Meet the Man Behind Villanova Basketball Coach Jay Wright’s Impeccable Suits

Gabriele and Coach Wright. | Screenshot from CBS Sports.

Full disclosure: I only know about the Villanova Wildcats men’s basketball team because my husband is an alum and an obsessed avid fan. This is also the only reason I know about #SuitWatch, the hilarious thread on a VU Hoops message board where fans dissect and rate what head coach Jay Wright wears to each game.

Wright’s carefully dapper, much-lauded look — he’s been voted the best-dressed men’s basketball coach by the NCAA, GQ and, well, me (but mostly because I don’t know any other ones) — proves the adage spouted by well-dressed people everywhere: Fit is everything.

CBS Sports profiled Jay Wright last Saturday in its NCAA Men of March series, and while the majority of the episode was about the Villanova basketball program and Wright’s coaching techniques (yada yada yada), the real highlight was the quick segment on Wright’s suits and the friendly, white-haired Italian tailor and suit-maker who sparked his rise to sartorial dominance.

A be-suited-and-spectacled man with a head of white hair and a soft Italian accent, Gabriele D’Annunzio has been Wright’s secret weapon to the perfect suit for years.

“It sounds Italian — ‘VEE-leh-no-va’ — so I always liked Villanova,” D’Annunzio says in the segment. “That’s my school now.” (He also noted that Wright is a bit colorblind, so D’Annunzio makes sure his complete look goes together.)

D’Annunzio’s company is called GABE, and it’s based in Newtown Square, though they don’t take appointments at the HQ. Instead, traveling tailors and suit-makers (they have “style concierges” in New York, D.C. and Boston as well as Phlly) come to your home or business. Though they often work with larger corporate accounts, they will do personal visits for local clients. Contact GABE here.

See the video below — it just might help you make some crucial March Madness bracketology decisions.

Villanova Basketball coach Jay Wright knows if you want your coaching to be sharp, you’ve gotta look the part. http://t.co/cuPG2HLbFa

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) January 30, 2015