in Racalmuto, out of economic necessity he had left school early to take up an apprenticeship, arranged by his father, with a local tailor. Many people in Racalmuto had left for Accrington, and so eventually, in his late 20s, he headed there.

As a migrant my father was not demonised but welcomed with open arms by the people of the town. My mother, Angela, a seamstress he had met at church in Racalmuto, followed him two years later and they were married in 1963. Both worked in various cotton mills in the area until my father acquired a position with a tailor in Rawtenstall. Having then saved enough money, Giuseppe and Angela managed to buy the corner shop next to their home.

Giuseppe’s reputation grew over the years, and word spread across the county that a Sicilian tailor was making suits wholly on the premises, and entirely by hand, in a small shop in Accrington. Often there would be customers’ Rolls-Royces, Ferraris and Bentleys parked outside, usually surrounded by excited local children and more than a few admiring adults. Every year Giuseppe would close the shop for six weeks, having left a small, often misspelled handwritten notice in the shop window – “On oliday till Septembe. Tank-you” – and take his family back home to Sicily to spend the summer there.

Among his many customers over the years were the world snooker champions Dennis Taylor and Alex Higgins, and the footballer David Dunn. The suit that Taylor wore when he beat Steve Davis in the notable 1985 world snooker championship final was made by my father.

After he retired in 2004 Giuseppe led a simple life, converting one of the rooms in his cellar into a small workshop and making suits for friends and family. He liked to watch Italian television via satellite, and, much to my mother’s chagrin, enjoyed cooking: they were like cat and dog in the kitchen.

He was a well-known and well-loved character in Accrington and could often be found bulk-buying food in the town centre; the cellar resembled a nuclear bunker, its shelves filled to the ceiling with tinned tomatoes and extra virgin olive oil. His love of Italian and Sicilian food – and especially meat and potato pies – never diminished. He had a kind word and a joke for everyone – in his own inimitable Italian/Lancashire accent.

He is survived by Angela; by a brother, Pietro; by his children, me, Marco and Adriana; and by three grandchildren, Bert, Simon and Abbie.