Bespoke Suits – A brief history of tailoring

we are passionate about everything that we undertake and Bespoke Suits, as we know it today, has the most recent identity that has come from many centuries of dedicated work to perfect the expertise in tailoring, stitching, sewing, cutting, and perfectly clothing the human form in the finest fabrics.

Our tailoring story may had developed slowly but originated in Europe around the 13th century. In the days before bespoke tailoring, clothes were purely something that you needed to protect yourself from the weather and so that you were decently attired. The Renaissance transformed culture and the arts and gradually tailoring became more of a statement of style rather than function.

Changing ideas

Uniforms, in Medieval times were usually made from a single piece of fabric but now began to be tailored to be shorter and tighter showing off the contours of the human body. Tailors altered the way that people looked at clothing, and pieces became an expression of personality and also sought-after objects.

Master Tailors became responsible for their local area’s clothing and this role became a respected trade. As society changed and industry boomed, towns became cities where fashion showed off wealth and status. Countries like Spain, Italy and France were considered hubs for fashion and men would flock to them from all over Europe, to have their clothes professionally tailored by the best craftsman.

Royal Influence

By the 17th Century, what people wore and the fashion of the day was very much influenced by royalty and one king in particular, Louis XIV who reigned France from the mid 17th century and made Paris the epicentre for the fashion conscious.

Now the more feminine cloaks and doublets, that had been popular attire since the 14th century began to give way to the more fitted and masculine looking coats and vests and trousers were also now more commonly worn.

Many of the traditional techniques that were used in tailoring over the centuries are still used in modern day tailoring, which despite benefiting from technological advancements is still a highly skilled form of art and in a world where mass production and off the peg clothing dominates, there is still a thriving industry and always a call for quality bespoke tailoring.