Tailoring for Women

I have a number of autumn/winter trousers in production at the moment.  As I was putting the final hand stitches into a blue birdseye wool pair it struck me how, in a small but symbolic way, this garment had contributed to the emancipation of women in the workplace.  Courrèges ‘in mid-sixties Europe was a major influence in transforming the combination of matching jacket and trousers into “acceptable formal wear for daytime professionals” (‘A History of Fashion’   J. Anderson Black & Madge Garland).  His lead was followed  in the US  in the form of the ‘pantsuit‘;  an combination of  matching tunic and trousers.

I remember at the time how its rapid proliferation was both shocking and liberating.  Not only was its visual manifestation a force for change, but it introduced a new sense of practicality to the business wardrobe.  When I started my business in the 70′s it was, in part, a response to this sea change in the office dress code. Prior to this nothing but a skirt or dress was considered acceptable.

Trousers can be transformational; if they look great, so do you.  I would even go so far as to say that this basic garment’s influence can enhance the sense of well being for the wearer.  The technique of achieving this miracle is all in the ‘cut’; a dilemma that was addressed in the tailor’s bible,  J.P. Thornton’s ‘The sectional system of gentlemen’s garment cutting’, of which I have an ancient copy.

‘The difficulties of trouser cutting can be summed up as follows…..If a trouser is cut to fit a figure when the legs and body are in a straight, standing position how can it fit when the legs and body are in a crooked position, walking? How can the 2 cloth cylinders suitable for the straight legs fit when the wearer is seated?”

They are a deceptively tricky garment to cut well, particularly for the female figure with its more complex curves.  The final garment must be comfortable, look good from all angles, and have no visible sign of the internal architecture.  The wearer needs to be able to step into an car or board a plane without pinch, stress, or ‘ride up’.  Following long days seated in the boardroom the garment should fall naturally into place with the creases intact.

Nowadays the new wools and blends can cope with all seasons and changes in climate.  Long gone are the times when all that was available were heavy weight tweeds and pinstripes.  And to be just a little more seasonal, how about some breeks.  I handed over a pair yesterday all ready for the grouse moors, lined in pink!

We are thrilled this year to be able to link with this auspicious event and further promote and acknowledge the part women play in business.  This will be the 6th year of the Awards and they include a number of categories ranging from financial to legal services.  I believe from the creator of the event, Gwen Rhys, that it is complete sell out this year and has been promised the attention of BBC TV, so it should be quite an event.

I am, myself, a member of the City Women’s Network (CWN) which has a membership that extends right across these business sectors and it is always a stimulating experience to attend their meetings and learn from such a broad spectrum of expertise. It seems that there are now many such networks at local, national, and even international level.  My friend, the concert pianist Diana Baker, was a speaker at the Women’s International Network conference a couple of years ago and I had hoped to attend their conference in September this year.  Maybe I will have better luck in 2009.

More recently the Everywoman took place in London with the indomitable Ruby Wax as one of the key speakers.  What an inspiration!

So, well done in advance to all the recipients of the Awards.  A great achievement.

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!

photos: Jason Plews

Some time ago I paid a fortune for some brightly coloured Holland and Sherry tartan cloth and made myself a hacking jacket. I loved it to bits and all was fine until I was attacked by a barbed wire fence when out on one of my client’s shoots. One of those awful triangular tears was the result, in full view half-way up the sleeve.

The cloth was discontinued and the only way to put this right was to try to cover it with a patch or call in the ‘emergency services’.

Invisible mending is a highly-skilled, time-consuming service that patches, re-weaves and disguises what would seem to be irreparable damage to cloth. This can include cigarette burns, tears, moth holes, cuts, and perhaps the most catastrophic of all accidents, the slip of a scissor-hand on a finished garment. Every job has to be treated individually, and even seemingly impossible tasks can have miraculous results. The precise method, perfected over generations, involves taking threads from concealed parts of a garment, a ‘hem’ or ‘cuff’ say, and reweaving them over tears. One of the benefits of a bespoke garment is that they have generous inlays from where the replacement threads can be retrieved. Incidentally, there is a similar procedure for leather which involves a clever gluing technique to return the skin to its former glory.

There are two places I know of where one can get this service. One is based in the Midlands but is a closely guarded secret of the trade. The other caters more for non-trade customers and is based in Thayer Street, Marylebone, London. The British Invisible Mending Service is a family concern and has been established in Marylebone for over 70 years and although I have not had occasion to use their services it is well worth taking a tour of their website which has all manner of useful information about the process of taking your garment into ‘intensive care’.

A repair can take a number of days and comes at a premium because of the special skills required, but to this day I marvel that I can’t find the tear in my coat.

Photo: Thanks to Tendring District Council

This recent edition of Monocle (note the tailor on the cover!) contained news that might raise the spirits of craftspeople all over.  Its feature “Craft makes a comeback \Welcome Home” highlights a recent trend for manufacturers to bring their production units back to their home roots and values.  We have seen this happening with other outsourced services too such as call centres.  The reasons cited in this case were twofold; the difficulty in  monitoring and maintaining quality, and soaring logistical costs.

Good news perhaps for all the highly trained craftspeople ‘back home’, and in particular for those in Savile Row which has been hit over the years by a popular misconception that price was the sole determining factor in purchasing a suit.  Depite this homeward bound trend however, there seems still to be have been a recent burst of activity from internet-based suit makers with their own version of bespoke garments manufactured on the other side of the world … it would seem that now even the term bespoke has to be redefined according to the Advertising Standards Authority .

From my daily meanderings through the Square Mile I must admit to having some reservations about the final outcome of these cyber suits.  ‘Distance learning’ is one thing, ‘distance fitting’ quite another.

In this inspiring  article in Monocle, I was particularly taken by the comments made by Martin Frechen, MD of Steiff Teddy Bears (yes…teddy bears!), whose manufacturing base transfers from China back to Germany in 2009.  Clearly passionate about his product he says,

“It has to say take me in your arms, hug me, I’m  here for you, I’m your best friend.  It’s that lifelikeness and friendliness that gives the animals soul, that sets it apart from everybody else on the market.  This can only be achieved with talented and skilful craftsmen.”   This may sound a bit hokey, but I think it is much the same experience a client wants from a hand crafted suit.”

Unfortunately, for copyright reasons I can’t show a copy of the complete article, but it might be worth getting a copy whilst stocks last.

Image:  Thanks to Monocle.  www.monocle.com

Out of all of the people I know in the trade Tom, at English Cut is the person who has made the most effective use of technology in extending his ‘shop window’, taking his business to clients and dispelling some of the mystique behind the profession.  It makes for an interesting juxtaposition, the intimacy of the bespoke process alongside simple mass communication methods and his blog appears to be something to which many turn.

He has a wealth of ‘back stories’ emanating from his colleagues in the trade, and was gracious enough to mention my own trip to New York earlier this year and the response from a simple post was most encouraging.

I wish Tom all the best and look forward to meeting up with him again after his own trip to the States this Autumn.