Tailoring for Women

If you wear one of these…

Where do you put one of these?

We all know the traditional answer – in the handbag of course. And we all know the consequences. It rings at an embarrassing moment. You don’t want to be noticed but you have to excavate the handbag to find the phone and switch it off. It stops ringing just when you find it. But for other more aesthetic reasons women sing the praises of handbags. Of course they remove the need for unsightly bumps and shape distortions on garments where pockets are used instead. Pockets are no doubt a male invention – practical perhaps, but lacking class.

Yet pockets are great for hands-free work where you need to carry tools around – or pda’s which need to be instantly accessible.

So I’ve been thinking about pockets a lot. It was sparked off partly by a recent discussion on a LinkedIn forum generated by the UK Business Network. Which is the more practical, the i-phone or the Blackberry? The topic explored the question, Blackberry vs. iPhone – which is the preferred mobile phone product, and to date it has generated some 360 comments.

These forums can be excellent guides to turn to when shopping, promoting, referring, surveying, etc. A kind of ‘Which?’ or ‘Consumer Reports’ at the touch of the keyboard. I belong to several such groups and find benefit of information, advice and introduction as well as a source of new business – a bonus for the virtual shop window at TfW.com.

The pros and cons are still being debated, and I got to realise how essential these digital tools are for modern business life. Aside from casting my vote for the Blackberry, I thought, actually, what’s most important is that they are instantly accessible, and they stay close to you, in a protected environment. What they need is a special pocket. The perfect challenge for a bespoke tailor!

When I was developing the pattern for our TfW special edition gilet, I wore the prototype for a year before perfecting all the details. One of the things I’m pleased about with that exercise was developing all manner of useful but discrete pockets. Including one specially for your personal digital assistant.

Here it is:

As you can see, it works with both i-phone and Blackberry.

In addition to accommodating all manner of personal electronic gadgets it can also carry a pair of spectacles. The gilet is not really business wear of course, but it comes into its own also where a handbag would just get in the way.

So, having successfully solved the female pocket problem by combining practicality with style and security with the gilet, I’m now looking forward to putting my experience into practice on a conventional business suit – enabling the world’s first handbag-free business woman! (I’m joking of course…)

You can still order the TfW Gilet from here (i-phone or Blackberry not supplied, unfortunately).

Tags: blackberry, exclusive gilets, i-phone, pda pocket, pocket, TfW gilet