During the time of President Marcos, tailoring shops became demanding and would only hire experienced tailors who had their own sewing machine. “Tailoring shops cannot provide a sewing machine if they don’t have a vacant one for a newly hired tailor. I was only 18 years old back then, and the shops would only hire the more matured tailors. So to nail the job, I travelled from one tailoring shop to another while carrying my own sewing machine! During the interview, I would turn on my machine, work, and that’s how I proved to them that I am truly a tailor.”
Napoleon was appointed as the master cutter at a tailoring shop owned by an Italian designer and businessman, Giovanni Sanna where he worked there from 1978-1984. A Filipino-owned company, Fashionland Corporation, hired Giovanni to put up a tailoring shop. The style and cut of the suits would usually be led by Giovanni, but the master tailors from Pierre Cardin in Italy, whose orientation were Hongkong-English-British bespoke, primarily worked on the construction. The company was a collaboration of English/British construction with Italian design assistance from Giovanni. Napoleon learned more about tailoring from them and their suits are already full-canvassed. “Their house-cut was British, it was classic, loose, and not too much tapered,” he described.
After his fruitful years with Giovanni, he decided to resign before the store closed in 1995. “I went to different tailoring shops because I was seeking new methods in tailoring,” he recalled. He became the headmaster cutter at Rustan’s Monsieur Boutique in Makati City.
In 1997, he was hired by Brioni located at Shangri-la Mall along Shaw Boulevard. This famous tailoring house made suits for the iconic “James Bond” during the 1990’s. Its Roman-style emphasized a form-fitting suit, high-waisted pants, square shoulder and this was considered the “Power Look.” Brioni helped popularize this style, as shown in Federico Fellini’s 1960 film, “La Dolce Vita.” With Napoleon’s tailoring prowess, his skills enhanced further when he stayed for two months in Brioni at Penne, Italy. “I was told ‘be careful Senior Arienza, a part of the coat you are holding will be worn by James Bond’, I didn’t know that it was for Pierce Brosnan until I went home in the Philippines and heard of it on TV and Radio!”