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Bespoke and made-to-measure - what's your poison and your pleasure? The suit and how it functions for you.

 
  

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Ganesh
00:15 / 31.03.06
Must admit, I find this thread fascinating but oddly... I dunno, intimidating? The idea, I mean, going to be measured for a suit. This is largely irrational: I'm a suit-wearer, I have to wear a suit for work, I like wearing suits, I know I look good in a suit, I can afford it; but some weirdly coy part of me shrinks from the thought of going to see a tailor. I thi-i-ink it's because I'm not feeling terribly good about my body at the moment, and am maintaining a firm line in "no point in shelling out that much when I'm about to lose weight and regain my waistline" wish-fulfilment.

Thing is, I probably spend a fair bit on off-the-peg suits; I bought two new lightweight 3-button Aquascutum summer suits this month. Having worn (out) a variety of suits over the years, I find myself returning to an old faithful, near indestructible, ten-year-old Aquascutum chalkstripe that I just fit into (amazingly, I haven't worn through the backside) and decided I needed some more in the same line.

Can anyone recommend tailors who'd flatter my ectomorph-with-a-gut pear-shape? I'm finding I tend toward the more traditional English ones...
 
 
Sauron
20:05 / 04.04.06
Definitely get French pockets (slants) they look much more dynamic.

Anywhere good will be able to hide any shape in made to measure or bespoke, bespoke obviously being much more expensive and, as long as it's a good tailor and there are a lot of made to measure opatterns to chose from, relatively pointless IMHO.

If you're a fairly normal shape, I think getting an off the peg suit from a good tailor can be the best option- they'll do enough amends to the jacket (length of arm, fit accross the shoulders etc) to make it look like it's been made for you.

Good tailors will also do things like real sleave buttons on an off the peg, so it will give the feel of m2m/ bespoke.

Try Spencer Hart on Saville Row, even if you only buy a skinny tie. Wicked.
 
 
Jenna Elfman's Hollywood Haus
(prev. West Baltimore Hausing Project)
13:56 / 10.04.06
Bit modern for my tastes, but might suit you, Ganesh - I think you're a more adventurous dresser than I. I'd struggle to get through the website copy, myself.

Back to the ethics of bespoke tailoring... hmmm. It's an interesting one. It reminds me of fairtrade coffee, in a sense, but there's someething more specifically mad going on - in the sense that it should not, in a sane world, be cheaper to make clothes and ship them by sea freight to the other side of the world. Possibly, rising oil prices, along with inflation in the countries where the money is flowing in (most notably China and South-East Asia, but also South America and Eastern Europe) will start to roll this back, but in some cases that will mean recreating textile industries that largely no longer exist, or exist only in a vestigial or premium sense.

So - I go to a tailor and select a cloth, which I can ascertain is made in Britain, because the clothmaker has a name and a reputation, and is accountable. I can be confident (with a degree of inquiry) that the cloth will be cut and stitched in Britain, by people who are paid a reasonable wage for their labour. Again, this is at a premium. In fact, taking this route actually reminds one how much clothes kind of ought to cost, and therefore how many items of clothing we really ought to own. I have the bad habit of buying socks rather than darning or (during particularly bad weeks) washing or pairing the socks I already have - this is very poor form.

Then, of course, you get into the awkward business of whetherit would be better to provide foreign currency to the less developed world, even if that currency does not, eventually, lead to a fair wage for its workers. That's an issue, but even if one could order clothes from a "fairtrade" provider - one which guaranteed its workers and suppliers of raw materials were paid a fair wage - you'd have the shipping issues - and also the shipping costs, which might make it less economically convincing as well.

Hoom.
 
 
Sauron
15:10 / 10.04.06
Skip the dull website, go to the shop, lots of things are very trad.

Re: your fair trade moot, the other interesting moral/ commercial battle is big business vs skilled artisan - the downfall of the traditional saville row tailor. Is the noble art of cutting being lost to the machine? Is half the cost of a Saville Row suit the rent? Are machine cut suits these days just as good- should we just buy a few M&S ones for a quarter of the cost?
 
 
Ganesh
20:22 / 10.04.06
Skip the dull website, go to the shop, lots of things are very trad.

Indeed.
 
 
Sauron
21:04 / 10.04.06
How unintentionally profound of me.
 
 
Ganesh
21:12 / 10.04.06
Yes.
 
 
lekvar
23:29 / 10.04.06
I'm not a member of the suit-wearing class/professions, but I've recently discovered the joys of 100% wool. While a bespoke suit is sadly out of realistic consideration, I'll be picking up my first suit soon and this thread has been a major motivator.

It's like sartorial porn.

Faster, Haus, faster!
 
 
astrojax69
04:15 / 11.04.06
i always wanted to get a yellow cordoruoy suit, after the protagonist in knut hamsun's 'mysteries'...

i did get once a designer suit made from hessian (yes, thankfully, it was lined) but i was a little 'big' for a model's size and didn't get much wear from it. one of the few times i wore it i had turquoise hair and have great photos. that said, it is still in the cupboard...

and i now wear a purple double breasted - i find i can wear this with a slick italian tie and shiny shoes and a good shirt and look 'corporate', or match with a t-shirt and funky green shoes and look casual. also own a nehru collar black suit; looks nice, too. mainly wear casual clothes to the office, though. dress up one two times a month...

something about a suit makes me feel different, like i should be more accomplished. but a badly worn suit is the pits.
 
 
Jenna Elfman's Hollywood Haus
(prev. West Baltimore Hausing Project)
18:56 / 11.05.06
Got the waistcoat finished today, which makes the suit feel more complete - I always saw this one as a three-piece. It is, not to put too fine a point on it, lovely, although I now want a summer-weight suit, which if I commissioned it now could be doen for July...

Holland and Sherry have just produced the "Dragonfly" collection - a set of 7oz super 140 cloths, which is absurdly light and absurdly soft for that weight. They're dangerous prototypes at the moment, but I had a feel and they seemed tougher than you'd expect. I'm not sure I'd dare get a suit in them, though...
 
 
Juan Gone
(prev. Jake, Knight Of Kennett Square)
07:51 / 12.05.06
I'm a pretty average size (5'10", 165lbs), so I've never had problems with suits off the rack. They just need a little altering with pants length, waist, etc. I bought my first nice suit from Brooks Brothers last year because I had two weddings to go to, cousin's and sister's (where I gave away the bride- had to look slick for that), and I had the extra cash to make it worth it. I figure that, unless I become grotesquely obese, I'll have it for a long time.

Anyway, the specs:

Black

Single-breasted, three buttons

No cuffs on pants, uck

Flat-front pants- Pleated fronts are hideous

Sharply creased pants

Central vent on coat

Zipper fly- I wear my suit for alcohol-friendly occasions

Belt loops

Fully pocketed (4 pants, 5 coat)

Classic lapels

I truly love a good suit. Since I don't have to wear one to work, It's fun to find an excuse to get all dressed up. It also gives me a chance to wear ties from my enormous tie collection. I don't know why I collect the things, because I never get to wear them, but I have so many sweet ties. It's an illness.
 
 
Disco is My Class War
08:12 / 13.05.06
I've bought a couple of suits before, but only from op shops, or 'thrift' shops as they say in the US. So, the prospect of altering or getting a suit made to measure never really applied. Now I'd really like a nice tailored suit, but have next to no idea how to go about getting fitted for one.

I've been told that, despite the crappy 'fair trade' implications, that there are a few tailors in Bangkok who make remarkably quality suits for a steal (at around US$350). I don't need a suit for work, or everyday wear, just want one for special occasions. I'm also hopelessly poor, so am probably going to get a fitting when I'm in Thailand next month. My shoulders are small, my hips are wide and I'm pretty short, so off-the-rack suits almost never fit me correctly. It seems stupid to pay for an off-the-rack in Australia when I could spend less at a tailor somewhere else. (Despite the guilt I feel about playing off the difference in wages between Aust. and somewhere like Thailand.)

Anyhow, a few questions, since I have no idea what to look for:

Are pinstripes hopelessly middle-ages boardroom exec? Specifically, a lovely charcoal grey fabric with fine, closely-spaced stripes, a bit of colour in the stripes, perhaps.

Is it really wrong to absolutely hate black suits, and never want to wear one? IS there a good reason I should buy black anyhow?

Has anyone been to any tailors in Bangkok, and know someone good?

Lastly, what happens when you're being fitted/measured? Do you have to shed all your clothes to be measured?
 
 
Smoothly
17:02 / 13.05.06
Are pinstripes hopelessly middle-ages boardroom exec?

I don't think so. I think wide chalk-stripes are best left to lawyers, but pinstripes can look okay I think. They're slimming too.

Is it really wrong to absolutely hate black suits, and never want to wear one? IS there a good reason I should buy black anyhow?

Depends why you hate them I suppose. Personally I like black suits, but it's just a matter of taste. They make white shirts look crisper, and they don't draw attention to one's shoes (assuming they're black).

Lastly, what happens when you're being fitted/measured? Do you have to shed all your clothes to be measured?

Nope. Your shoes should be the only things you're asked to shed.
 
 
Disco is My Class War
05:31 / 16.05.06
Thanks SW. Much appreciated.
 
 
aim for joviality
10:09 / 19.05.06
Holland and Sherry have just produced the "Dragonfly" collection - a set of 7oz super 140 cloths, which is absurdly light and absurdly soft for that weight. They're dangerous prototypes at the moment, but I had a feel and they seemed tougher than you'd expect. I'm not sure I'd dare get a suit in them, though...

I've heard about the new super 140s, they sound amazing. I 'm looking at suitcloth at the moment because I'm interested in design for dresses analogous in style to suits, and I hear I am not the only one thinking about long-but-structured wool dresses for winter 06/07. The pattern I've drafted so far is for an ankle length princess-seamed dress with removable linen collar and cuffs, fastening concealed with a straight hidden placket at front of neck, large pockets (to fall below the hip line) hanging from the waistline with their openings in the side seams. It should be a dark colour lightweight wool suiting. I like something with both an unambiguous "woman" gender signal and the analogous sombre functionality of a professional man's suit: something in the style that makes me think of Lise Meitner, Maria Agnesi, or Elizabeth Garrett Anderson.

One question I have about suits: how do people get fine woolen suits/suitcloths cleaned? Is there an environmentally responsible dry-cleaning option these days? The other option - not requiring drycleaning - I have looked at is getting some lightish weight raw tweed and waulking it (partial felting), to make a machine washable but very traditional garment. That would be a lot of work, but potentially good fun.
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
10:37 / 19.05.06
I like something with both an unambiguous "woman" gender signal and the analogous sombre functionality of a professional man's suit

Drool. Sounds great. Always find women's suits a bit of a problem - trouser suits all very well if one is long and elegant (I am not), skirt suits can be bank-manageressy. If you do this, can you show pics please?

Must start new thread...
 
  

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