The Story Behind The Bespoke Suit
You may have heard of bespoke tailoring thanks to all the movies about elegant British spies for which these precisely handmade suits act as a kind of uniform. The tradition goes back for many centuries, and the clever craft of cutting, stitching, and sewing fabrics to perfectly fit the human male’s frame is considered to be a true art form.
This time-honoured practice has continued into modern times, and no really well-dressed Australian man of society would consider wearing anything that wasn’t bespoke, purchasing his tailored suits in Melbourne where he knows that the tradition is carried on with the utmost precision and care!
In the dark ages of Europe clothing was considered to be a solely functional item used to modestly cover the body and provide some protection from the elements. Then the Renaissance came along, an age that celebrated arts and culture, and true tailoring was born as part of the ‘rebirth of humanism’. Simply put, people no longer had to walk around in a potato sack, and clothing became a wonderful mode of self-expression. By the 17th century tailoring was regarded as a highly prestigious vocation that clothed kings and queens, and other notables in the requisite finery of the age. This was when the loose doublets and cloaks that were the standard garb since the 14th century were replaced with carefully fitted coats, vests, and trousers, the forerunners of modern bespoke fashion.
In the 19th Century, while the French sashayed about in florid velvet and silks, rather resembling circus performers, the English preferred long black coats and stovepipe hats, and the masculine, modern English gentleman’s prim and proper silhouette came to be. The adroit methods of the English tailors quickly came to dominate the world of European fashion, and London was the apex of the art with the famed Savile Row at its centre. The Industrial Revolution added to the demand and the simplicity and grace that bespoke tailoring made its hallmark continues on to this day in the form of the formal business suits and neckties that continue to lead the world in form and fashion and show no signs of being replaced any time soon.
Today’s bespoke tailors continue to uphold the craft’s traditional techniques despite technology’s attempts to usurp their traditional role with mass-produced machine-made garments of lower price and inferior quality. Bespoke tailoring has never been an exact science like the averaged measurements that factories use to produce their poor imitations of this highly-skilled profession, an art form that requires an eye for beauty and nimble hands that can perfectly accentuate the unique form of an individual human with fabric. Even so, mass production and ready-made clothing dominate the world now, and sadly fashion as well, making the bespoke tailor’s role more important to preserve than ever.
In today’s Australia women have discovered the value of a bespoke suit and have adopted the style for their own, with some frankly stunning results. Whoever you are, we can guarantee you that a bespoke suit will make you look your very best, satisfaction guaranteed.
