The documentation research of my learning journey during PA & DCE Core Elective Studies. The area that I will be researching in to is Military uniform, in particular Hussar uniform. My particular interest is in period garments, so my research will be mainly tailored towards 18th and 19th century garments.
I will be looking in to the quailties, fabrics and construction methods of uniforms through the ages as well as documentation of the construction process of my chosen garment.
I never knew what a great coat was until now - I had heard it being mentioned in many books and areas of research however I wasn't sure what it actually was.
This is an example of a Great coat from the Napoleonic period. It is also known as a watchcoat, and is a large overcoat typically made of wool designed for warmth and protection against the weather. Its collar and cuffs can be turned out to protect the face and hands from cold and rain, and the short cape around the shoulders provides extra warmth and repels rainwater (if made of a waterproof material). It was popular in the 19th century as a military uniform and casual wear for the wealthy, and is still issued for inclement weather by many armed forces around the world.
Hussars were issued a cape with a hood of immense proportions dating back hundreds of years resembling a modern poncho. It would be wrapped around the wearers body, or when on horseback, left to hang over wearer and mount. It was awkward and untidy, and was later replaced by the manteaucapote, a long greatcoat with a shorter cape attached which enabled the wearer to place his crossbelts on the outside of the garment. Both models were entirely dark green. Officers wore similar patterns of cape and greatcoat, but, in addition, generally sported a double breasted overcoat, or redingote for foot duty.
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Having researched in to Henry Poole & Co. I have found an interesting bit of information on the tailoring process which they use. This is really great information for me because I can get a better insight in to a professionals process that can be applied to the way in which they make any sort of jacket, including a military coat.
Individual paper pattern is cut using individual clients measures. Firstly, the client with the help of the cutter selects the cloth from our range of over 6000 luxurious samples for their Henry Poole suit. Upon choosing the fabric, the particular style that the client desires is then discussed with the cutter who then will take the clients own individual measurements. From the measurements that are taken, the clients own paper pattern is cut and the particular style that has been discussed with the client is transferred to the pattern.
Pattern Cutting
The client, with the help of the cutter, selects the cloth for his suit from our range of over 6,000 luxurious samples. Details of the style are discussed with the cutter, who will then take the client’s measurements. A unique paper pattern is then cut by hand, incorporating the client’s measurements with his choice of style.
Cloth Cutting
The paper pattern is laid out on the cloth and chalked around. The cloth is then cut by hand, leaving extra cloth at the inlays to allow the suit to be altered at a future date if the client’s weight changes.
Trim
Particular materials are added to the suit, i.e. natural wool canvasses and linen. These are used in the construction of the suit to give it its classic Henry Poole silhouette.
Putting Together
The garment is assigned to a particular highly skilled tailor where it is canvassed by hand and readied for the first fitting. The selected tailor will then stay with the client during their time as a Henry Poole customer, thus giving consistency to the look and feel of all the client’s future garments.
First Fitting
During the first fitting, the cutter begins to make alterations to the suit to the client’s posture.
Marking Up
The garment is completely taken apart, re-cut and given back to the tailor to be prepared for the next fitting.
Second Fitting
Previous alterations and amendments are refined, giving the suit its exceptional fit and comfort. The suit is checked for break over shoe, seat of trouser, drape, neck point and cuffs.
Finishing
After final alterations have been made, a tailoress makes the button holes by hand and hand finishes the suit inside and out.
Final Fitting
The suit is now ready for the final fitting. Advice is given to the customer on how best to care for the suit and maintain its shape. Each suit is numbered and logged, enabling us to source materials to repair any damage that might occur during daily wear.
This must be a process that has been used for over a hundred years in the practise, and would be a very good What I find really interesting is that fact that after the first fitting, the jacket is completely taken apart and re-cut to the new measurements.
This particular jacket wouldn't necessarily apply to a military coat but I will find it valuable research in to the way a jacket would have been lined in the 19th century.
The tailoring techniques that developed during the 19th century were brought about by several important factors. During the previous century there had been an increase in demand for woollen cloth and and upsurge in the making of this material. Tailoring skills were now directed towards the production of clothes made form woollen material. From the tailors point of view, wool cloth could be manipulated by stitching and pressing it to mould the fabric to the body shape. In addition, cutting techniques were improving and it was now possible to produce form-fitting and elegant garments.
This is an early tailcoat. The fronts and the collar had an interlining of canvas and a piece of linen across the back shoulders. The sleeves were usually lined with white linen or cotton fabric. An interesting fact is one that I know can be applied to military uniform, a feature was the use of unfinished or raw edges instead of sewing a seam to complete the edge. This was because of at that time cloth was of a tightly woven texture with a heavily milled finish which prevented the cut edge of the cloth from fraying or unraveling.
In the second half of the 18th century, the making of men's garments began to follow a standard procedure. There was a wide range of different types of woollen fabrics which required seams in place of raw edges as the quality of material started to diminish because of this mass production demand. A popular lining of the 19th century was a heavy glazed cotton called 'Italian' used for jackets and coats. For military formal dress and civilian evening dress, a richer type of lining material would have been used such as satin or silk serge. Sleeves continued to be lined with white or cream cotton.
The canvas interlining that gave form foundation to the coat fronts was given much more attention than it has previously warranted. In addition to the canvas through the fronts, extra canvas was places in the chest and front shoulder and these layers of canvas were stitched together with a herring bone stitch. Padding was placed in the shoulder where it extended from the front of the armhole over the shoulder to the back. Wadding was placed in the top of the sleeve which filled out the sleeve fullness and gave the sleeve head a smooth appearance. The introduction of the sewing machine took much of the tedium out of the tailoring procedure and also helped speed up the process of making garments. The tools were comprised of cutting shears, scissors, press iron, needles of various sizes and a block board for pressing seams and different parts of the garment. The tailoring methods developed during the 19th century became a basis for garment making by bespoke and custom tailors in to the next century.
Being in contact with Jenny Tiramani herself, the woman who has succeeded Janet Arnold's name, has been a great deal of use, because she pointed me in the direction of Keith Levett, livery tailor of Savile Row's Henry Poole & Co. When researching in to this tailor, I came across such an interesting blog in particular with some outstanding photos of the work at Henry Poole & Co. I felt it would be wrong not to share.
What is very interesting about Keith Levitt is that he entered his tailoring apprenticeship at the age of 15. He was taught by his grandmother ho to sew from an early age.
Keith first came in contact with Henry Poole's in 1989. His first lesson was how to sit properly and hold his tools correctly, which goes to show how important every little detail down to the correct posture is for a professional tailor. I would love to learn more about the correct ways of tailoring, however I suppose they are passed down from one succeeder to another. It is mentioned that setting a high standard of work was embedded in Keith from his masters, as the quality of work will inevitably dwindle over the years.
Within 3 years he had mastered the art of tailoring and was already working in the livery department in charge of state liveries, court dress, ceremonial uniforms and garments for the Royal stables, – most intricate work for a man so young.
What is most interesting about this article is that Keith explains that the difference and most defining factor with a Henry Poole livery garment is that it is entirely hand stitched. Most livery tailors use machines in order to work faster, but this results in a very stiff garment that does not give to a body’s shape. It is stated that with 14 stitches to the inch and 56 yards of gold lace this makes roughly 32,500 stitches for a coat and waistcoat. This is incredible!
Keith unwaveringly says it pays off to do all the painstaking work by hand as working the joins and seams by hand produces an uneven but organic garment that will settle into its fit more easily. Coming with a hefty price tag these garments are understandably made to stand the test of time.
Keith had the task of replacing all the liveries of the Royal grooms, which were last made by Henry Poole back in 1876. It is explained that as well as the eminent wear and tear factor of clothes, men are now taller and more muscular so therefore their body shape is totally different.
From what I can gather from this article,
Keith is currently the only person in the livery department at Henry Poole
& Co. What I can say here is that this really is proof of military
tailoring being a very secretive trade that not many people have
the privilege of obtaining knowledge in. I have found it immensely
difficult myself to find any information or even practitioners who will allow a
little bit of insight in to the industry. You could say that it is becoming a
dying trade in an age where tailors are failing to replace themselves.
It is said that Keith is looking for a
successor, to pass down his knowledge to, but I can imagine it will have to be
someone very special that shows the same love and extraordinary passion that
Keith has for his craft. From reading this article I can't imagine the
years of training and experience that it must take to become a distinguished
livery tailor such as Keith Levett of Henry Poole. When researching in to
military tailoring and the skill that is required, he is the perfect person to
benchmark yourself against in regards to excellence and success, for anyone
that aspires to a career in this specific discipline. I would like to do some
more research in to Keith as well as Henry Poole & Co. in the future as it
seems to be the best company to be keeping track of when I carry on my
research.
Whats interesting about this video is that when Keith mentioned that it takes around 6 weeks to complete a military/livery uniform. Thats six weeks on a professionals time schedule that has been in the industry with years of experience. Realistically there would have been no chance of me ever being able to come close to creating a coat of this standard for this particular project without any prior knowledge or experience in the field.
Henry Poole & Co. first began with the success of his father James Poole making military uniforms during the Napoleonic War. In 1806 James opened a shop in Brunswick Square, moving it to Regent’s Street in 1822. Upon his death in 1846, his son Henry extended the grounds with the entrance opening onto Savile Row. He was, arguably, the first tailor on Savile Row, thus beginning the long tradition of the ‘Savile Row suit’. When Henry Poole died the company fell into the hands of his cousin Samuel Cundey, whose family still run it today.
Back in the day, if you were left handed you had to learn how to use right-handed scissors or would find yourself out of a job. Times have obviously changed. Looking around I see that Keith’s is the only workspace with livery pieces.
The Royal Warrant for livery tailoring was only granted by Queen Victoria in 1869. By this time the company had every European monarch in its books. Winston Churchill, Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde have all been fitted with a Henry Poole suit and when looking through their button archive we even come across Napoleon III’s. I find it reassuring that had Napoleon III or his descendants ever needed a button, he/she would have known exactly where to come. Today the prestigious Royal Warrant title is shared with only a couple of other firms such as Gieves & Hawkes and Dege & Skinner.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century,
the guiding principle of English style in tailoring became focused on the cut
and fit. The general practice of cutting by patterns was realized to be
inadequate and tailors searched for a system in which they could draft out
garments which would fit well and still retain their style and elegance. This
search lead to a revolution on the art of cutting, and was probably sparked by
the invention of the tape measure early in this century.
Where exactly the tape measure came from is
unknown, although there were several tailors who claimed to be its inventor. It
was probably not until the second quarter of the century that the tape measure
was generally accepted. The tape measure, a yard long and marked in inches,
drew attention to the comparative relations that exist between the various
parts of the body. It was found that the length to the waist was half, the
chest width one third, the back one third, the scye one third, and the side length
of the body one fourth of the breast measurement taken under the arms round the
body. From these observations the tailor worked out the first simple drafting
system and so began an entirely new approach to cutting based on the
application of geometric rules and principles to the anatomical proportions of
the human figure.
It is most interesting to find that early
literature on tailoring is extremely rare which is what I had gathered, however
this new approach brought tailors to print and create their own particular
system. The earlier the patterns, the simpler they were as well as being so
brief that is it almost impossible for anyone to gain if any information from
them. Individual tailors would use their own methods that may have been
personal to their own understanding, this would explain some of the period
patterns which I have examined in the past as I have found them to be very
difficult to interpret. However, tailors were slowly progressing and
intelligent ones soon realized that the simple breast measure system was only
suitable to well-proportioned figures, and that most cases additional
measurements were necessary.
In the middle of the century, a much more
serious study of the problem was undertaken by a German Mathematician, Dr.
Henry Wampen who published The
Mathematical Art of Cutting Garments According to the Different Formation of
Men’s Bodies in 1834, as well as Mathematical
Instructions in Constructing Models for Draping the Human Figure in 1863. These
are rather like scientific textbooks than a suitable guide for tailors,
however, a great part of the information it contained was of great value and
could be applied to various systems. He also introduced the principle known as
gradation.
The old system of cutting from patterns
continued but the pattern blocks were now drafted from some basic system and
adapted to the measurement and anatomy of the individual customer. For
wholesale mass production these patterns were scaled to suit the main figure
types. This method is also suitable for historical costume cutting for theatre.
Even though much progress has been made, no system in unfaultable as the human
body varies infinitely structurally and mathematically which is still a
challenge to the tailors skill.
“Observe
a man well before measuring him.”
-M. Boullay
Cutting out a garment may be the most
important part, but it is not the whole art of tailoring. The putting together
of a garment - the layers of
interlinings, padding, pressing, sewing is sometimes not fully appreciated by
the client, whose incredible structure and posture are often provided by the
tailor’s canvas and wadding.
The scientific approach has made tailoring
a highly skilled profession, and the various systems, which have been published
from the early nineteenth century down to the present day made such a technical
reading that they can only be appreciated by the trained specialist.
The
History of the Art of Cutting in England by Edward
B. Giles is a book that I will have to research in to in future as it focuses
on early drafting methods, and the development and evolution of various systems
from early literature on tailoring. It is apparent to me that since the second
half of the nineteenth century there has been a continuous stream of trade
journals and books on tailoring, and is more easily accessible than before the
period in time.
This development of the ancient craft of
tailoring has nowadays lead to the mass production of well-cut, well-fitted and
well-made clothes making them available to a vast public. The skills of the
tailor has now reached such an extremely high technical level that is more
along the lines of mathematics than inventive artistry.
