Tailoring for Women

So, why are we always talking about the weather!  I’m not one for making rash statements, but I’m willing to stick my neck out and predict that over the next few months the weather everywhere is going to be unpredictable. So the question of what to wear if, like me, you have an active outdoor and indoor life, starts to get tedious. A coat or not? A warm jacket? Will it rain? It’s sunny but it’s cold and windy… How to minimise having to shed layers every time you arrive in a building or jump in the car?

It’s a dilemma I’ve been pondering for some years and I’ve recently realised that our changing weather patterns are making it worse. So I got to work.

Thanks to my experience in the tailoring of country pursuits garments I was already aware of the extremely practical nature of the gilet – a sleeveless jacket often seen worn by ‘county women’ everywhere. Practical yes, but fashionable – very questionable.

Yet why not, I thought? Why not take the perfect answer to unpredictable weather and transform it into something that will look striking in almost any indoor or outdoor situation, without losing its practicality?

Introducing TfW’s Limited Edition Gilet. An all-season, comfortable, light, multi-use, warm, feminine garment which will eliminate cumbersome multi-weather dress problems for good. The gilet is sleeveless, which means freedom of movement. It can be worn over a business suit or under a topcoat. And its two-way zip enables you to adjust the front closure to suit almost any circumstances, whether driving or walking, sitting in a train or cycling indeed.

But crucially, I’ve hand-crafted the TfW Gilet to look good anywhere – at work, evenings out, walking the dog, shopping… There’s a selection of classic William Morris cotton print linings …

The garment is made from boiled wool, a fabric shrunk during manufacture so that it will retain its posture whatever the circumstances for the life of the garment.

And something else I learned from my country pursuits experience – handbags can be bad news when coping with windy or rainy conditions. So the TfW Gilet contains carefully crafted, fully lined pockets – for coins, mobile, travel documents, spectacles. And two secure internal zip pockets for credit cards, passes, etc.

An entirely original limited edition – but with unlimited style.

All photos: Keith Hern

Pinky has had an illustrious career as one of the leading sportswomen in trap and skeet winning 5 European Championships, a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games, and joins the ranks of top women athletes as one of the few to be voted Sportswoman of the Year.  She was the first Briton to take part in the Olympics in both trap and skeet and was the inspiration behind the first of the shooting waistcoats I was commissioned to make for the British Shooting Team.

Unknown to many of her followers is the fact that she also designs and hand makes exquisite jewelery from semi-precious and precious stones.  Some of her work is currently on view at Holland & Holland, Mayfair.

“Carol has a great eye for detail and it is wonderful to find someone with such an understanding of the value of hand-crafted items.  I applaud her new venture and wish Tailoring for Women every success” Pinky Le Grelle

Team Great Britain heads off to Beijing on a wave of success in the European Championships and with our waistcoats securely packed in their luggage.  I began working with them in November 2007 as a result of the successful collaboration  for the last Commonwealth Games.

The interesting thing about the shooting waistcoats we made is that they require a combination of diverse fabrics each with their own properties that have to be blended together into a highly developed garment that works with the athlete when they compete at this high level.  A particular issue also was how the materials might react to the climatic extremes in China.

I was thrilled to see that Richard Faulds took a gold In the double trap competition in last month’s World Cup in Suhl, Germany.  Another Gold medal to add to his collection.