Paul Cicchini is a custom clothier extraordinaire and his Birmingham shop, which, though he sold it a dozen years ago, is still very much his home away from home. We came to film his story, and were regaled by tales of Italy, his torturous immigration from Abruzzi’s Vasto as a young man, and, at the outbreak of World War II, his proud enlistment in the United States armed forces. He tells us how he was deployed to Normandy and pointed out that he hadn’t yet been granted citizenship, and was whisked off to the nearest American consulate where they instantly took care of that little ‘technicality’.

Since then, Paul Cicchini’s name has been synonymous with fine suits throughout the country. He’s both modest and protective of his A-List of famous clients, but rest assured, they make up a who’s who from Detroit to Hollywood. Ask him, and he’ll show you what eighteen thousand dollars can buy: A custom vicuna suit, which was still in the process of ‘construction’.

Despite his vast talents, the Visionalist film crew found Paul to be a very humble and soft-spoken gentleman that speaks with careful-restrained passions about his life, profession and wife of 61 years, Yvonne, who he met while stationed in France. Small wonder that the current owner of Paul Cicchini Custom Clothier has considered the elder man to be a father figure… an honor that our crew can well understand.