Where in Beverly Hills did Paul Manafort spend $500,000 on suits?
Charges that President Trump’s former campaign manager hid more than $75 million from the IRS may have shocked the political world, but there was only one question tearing at the heart of California’s tailoring community on Monday: Who in Beverly Hills sold Paul Manafort $500,000 worth of suits?
In a 31-page federal indictment filed in Washington, prosecutors alleged that the political consultant with Russian connections spent $12 million in untaxed income on a wealth of luxuries.
Among those items, prosecutors say, was more than $500,000 worth of clothes purchased from a Beverly Hills business identified only as “Vendor H.â€
Calls to several high-priced tailors in the area resulted in few answers Monday.
Violet Pananyan, the owner of Antoine’s Tailoring on Beverly Drive, had heard the news but never counted Manafort as a client.
“To be honest, I stay away from politics,†she said.
A half-a-dozen high-end suit shops contacted by the Los Angeles Times Monday refused to comment or said Manafort wasn’t a customer. Still, they expressed disbelief when they heard how much he spent and many said that spending $500,000 on clothes in four years was quite the sum even for these establishments.
Battistoni was founded in Rome in 1946 and has had a presence on the corner of Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills for decades. Sales associate Rogier Bolleurs wore a gray pinstripe double-breasted suit and said an outfit there goes for between $3,000-7,000. Their clientele is mostly older titans of industry, he said.
“If you a fashionista, you need need lots of money, because something new comes out every year,†he said.
Across the street at Canali, the store manager, who declined to give her name, speculated Manafort may have shopped at “the Big three.†That’s the nickname for the three department stores—Barneys, Saks and Neiman Marcus.
Those places carry a slew of different high-priced brands, and also offer high-paying customers the ability to use a personal shopper.
Isaia is an Italian Brand founded in 1920 in Naples. An employee there speculated that Manafort shops at Bijan on Rodeo Drive.
It’s been called “the most expensive store in the world, †has one location and their items are not sold in department stores, the employee said. Suits there can go for $10,000, he said.
On Monday, a yellow Rolls Royce convertible sat outside Bijan. In the window, there were photos and testimonials from Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Manafort once worked for H.W. senior.
A receptionist said to call the manager, and the manager told the Times: “I’m sorry but I’m not able to help you.â€
There are a few clues, however.
According to one of Manafort’s former business partners — and a well-known sartorialist — the defendant’s tastes lean more toward the continental than Savile Row.
“He favored an Italian style of tailoring with higher armholes, which is more fitted in the body,†said the self-described political dirty trickster Roger Stone.
Stone told the Los Angeles Times on Monday that he didn’t know where Manafort had shopped in recent years, but that his former partner “had excellent taste when it came to suits and ties.â€
However, Stone said he questioned the quality of the tailoring.
“In my mind they never quite fit properly,†Stone said. “The style of your suit needs to fit your physique,†Stone told The Times.
When Stone and Manafort went into business together in 1980 with Charles Black Jr. — and made millions working for political candidates like Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush— Manafort was said to favor threads from Charvet Place Vendome, a high-priced Parisian tailor.
There had been hints that Manafort’s fashion choices could come back to bite him. The New York Times reported that in July, when federal agents executed search warrants on the political consultant’s Virginia home, they entered his closet and took pictures of the pricey suits. (The indictment says Manafort also had a hefty clothing bill in New York),
Stone added that if he were ever to come under the microscope of investigators, and there are reports that he is, he doesn’t worry his suits will cause him any trouble.
“I can’t imagine what would be illegal about my suits. They don’t violate the laws of good taste.... There’s never an excuse for being poorly dressed.â€
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UPDATES:
Tuesday 8 a.m.: This article was updated with Manafort New York shopping.
Published at 3 p.m.
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