A tailor's hands cut dark cloth marked out in chalk with large shears, a basted jacket on a dress form behind.

Textiles and clothing

Artisan Tailoring

A jacket made to measure is a small architecture of the body. The tailor takes the measurements, stitches a trial canvas, has it tried on, marks the corrections in chalk, unpicks, stitches again. Every step is a dialogue between the cloth and the anatomy of the person who will wear it — because every body is asymmetrical, every shoulder falls differently, every posture asks for a fit of its own. Artisan tailoring is one of the Italian excellences recognised around the world, and Tuscany is one of its historic territories, although less celebrated than the Neapolitan or the Roman.

A paved street between stone palazzi, an arched doorway opening onto a tailor's shop with garments on hangers.

Where

Where it is practised in Tuscany

In Tuscany artisan tailoring has scattered traditions. Firenze has a tailoring school of international standing, strongest of all in menswear tailoring of British descent — cut jackets, formal dress, high-end men's suits — with historic workshops concentrated in the centre and in the Oltrarno. Then there is women's prêt-à-porter tailoring of authorship: small ateliers producing limited-run or made-to-measure garments for a discerning clientele. Prato has a very strong textile tradition but less celebrated tailoring, while the Versilia hosts summer tailors (Forte dei Marmi, Pietrasanta) who work for a high-end seaside clientele. Pisa, Lucca, Siena have master tailors scattered about, often attached to historic family workshops that have handed the craft down over several generations.

A spool and thimble, tailor's and pinking shears, an awl, pincushion, chalk and tape measure beside folded woollen cloth.

How

The techniques of the craft

The techniques of the craft are complex and codified. The cutting of the pattern is the first gesture — the tailor draws the pattern on the cloth, stitching it onto the client through a series of successive fittings. The internal construction of the jacket (canvases, chest pieces, horsehair, padding) is the secret of a tailored garment's hold: a jacket of fine tailoring seems to "stand up on its own" because it has an architecture of bonded fabrics that support its shape. The hand basting — the pressed stitch beneath the collar of the jacket — is the signature of tailoring of authorship, invisible but essential. Pressing is a parallel craft that requires skills of its own: the tailor's iron is a precision machine, and pressing sets the fall of the finished garment. The hand finishing — buttonholes, button work, internal reseaming — distinguishes the artisan garment from prêt-à-porter.

A tailor unrolls a bolt of wool on a large cutting table, among shelves of cloth, shears, tape measure and a basted jacket.

Now

The craft today

Doing it today is a contest between markets. On one side luxury prêt-à-porter has all but supplanted made-to-measure tailoring for men, even if a discerning segment holds on — anyone who can afford a bespoke jacket knows it is worth ten industrial ones. On the other there is a new generation of women tailors of authorship, offering slow fashion, small-run garments and made-to-measure pieces for important occasions (weddings, events, ceremonies). Passing the craft on is the central problem: real tailors are formed by ten or fifteen years at the bench, and today few young people take that road.

The producers of this craft

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