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470 entries across tailoring, shoemaking, cloth and craft Reference publication: we sell nothing and rank nobody for payment Every figure carries its source and the date it was checked

8 entries

History

How the suit, the dinner jacket, the necktie and the trade itself came to be, with the myths marked as myths.

History

8 entries
A modern suit beside a frock coat 01

How the suit happened

The modern suit grew from the coat, waistcoat and breeches of the 1660s English court, simplified by country and riding clothes over two centuries.

 A chalk-stripe jacket in a bright cutting room 02

How Savile Row happened

Savile Row filled with tailors around 1800 to be near aristocratic clients, and it is now a small trade with a famous name and too few makers.

 A linen jacket in Mediterranean sun 03

How Naples took the weight out of the jacket

Neapolitan tailoring began in 1930s Naples, where workshops like Rubinacci removed the padding, stiffening and lining from English jackets so they felt light in the heat.

 A grosgrain shawl lapel with a bow tie 04

How the dinner jacket happened

The dinner jacket started as a blue silk coat Henry Poole made for the Prince of Wales in 1865, and Americans named it after Tuxedo Park.

 New welted oxfords beside a last 05

How men's shoes reached their present form

Ordinary dress shoes owe a lot to the 1870s Goodyear welting machine, which let machines build shoes that could still be repaired.

 A silk tie knotted beside a linen cravat 06

How the necktie happened

Croatian mercenaries, a French court, and a nineteenth-century knot that never went away.
  1. A long rail of identical suits in a showroom The rise of ready-to-wear

    Ready-made clothing took off in the nineteenth century when making uniforms, especially for the American Civil War, showed how body sizes vary.
  2. A navy blazer with brass buttons The blazer, and two stories about it

    The blazer, a navy jacket often with metal buttons, is said to come from a Cambridge rowing club or HMS Blazer, though neither story is proven.
Picture credits 8
  1. A modern suit beside a frock coat: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  2. A chalk-stripe jacket in a bright cutting room: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  3. A linen jacket in Mediterranean sun: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  4. A grosgrain shawl lapel with a bow tie: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  5. New welted oxfords beside a last: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  6. A silk tie knotted beside a linen cravat: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  7. A long rail of identical suits in a showroom: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  8. A navy blazer with brass buttons: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art

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