“Master” and “quirky man” with a “unique laugh.” Tailor Ayres Carneiro da Silva dies

He started at the age of 12, he dressed figures like Salazar and Sá Carneiro and it is the grandson who continues his legacy. Ayres Carneiro da Silva, considered one of the best tailors in Portugal, passed away this Saturday at the age of 93.

“A few days ago, my grandfather told me that he would soon embark on a journey without a destination! Mister. Ayres boarded this morning as an executive at Air Sky to that destination… God only knows where he is!” His grandson, who is also a tailor, announced on social media. For Ayres Gonçalo, his grandfather, whom he calls “teacher”, “he left with the mission accomplished” and is proud of his professional career: “He never failed me. (Even in very, very difficult times) and that’s what really counts for me.”

Ayres Gonçalo learned everything he knows about cutting and sewing from his grandfather, with whom he began working at the age of 16. In an interview with the Observer in April 2021, he noted that the the grandfather “never wanted” his grandson to be a tailor. “Before, tailoring was not a noble profession and he dreamed of something different for me. It was only when, as a teenager, I started working in the shop with him that he realized I was serious.”

The first Ayres of a generation of tailors was born on December 26, 1929, the youngest of four children. A man from the north, a fan of Futebol Clube do Porto, believed that the soul of a tailor is “great”. And, at TSF in 2019, he considered that his grandson had it.

It was in 1960 that Ayres Carneiro da Silva opened Ayres Haute Couture, at number 120 Rua Gonçalo Cristóvão, in Porto. It was there that he wore names such as Salazar (former president of the Board), Francisco Sá Carneiro (former president of the Government) and José Maria Pedroto, former soccer player and coach, whom he described as a “great friend” and “great teacher.” ”.

On May 28, 2020, on the occasion of Tailor’s Day, Ayres Carneiro da Silva was with his grandson and one of his great-grandchildren, Pazzi, who intends to dedicate himself to tailoring, at RTP, where he was moved to see photos of their wedding and when he asked about the best thing he had in his profession, without having been able to answer. Ayres Carneiro da Silva’s wife had died in January of that year. The two met at the workshop: he was a tailor, she was a seamstress.

On social networks, Portugal Fashion highlighted, this Saturday, the departure of a “peculiar man”. “A master in the art of tailoring, with a unique laugh that would fill any room. A talented man, who left nothing unsaid. A good man ”, reads the note shared on Instagram.

The wake for Ayres Carneiro da Silva will take place this Sunday at the Parish Church of Antas, in Porto, with the funeral mass in the same place this Monday at 10:30 a.m.