Buttonholes on the sleeves
It is notoriously hard to define bespoke. There used to be certain elements by which you could immediately identify bespoke, and these definitions held up until some ten or fifteen years ago. Around that time, large-scale clothing producers started en masse to use particular traits of the classic bespoke art in their suits. Things that come to mind are of course the often discussed working buttonholes on the sleeves, but also the striped sleeve lining found its place in Ready-To-Wear (RTW). Or the tiny, hardly visible, stitches on the edge of the jacket. Basically, it was a way for producers to make their products more exclusive. ‘Hey, this coat’s got striped sleeve lining, I’ll have that one, because doesn’t it look nice and classy?’ Apparently the marketing trick behind it worked, because nowadays you can see this sort of feature on clothes in all quality and price ranges. Probably, most people don’t even realise why things like that are done that way. I can tell you it hasn’t anything to do with quality. That doesn’t mean it is bad, I’m just saying that it’s a pity when people try to upgrade products without actually adding value to them. Because in the end, you, the customer, pay a higher price.
Same thing with the buttonholes on lapels. For decades, they used to be simply stitched on, without being cut open. Ready-To-Wear factories had, and still have, machines that will make a perfect buttonhole. After a while, one could see that RTW coats were being made with buttonholes that were actually open. No use to them, other than giving the coat a more exclusive look. Kinda catches the eye. Now, there are two kinds of buttonholes: the first one is just straight, the second has a little hole in the end, which makes it resemble a keyhole. While RTW producers for a while used to put real, opened-up, key-hole type buttonholes on the lapel, it got through to them that in the world of bespoke, the keyhole-type is a serious no-no on lapels. The reason? It reeks of automation and Ready-To-Wear. So now you see RTW producers making real, working, open buttonholes. Without the little hole at the end. I like that kind of thing: how many times can you run in the same circle, trying all the while to look like you’re in a different circle?
Another item that has become very popular in the RTW industry, is the floating canvass. A number of upper level producers offer a range of coats where the fusing has been replaced by a floating canvass, just the way a good coat ought to be made. Now there is something that does increase quality. I’m all for it: It increases durability as well as comfort and appearance. A canvassed coat, (how long will I go on about canvasses…) feels more comfortable and will move with you and behave in a much more pleasant and comfortable way. But that’s been said before. The thing is that if you make a canvass, a coat doesn’t become good, or well-fitting, simply because the canvass is there. The tailor should know for who he is making the canvass. I consider this a very important point. There are about, oh, I’d say some 200 different ways to cut and make up a canvass. So the tailor observes you, and based on your physique, and on the wishes regarding silhouette that you have, decides what type of canvass he uses foryour coat: First of all in the choice of canvass material, then in the cut that is used for the canvass, and finally in making it, prior to basting it into the coat.
The point I’m getting to with this: Bespoke depends on much more than simple, defineable technical factors. You can have all the hallmarks: canvass, buttonholes, drafted especially for you, and so on, but what good is that when your tailor doesn’t know for the life of him how to listen to you? If he pursues his own definition of style or beauty, disregarding your wishes? If a tailor doesn’t notice, for instance, that you have a habit to fold your arms in front of your chest, necessitating a bit of extra drape in the back? ‘Sir, for a good fit, it’s best to let the arms hang down, it will give a much cleaner look.’ Right.
Bespoke depends first of all on the tailor. And secondly: it depends on you: the customer. You will need to give your tailor the information he needs in order to be able to satisfy you. And then he needs to listen to that and apply it. After those fields are covered, and only then, do the technical matters come into view:
Because no matter how well a cutter can cut for you, if it’s fused and stitched all over, it’s obviously not bespoke. And likewise, if it’s all made according to the rules of the art, but just not the way you want it, what do you have? Something just as good as-top of-the-line RTW, and just as ‘not quite right’. After all, you went to a bespoke tailor to get served up what YOU wanted, right?
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