Savile Row_thoughts & words

from The Savile Row Story: An Illustrated History by

'and so to the famous formula of sedate propriety, of the exquisitley prosaic, constructed around an image of perfect manhood that has stayed constant since tailoring began.'

 

Well's pattern room- 'Savile Row's ultimate secrets strung out like kippers in a smoke house'

'nothing is more hidden than the ways of making a Savile Row suit, which is far from the immutable creation of popular imagination . There is no agreed method of construction, the ritual as properly performed calls for the cooperative efforts of a cutter, trimmer, coat-maker, trouser-maker, waistcoat-hand, finisher and presser. The measurements taken, the cutter drafts a patten on stout manila paper and uses this to cut out the cloth. The parts for the jacket and the trousers are bundled separately and passed with precise instructions to the specialist tailor of each garment. Within a few says, the suit is basted (the basic components are crudely patched together with temporary stitching in white cotton) ready for the first fitting.'

'the bespoke tailor is a sculptor in the way he fashions a hollow shell to accomodate and flatter a particular body with all its oddities. The suit is given shape, bounce and further individuality through umpteen unseen stitches worked into its innards.' 

Tailor_etymology

1296, from Anglo-Fr. tailour, from O.Fr. tailleor "tailor," lit. "a cutter," from tailler "to cut," from M.L. taliator vestium "a cutter of clothes," from L.L. taliare "to split," from L. talea "a slender stick, rod, staff, a cutting, twig," on the notion of a piece of a plant cut for grafting.

"Although historically the tailor is the cutter, in the trade the 'tailor' is the man who sews or makes up what the 'cutter' has shaped." [OED]


The verb is recorded from 1662; fig. sense of "to design (something) to suit needs" is attested from 1942. Tailor-made first recorded 1832 (in a fig. sense); originally "heavy and plain," as of women's garments made by a tailor rather than a dress-maker.
 
 

The cutting room at Henry Poole c. 1940s

 
 
Sartorial_etymology
"pertaining to a tailor," 1823, from Mod.L. sartorius, from L.L. sartor "tailor," lit. "patcher, mender," from L. sart-, pp. stem of sarcire "to patch, mend." Sartorius as the name of the long leg muscle is because it is used in crossing the legs to bring them into the position needed to sit like a tailor.
 
 

Fabric room at Anderson & Sheppard c.1970s

 
Bespoke
"custom or custom-made, made to order," of goods, as distinguished from ready-made, 1755, earlier bespoken (c.1600), pp. of bespeak, in a sense of "to speak for, to arrange beforehand," a sense attested in bespeak from 1580s. Now usually of tailored suits.