Tailor Made - The Gentleman's Attire // OUGD401 - Publication

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After being given the brief I didn’t really have a clear idea of what I wanted to produce my publication on. I knew that I wanted to move away from the content of my essay and focus on fashion and specifically men’s fashion. With the title of A Brief History of… I came up with some initial ideas.

My initial ideas were:

-                A brief history of Adidas Originals.

-                A brief history of Men’s (designer) Fashion.

-                A brief history of Bespoke Tailoring.

-                A brief history of the Lounge Suit.

-                A brief history of Humor.

-                A brief history of Men’s Fashion Icons.

From these ideas I explored the possibilities that each one had. I found that a couple of my original possibilities were too narrow and did not give enough scope and that some were too broad and would be difficult to focus. The two concepts I thought would be too narrow were both Adidas Originals and Humor and the concept that I thought was too broad was A Brief History of Men’s Fashion. I thought I could limit it to A Brief History of Men’s Fashion from the past 100 years but instead I chose to combine A Brief History of the Lounge Suit and Bespoke Tailoring, focusing on the British elements.

With my content idea in place I needed to research into the topic areas and gather information.

I primarily browsed the Internet to increase my existing knowledge on the subject. I looked at existing articles on the history of both my topic areas and found that I didn’t want to go right back to the origins of the suit as it was the contemporary suit I was more interested in.

With this in mind, I wanted some professional opinions on Bespoke Tailoring and Suiting. To get this information, I emailed all of the tailors and Suit makers/designers on Savile Row and the surrounding area.

I emailed:

-                Ede & Ravenscroft

-                Richard James

-                Ozwald Boateng

-                Meyer & Mortimer

-                Chester Barrie

-                Maurice Sedwell

-                Drake’s London

-                Norton & Sons

-                Mark Marengo

-                Henry Poole & Co

-                Hardy Amies

-                Richard Anderson

-                Stowers Bespoke

-                Scabal

-                Gary Anderson

-                H. Huntsman & Sons

-                Dege & Skinner

-                Spencer Hart

-                Nick Tentis

-                Davies & Son

-                Kilgour

-                William Hunt

-                Gieves & Hawkes

The email I said read as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am a graphic design student at Leeds College of Art and I am currently in the process of designing and producing a publication on suits, specifically lounge suits. The publication will be a sophisticated and creative look into the world of bespoke tailored suiting, focusing on the heritage and its home, Savile Row, London.

As part of this project I aim to gather information from professionals, which is the reason for sending you this email. I would be very grateful if you could forward this email to your tailors so that, if they can spare the time, they could answer my questions.

I have attached the questions as a word document, a PDF file and at the bottom of this email as I was unsure as to what platform would be best.

If there are any problems, concerns or you would like some more information on what it is that I am doing, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I will also be in London on the 5^th & 6^th April, and intend to visit Savile Row and the surrounding area as further research. Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Jasper Lee

The questions I wanted to know varied from what their idea suit was through to who they thought wore a suit the best.

1.     What does a suit mean to you?

2.     What does a suit represent?

3.     Why did you choose to become a bespoke tailor?

4.     How long does it take to learn the skills required to be a bespoke tailor?

5.     What does it mean to be a bespoke tailor on Savile Row/in London?

6.     How long have you been a tailor?

7.     What is your preferred suit?           Cut//fabric//jacket//buttons//lapels//pockets//sleeves//vents//waistcoats//trousers

8.     What makes the perfect suit?

9.     How long does it take and experienced tailor create a bespoke suit?

10. Which person, in the public eye, best demonstrates the qualities of bespoke tailoring?

11. What are your specific essential accessories to your suite?         Cufflinks//shoes//watch//jewelry//bag//overcoat//scarf//hat

12. Is the suit the ultimate attire for the Gentleman?

I only received one correspondence, in the form of a phone call from Scabal. I had previously planned a trip down to London, which would allow me to go to Savile Row, experience what it is like, visit a Bespoke Tailor and ask my questions to them directly. Whilst there, I would also be able to photograph the street and the tailors.

When I was down there, people were mostly happy to talk to me and answer my questions, however, some places were closed as it was a Saturday, some said I required and appointment and one said I was better talking to other people. I asked a selection of my questions to all the people who were willing to chat with me. The responses I received were as follows:

Davies & Son

1.         Craft // perfect on the customer // challenge of perfection

5.         Global // everything // 70% export // born into it

7.         13 oz wool // royal – mid navy // English style // heavy cloth makes up nicer

10.       David Beckham // Ant & Dec

11.       White shirt // hank and tie always fit // collar bar // buttoned collar

12.       Yeah definitely, shoes are important too

Nick Tentis

1.         Sophistication // Class

3.         Love of nice clothes // Just asked a guy for a job

5.         Prestige // Know what you are doing // Quality

8.         Simple style // Good cut // Quality fabric // Good finish

10.       David Gandy // Gary Barlow // Dermot O’Leary

11.       Plain tie // Plain pocket hank // Shirt

12.       Yes

Dege & Skinner

1.         1^st Impression // Carry it off // Guide // Relationship with customer

2.         Confidence // Image

3.         Interest in uniform (military)

4.         Big // Important // Lucky // Fortunate

7.         Traditional // Look better // Simple // Modern // Not over the top

10.       David Gandy

11.       Pocket // Shirt // Tie // Start with the suit, the shirt must then match the suit and the tie must match the shirt and suit // Keep it plain // Everything will go with grey

12.       Definitely // 3 piece down to 2 piece // Range // Shirt can be worn with or without a tie, buttoned or unbuttoned // Savile Row is Savile Row // It is its own place, unaffected by trends

Scabal

1.         Defines a person // Individuality // Personality

3.         People interaction

7.         Slim lapel // Short jacket // Slim trousers // Adjustable waist

10.       Rubinacci // Morris Sidware

11.       All slim // Bit of colour // Hank // Classic shoes

12.       Absolutely

Richard Anderson

-                If you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it

-                Lifetime working on Savile Row // Savile Row is like a home // A village

-                Quality shirt and shoes are essential

-                Mohair and wool mix

With this information and the information I gathered from the Internet I had the foundation for my content, meaning I could now write the body copy that I wanted to put into my publication.

Whilst I was visiting London and the Savile Row tailors I also collected a selection of Lookbooks and information that will inform my publication.

Scabal’s Spring/Summer 2013 Lookbook and Magazine:

French Connection’s Spring 2013 Women’s Lookbook:

Orlebar Brown’s Spring/Summer 2013 lookbook:

As well as these physical publications, I also browsed the Internet for creative publications on similar topics. I found three publications that were relevant. The first is a box that looks like a jacket, shirt and tie. The jacket opens to reveal a tie and pocket, with each item, being a different material. This has an interactive element that is a business card can be inserted and removed from the pocket.

The second is a Slovenian book entitled Psychologists, Psychiatrists and Other Fools. The cover for this book looks like a section of a suit and shirt with the buttons on the front and the button holes on the back.

The final publication I found was cald the Tailors and was a concept for a publication about Gentlemen Criminals. The elements that I really liked were the simple yet effective layout designs and the style of the photograophs. The photographs are mysterious, dark, elegant and sophisticated all at the same time, emulating the ‘gentlemen criminals’. This is a quality I wanted in the photograps to go into my publication.

I also found a product, produced by Beams, that was a card holder and a pocket handkerchief. This is something I could possibly use when thinking about presenting my publication.

When I was down in London I took photographs of Savile Row – the street itself – and Dege & Skinner allowed me to take photos of their shop. This was extremely helpful as it meant that all of the photos used in the publication would be my own.

As well as the photographs from my trip to London I arrange a photo-shoot to get quality photographs of a suit. As I really enjoyed the style The Tailors publication photographs were taken I produced my own using similar techniques. I did not want any shots of the head or face that would reveal identity, as I wanted the focus to be on the suit. I also did not want generic Lookbook magazine style fashion shots as I wanted something more individual and original – this is why the photos are from obscure angles and have an unconventional backdrop. The photos were taken when it was dark using a ring flash so that it provides a very high contrast of light and tone. As the photos were going to be used in black and white only there wasn’t a need to worry about hue.

With the entire content ready, I moved on to thinking about the design of the publication and how it could be produced. I wanted to produce something that was unusual yet kept the sophistication of the content.

I came up with a variety of different possibilities:

After reviewing my design possibilities, I decided on creating a publication that could be folded inside a pocket-handkerchief and placed in the top pocket of a suit.

This idea meant that my publication was restricted to 80mm x 110mm. at this size it will fit into the top pocket of a suit jacket.

Now that I had a concept and content, I moved on to the designing of the publication. The first thing I did was decided on name and front cover. I wanted something that was simple and sophisticated. I came up with a variety of possible titles and words I could use as the title:

Bespoke

Tailored

Tailor-Made

Suit

Gentlemen

A Gentleman’s Attire

The Gentleman’s Attire

Gent

Mister

Mr.

Impress

Impression

Sophistication

Sophisticated

Perfection

Class

Confidence

Tradition

Traditional

A Gentleman’s Best

The Gentleman’s Best

A Gentleman’s Attire

The Gentleman’s Attire

A Gentleman’s Best

The Gentleman’s Best

Tailor-Made

Tailor Made

Tailor

Made

TAILOR

MADE

TAILOR

 

MADE

Tailor

 

Made

With possible title ideas I produced a number of thumbnail designs of different titles, using different layouts.

The title and layout I settled on was simple yet sophisticated. The title I decided on was, Tailor Made – The Gentleman’s Attire and the layout was a centrally aligned type based design.

I also did some initial design work, laying out photos and text. I wanted to present my content and make my publication in the form of a lookbook. This style has slightly glossy paper, large amounts of photograps and simple and effective layouts.

At this point we had a crit to see how we were getting on and what we still needed to do. In this crit we presented the work we had already done and received feedback on it. The feedback I received was very positive. The main change I made from the crit was that my publication would no longer be on large booklet and would be a series of 4 smaller publications. The reason for this change was to break up the content, make it easier to bind and there are 4 suitable ways to fold a pocket-handkerchief where the publication could sit inside.

As I had decided to split my publication up into 4 sections I needed to redesign each one. The four sections I chose to divide it into were; The Lounge Suit, Bespoke & The Tailor, Style & Etiquette and Savile Row & It’s Tailors. For the Style & Etiquette publication I wanted to highlight the different styles of suit. to do this I traced over photographs of the different styles so that the focus was on the cut and shape rather than the image.

The final four publication designs were as follows:

I proceeded to print the publications out to ensure they were the right size, worked and to test my possible binding methods.

The two binding methods I wanted to try were staple binding and saddle stitch binding. I wanted to see how effective and how well staples worked aesthetically as they were used in one of the lookbooks I had gathered during my research. The result was very promising; it looked sleek, professional and neat.

I wanted to try and saddle stitch with two different threads, one thick and one thin, to see which looked the best. The reason for saddle stitching was to try an alternative method that reflected the content as well.

The outcome of the saddle stitching provided a completely different feeling to the publication. It did not look as neat or as professional and the threads were either too thick or too thin.

For the final finished publications I printed them on double-sided gloss paper to emulate the lookbook professional feel and bound them with staples for the same reason.