Meet the Italian Custom Tailor Behind Sylvester Stallone’s Mobster Suits in ‘Tulsa King’
Sylvester Stallone nearly always plays the good guy. But in “Tulsa King,” the Paramount+ original series, he’s anything but.
Stallone stars as Dwight “The General” Manfredi, a New York mobster who was exiled by his boss following his release from prison after 25 years and forced to set up shop in Tulsa, Okla. The crime comedy drama debuts its second season on Sunday.
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In the show, Stallone is dressed to the nines. In the first season, the 77-year-old actor drew largely from his own wardrobe for his suits. But for this season, he’s found a secret weapon, and his name is Denis Frison.
The Italian custom tailor was born and raised in Milan, moved to the U.S. in 2015 and launched his eponymous brand in Los Angeles the following year. At first, business was hard to come by, and after parting ways with an investor, Frison found himself hungry and living in his car.
But his fortunes eventually turned around and he established himself with well-known celebrities including Al Pacino and Leonardo DiCaprio, who came to appreciate the skill and craftsmanship of his distinct Milanese-inspired suits.
But it was a suit that he made for director and photographer Francesco Carrozzini, and son of the Franca Sozzani, the former editor of Italian Vogue and son-in-law of Condé Nast’s Anna Wintour, that changed his life. He dressed Carrozzini, now an investor in his company, for the Met Gala where the suit caught the eye of Tommy Hilfiger. Days after, he received an email from Hilfiger seeking a connection. Not believing it could actually be from the designer himself, “I almost deleted the email,” Frison said with a smile over lunch at a private club in New York City.
Good thing he didn’t. That exchange led to Hilfiger bringing Frison on board as his private tailor and he now creates suits for the designer to wear to special events or business meetings.
It was Hilfiger who introduced Frison to Stallone. “Sly came to me and asked me where I got my suits,” Hilfiger said. The actor said he was looking for suits with “big shoulders” for his latest project, and I “gave him my advice on shape, fabric and colors.” And then he recommended he get in touch with Frison. “I told him, ‘Let me introduce you to my tailor, Denis.’”
Stallone reached out to Frison and the actor told him that while he had worn pieces from his own personal wardrobe for the first season, he was looking for someone to design suits for his character in “Tulsa King”’s second season.
Frison was in all.
“He said the character was strong with a mobster attitude but he didn’t want a Godfather vibe,” Frison recalled. “He wanted an aggressive look with really big shoulders” to visually express a sense of power. “I made special shoulder pads for him.”
Hilfiger got involved as a style consultant and the three collaborated to develop suits and sport coats worthy of The General.
The result was a wardrobe of more than 20 suits and jackets including doubled-breasted models with shawl collars — all handmade in Italy — wide pants with a high waist and dress shirts with Frison’s signature design, which he describes as a “mix between Milanese and French.”
Many of the fabrics were made or sourced especially for the project. “Sly wanted silky, shiny, mobster stuff,” Frison said, “and not a lot of people make that today.” So the tailor pored through vintage fabrics from his own extensive collection as well as from others to find the ones that would be best for the wardrobe.
The outfits also complement the George Cleverley bespoke shoes that Stallone wears in the show. “He wears crocodile shoes in crazy colors,” Frison said.
Fitting the actor, who is still in incredible shape, also presented a challenge. “He’s 77, but he has a body that most 30-year-olds don’t have,” Frison said. “He’s been training every day for more than 50 years. He has a typical boxer’s body: big shoulders and a small waist. And a really straight back.”
In order for the jackets to fit correctly, Frison had to be “meticulous,” he said, to ensure that the V in front and the flat back worked in unison. “It was so hard,” he admitted. But by looking at the finished product, it’s obvious that Frison hit the mark.
The tailor said it was “quite an adventure for me.” Although he has designed clothes for more than two decades, “working on a movie is such a different thing. You have to mold the collection to the character.”
And when that character is played by Stallone, it adds a whole other layer to the work. “Sly is super passionate about tailoring,” he said. “He knows all about construction and every detail. He loves to look sharp and doesn’t want to look sloppy. He’s always on point and he always wears a blazer and shirt. I grew up watching ‘Rocky’ and ‘Rambo’ and I always dreamed of dressing him.”
Frison worked closely with the wardrobe department of “Tulsa King,” who provided the more casual pieces Stallone wore in series such as polos and jeans. “But when it came to the suits, Sly was very particular and said, ‘I want my tailor.’”
Unlike a lot of custom tailors, Frison isn’t reluctant to name names when it comes to his clients. “My parents are not tailors,” he said. “My grandfather didn’t invent any special shoulder, so why not put the glam into tailoring by using stars?”
Frison, who splits his time between Los Angeles and New York, got his first taste for the finer side of fashion back home in Italy. His grandmother had a hat store in Milan and his grandfather created custom furniture for well-heeled clients. “I was inspired by him, he always wore the most beautiful jackets, shirts and long coats.”
After school, Frison started working in a friend’s clothing store in Milan where he met a gentleman who talked extensively to him about style. That man turned out to be designer Stefano Durelli, who worked with Loro Piana, Malo, Les Copains and other high-end companies. He convinced the young man to join his firm where Frison learned firsthand about fabric and garment creation.
After a decade there, he joined Loro Piana where he further honed his skills. But deep inside, Frison always aspired to have his own company and he wanted it to be in the States. He first thought his atelier should be in New York, but on the advice of Sozzani, he set up shop in Los Angeles. “Franca told me I’d be the first Italian tailor there,” he said. Plus, it allowed him to tick another item off his bucket list. “My dream was always to dress celebrities,” he said.
Next up for Frison will be the launch of his first ready-to-wear collection. The off-the-rack collection will offer a wider audience the opportunity to wear his elegant pieces, that he describes as “artisanal with a twist. The worst is when men where a jacket and they look like they’re in a cage,” he said of his aesthetic. “I make things lightweight with less construction. I want people to wear my jackets not the jacket to wear them.”
The plan is to launch by the end of this year or early next year, first on his own site and then, if successful, to retailers.
Whether it’s Stallone or some lesser-known man, Frison said he’s still excited when he sees someone wearing one of his designs.
“When I see people wearing my stuff, it’s such an emotional thing,” he said.
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