Tailoring for Women

Following on from our Briefing for Bespoke: Fabric post I felt that it would be useful to highlight some of the things you should take into account when selecting a fabric. These will determine whether or not it is fit for purpose, giving consistent performance throughout a garment’s intended lifetime.

There are three sets of factors to think about:

• the inherent properties of the fabric
• comfort
• wear and tear

Properties

The properties of a fabric fall into seven different categories.

Cover is the first, and it relates to how well, or little, a fabric embraces a figure  for either concealment or warmth.  The more crimp in a fibre the better its covering properties, and as crimped fibres tend to cover more area, in the manufacturing process less raw product can be used which makes for a lighter weight fabric with less bulk.  The next category is colour fastness.  Quite a critical issue as over a period of time hue and intensity can fade as a result of exposure to sunlight or overly rigorous cleaning processes.

The outward surface of a fabric is known as the face and this is determined by the fibre length, fibre crimp, yarn structure, method of manufacture and finishing.  All of these influence whether or not the final result will be crisp and well defined, or something much softer.  Feltability is the way in which wool fibres matt together and it gives woolen fabrics body , firmness and stability.  The down side for felted fabrics is that they need extra care in their maintenance.

Different fabrics react to heat in different ways and this can produce alarming results particularly during the pressing process.  Heat sensitivity is something you should bear in mind particularly with man-made fabrics.  Interestingly, one of the ways in which we tell the difference between man-made and natural fabrics is to burn a small sample with a match and the resulting smell will give you an immediate indication of its composition.  With modern manufacturing processes man-made fabrics can mimic their natural counterparts so accurately that this test is not so out of place as it might first seem.

Luster refers to  the amount of light that reflects from the strands of the yarn and this can be affected by the length of the fibre, its cross-section, crimp and structure.  Fibres can be combined to give a hard gloss, soft luster, or dull matte appearance. The finish on a fabric can also affect the luster.

The last category is a fabric’s drape or stiffness.  This determines the degree of flow you require in a garment and whether or not you want to create something more structured or relaxed.

Comfort

Comfort concerns not only to the physical contact a fabric makes with the body, the feel, but also to the stretch which allows the wearer go move freely.  Two additional factors which are rarely considered are how a fabric reacts to moisture, and its electrical conductivity.

Their are three ways for assessing how a fabric might react to moisture. Porosity, absorbency and wicking.

Porosity relates to the ability for air or moisture  to pass through a fabric and  is determined by the tightness of the weave.  Ventile,  a fabric originally developed for RAF pilots in WWII to improve their chance of survival when forced to ‘ditch’ in Arctic seas during convoy duty, was also used by Sir Edmond Hillary’s Everest expedition.  Its construction was such that when the fabric becomes damp the fibres swell and tighten up preventing moisture penetration.

Absorbency is governed more by the  chemical and physical structures of the fibres and governs affecting how a fabric deals with matters such as perspiration, water repellency, colour fastness, shrinkage, spotting and static build-up.  Wicking is the way in which a fibre transfers moisture along its surface.  This has particular applications in sportwear by taking moisture away from the body to the outside of the garment where it more easily evaporates.

With electrical conductivity, although this can be influenced by the context in which the garment is worn, one of most uncomfortable experiences for the wearer is to find that their diaphonous gown has suddenly become figure hugging, and they they are both the recipient and giver of electrical shocks.  (If this is the case and you don’t have an anti-static shift to hand, rush for the body lotion and apply it to your undergarments!)

Wear and Tear

Finally, wear and tear.  This is caused largely by abrasion or over-stretching. As a rule of thumb the stiffer  the fabric the less able it is to withstand rubbing or chaffing.  Snagging is also a form of abrasion where individual yarns are caught and  pulled from the main body of the fabric.  The ability for a garment to return to its original shape as its elasticity diminshies also limits its life.  This can be caused by general use, or by the effect of chemicals or overheating during the cleaning process which can also affect both colour and composition.

For the next post we shall look forward to a brighter note with some tips for taking better care of your wardrobe

Photo: thanks to ChorLeoni & Everest News

What an unexpected, and intriguing pleasure it was to meet with Grayson Perry the other night at the opening of the exhibition of works by the artist Kishio Suga.  Suga-san is one of the leading artists of the Mono-ha School (The School of Things); a movement that swept the Japanese art worldfrom the end of the 1960s through the 1970s.  The exhibition was held at the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation in Regents Park and was timed to complement  the Frieze Art Fair.

Grayson is an admirer of  Suga-san’s work and after the initail presentation we had time to chat.  I have long wanted to talk to Grayson, not only about his work as an artist, but more irresistibly, about his passion for cross-dressing and the role he plays in the design and making of his striking garments.  Luckily there was a photographer close by and we were able to capture the moment before he was whisked away.

We talked in particular about the Art of Savile Row and I mentioned its eponymous BBC TV programme when he was featured commissioning a suit from Richard James.   I remember a fascinating bit of perceptions at play between the customer and his tailor which had to be worked through. A kind of ‘Victor/Victoria moment’ came to mind!.

The designer/maker issue came up and how rare it is for there to be a shared understanding of the actual making side. I told him a story about working with a certain feisty French designer who handed me a set of cartoons – over exaggerated, with proportinally distorted figures in ‘anti-gravity’ poses.  To prove a point, our team of makers decided to build one of his Safari jackets to scale and the result was something of a hibrid, somewhere between  Dan Leno and the corps de ballet.

Very pleasant indeed to have such an exchange over a glass of wine…By the way…he has sensational legs………..!

Photos: thanks to www.peopleplayuk.org.uk and www.commonwealthballet.org

I have on my desk a composite reminder from my first days in London almost twenty years ago; a photograph, business card and sketch of an evening tail suit. They came from my first meeting with Harry Helman, the gold medal winner some would call the Godfather of Savile Row.

He was responsible for the training of many of the top craftsmen you find in the trade today and this meeting was arranged by one of his protégées, Malcolm Plews (Welsh & Jefferies).

On our first meeting he asked me what project was foremost in my mind….I said how to make a top notch set of evening tails, and he jumped into action with a piece of paper to start to lay out the basic elements of this complex item.

He had time for anyone who had a passion for the trade and dispensed wisdom, humour and Guinness in equal measure from a chair which carried his name next to the bar in the corner of the Windmill pub. With his brother Burt, Harry ran a business from Bruton Street, Mayfair, with Harry looking after the men’s side of the business and Burt the ladies. When he passed away in 1990 he had been working in the trade for more than 60 years. To Harry, everyone was a ‘good boy’……..even the girls!

When Jerome Kern and Buddy De Sylva first set out to write their 1920’s classic melody I doubt that they had the lining of their jackets in mind, snappy dressers though they were.  A well cut lining however, made from an appropriate fabric, can really put a new slant on any garment.

Here are a few reasons why we have a lining in a garment in the first place:

• It makes it easier to slip the garment on and off
• The lining hides the inner workings of a garment
• It can protect the skin from a harsher outer fabric
• It allows a jacket to freely interact with the garment underneath
• It helps to protect the main garment from the body’s heat and moisture
• It helps to maintain a garment’s structure and shape
• It allows a body to move freely
• It preserves the life of a garment, bearing the brunt of the wear and tear, and can be replaced.
• If the main fabric is translucent or opaque a lining can change its hue
• It can add a touch of fun

Maybe you can add to this list?

With tailored jackets in particular, the lining is made slightly bigger than the garment and it is installled with extra pleats and ‘ease’.  This helps with both comfort and the outward appearance of the garment.  Next time you are out and about see if you can spot the person with the lining that is too small or has shrunk.  You will notice from the way the hem at the centre back curls up inside the jacket and how it takes away the crisp fold of the hem.

More recently with the development of new fabrics, the introduction of lycra into the weave has extended the capabilities of linings enabling them to stretch and give a greater feeling of comfort.

Linings can also be a way of bringing a subtle flair to the business suit, and a flash of crimson against an otherwise sombre pinstripe can give added frissons.  One of my clients, the violinist Gil Shaham always took a secret to the platform whenever he performed.  With a passion for Warner Brothers cartoons, his tail-suit was lined with ‘Loony Tunes’ characters…where Tweety Pie ended up is perhaps best left to the imagination!

Gil, Claudio Abaddo, and the Vienna Philharmonic

Pbotos:  Thanks to www.free-scores.com and The Strad