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Clothier Mary Theresa Sciandra pulls out

By Mary Therese Biebel mbiebel@timesleader.com
Features Writer

Clothier Mary Theresa Sciandra pulls out her measuring tape and sets to work, recording the length of a client’s arm, the expanse of his shoulders, the width of his chest, and every other detail to ensure a good fit.

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PNC Bank Vice President Bob Stanley at his desk in his office in Wilkes-Barre.

Bill Tarutis/For the times leader

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Weeks later, she’ll deliver his new suit, custom-made for comfort and style. And, the best part, for at least one satisfied customer, is that he can build his wardrobe in the convenience of his own office.

“I understand shopping is a social event for a lot of women. For a lot of men, it’s a chore,” said Bob Stanley, a vice president at PNC Bank in Wilkes-Barre who is grateful to Sciandra for relieving him of the burden of visiting stores.

“I’m a big and tall man,” said Stanley, who stands almost 6-foot-5. “Chances are, if I saw something I liked, they wouldn’t even have it in my size.”

Sciandra divides her time between Manhattan and Northeastern Pennsylvania and her business, Sharp Consultants Inc., has clients in both areas. A Pittston native, she realized even as a child that she had a knack for mixing and matching clothes.

“My mother would take me shopping for an Easter outfit and I’d say, ‘No, Mom, not that shoe.’ I had to have the right shade of hosiery, too. It’s a natural part of me to want to put things together.”

Nowadays, she puts things together for CEOs, attorneys and other “busy, successful gentlemen” who want their clothes to make a statement.

In Stanley’s case, she’s guided him toward a dark-blue, pinstripe suit that enhances his image as a banker who can be trusted with investments, and also toward the more casual seersucker suit that projected a relaxed image when he wore it to a Kentucky Derby party.

“We do the social circuit,” Stanley said, adding with a chuckle: “I have to look pretty.”

Sciandra derives satisfaction from leading her clients toward a look they might not consider on their own.

“Men are creatures of habit,” she said. “They might reach for a white shirt because they’ve always worn a white shirt. But a blue shirt is just as neutral and can make a man ‘light right up.’ ”

“She has a wonderful professional opinion on what looks good with my complexion and my hair,” said another of Sciandra’s clients, Kingston audiologist Dr. Louis Sieminski. “She may say, ‘Maybe you don’t want to wear gray.

“I am rather fastidious about my appearance,” Sieminski noted, “and very particular about my clothes.

“I used to buy suits off-the-rack in Philadelphia and Florida and have tailors adjust them.”

When he bought his first custom-made suit from Sciandra, he was impressed by how much better it fit - and felt.

“I was so pleasantly surprised. It fit me perfectly and I looked good.”

Sieminski lectures in settings as farflung as Chicago and Buenos Aires, and he’s pleased that clothes from Sciandra help him project a professional image.

“I’ve referred her to friends, of mine as well and no one has been disappointed,” he said.

“You might think her suits are expensive (the price starts about $1,000) but they’re really not because you get so much wear out of them,” he said. “You know, if you have things in your closet that don’t fit you well, you tend not to wear them.”

Using fabrics from Italy and shoulder pads from Germany, Sciandra arranges the manufacture of suits, trousers and shirts “in a factory one hour north of Shanghai.

“They’re truly international garments,” she said.

The clothier earned a degree in fashion merchandising and design from the former College Misericordia and intended to design women’s clothing until she realized menswear was easier, partly because men have fewer curves.

Still, when you take “upteen measurements,” she said, you find out every body is unique. You might not notice it just to look at someone, she said, but everyone has one arm that’s slightly longer, and one shoulder that’s slightly higher. Custom tailoring takes all that into account.

To contact Sharp Consultants Inc., call 646-675-9603.