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“The most important man in a tailoring shop is the cutter. He is the one who is responsible for giving the customer a proper fit and for designing clothes that suit him. Although England is famous for its tailors, many of the best cutters are of other nationalities. I have known wonderful cutters who were Swedish, Italian, Spanish, even Greek. But no matter what their nationalities may be, cutters are much alike in many respects. They always seem to have the weight of the world resting on their shoulders, and a good many of them are heavy drinkers. I suppose they are disillusioned artists, embittered by the problem of trying to hide the strange and misplaced contours of the average male figure.

The first time I met a cutter who liked the bottle too well was in London. This chap was giving me a fitting, and I suspected that he was a bit under the influence but had no idea just how much he had consumed.

‘This won’t do at all,’ I said, inspecting myself in the mirror. ‘I don’t like the way the coat hangs.’

‘Seems a bit of orlright to me, sir.’

‘It’s too loose,’ I insisted.

‘Hi wouldn’t sy so, sir.’

‘I tell you it won’t do; it fits like Mahatma Gandhi’s bed sheet.’

The cutter heaved a big sigh and said, ‘Hit ‘angs like a bloomin’ ‘orse blanket, it does.’ With that he folded up on the floor, out like a light.

The fitting was delayed for a few days, but the fellow finally made me a wonderful coat, even if it did have an aura of Scotch whisky about it.”

~ Adolphe Menjou in It Took Nine Tailors, his autobiography from 1948

Small is the number of men who learn style under the tutelage of their fathers, and even fewer speak the language of traditional clothing. This is why we see colourful buttonholes, decorated undercollars, bright colour buttons, contrast stitching and multi-collar mutant shirts in stores. When looking for something distinctive and distinguished, it is easy to grab the garish or poignant if one’s not yet versed in the options. The solution to this problem is texture; uneven weaves, irregular surfaces, variegated patterns, so on, found in fabrics, woollens, worsteds, shirtings.

As an example I mention the regular navy blue tie, which can be crafted from woven, printed, knitted or crocheted silk, and consequently have a very smoth or nubby surface. Materials like raw or Shantung silk bring a new mix into the equation, and remind us of the many forms of silk. This cornucopia of options is not on offer in high street shops catering to customers not asking for more. When the variables are summed up correctly, one will notice how texture combinations do stack up — and this deck has yet no colour shades or patterns included.

The world of collar shirts offers texture in the form of herringbone, twill, Dobby or Royal Oxford weaves, which look different both on paper and on shoulders. Cotton can be mixed with linen or ramie that bring more wrinkles into the idle moments of summer. In handkerchiefs, instead of the common smooth cotton, the reader can try a mixture of silk and wool, whose matte surface will balance shiny suitings. A tweed ‘kerchief, in turn, brings suitable roughness in the breast pocket of a sturdy corduroy jacket. The journey into the world of textures reaches a new high at a tailor or made to measure shirt shop, after confronting a tome of fabric swatches

Watching, touching and comparing through hundreds and thousands of fabrics teaches that the Lounge suit is not a Lounge suit, that the white shirt is not the same white shirt time after time. When one’s occupation calls for a Lounge suit with all the works, the waning years will make the same old formula very dull indeed. At this time I believe textures will be the solution instead of challenge, because a grown man in shiny or overt decorated trinket clothing is more comical than assuring. Where contrast is conspicuous and easy, texture is restricted and complicated communication in details. A true sport of skill.

Chapman Bags from Chapman Bags on Vimeo.

“It is both delusional and stupid to think that clothes don’t really matter and we should all wear whatever we want. Most people don’t take clothing seriously enough, but whether we should or not, clothes do talk to us and we make decisions based on people’s appearances.

On the other hand, there are people, particularly in the fashion industry, who take clothing too seriously. We aren’t doing biomedical research or working on some nuclear collider. Clothing is not everything in life and it won’t solve problems of famine and overpopulation. It’s a fine balance you have to strike and that’s what I try to do.”

~ G. Bruce Boyer in his interview with The Wall Street Journal