A Chat With Graham Hunter

I have recently been in contact with Graham Hunter, who works at the Royal Britannia Panopticon in Glasgow, via email in regards to military tailoring. Graham has been collecting period garments for over thirty years. Graham has one of the largest collections of period costume in the UK and his name can been seen at the end credits of such films as "Arragon" and "Last King of Scotland" as well as TV programmes such as the popular "History of Scotland".

I managed to chat to him over the phone about his insight in to military uniforms and they construction. Major problem these days is finding good quality fabric for reconstructing period military jackets. For a costume that he most recently made he had to order the fabric in from Paris which was not cheap. He says that personally he is very pedantic about authenticity and accuracy.  The problem is if the give a pattern to a modern day tailor, they will make the uniform with modern techniques. Graham states that from what he can gather from over his years of collecting, the method in which a tailor constructs a military uniform is entirely down to their own personal preference. There is no right or wrong way, as long as it creates the desired effect. He says that if you look at 18^th century tailoring, you can find that some uniforms have quite poor quality stitching, in comparison to Victorian uniforms due to the invention of the sewing machine. However in saying this, Officers costumes usually are beautifully made.

 He mentions how difficult it is to find broadcloth and wool Melton of a good quality and of a reasonable price. Not to mention how all the trimmings and braid are extortionately priced as well. It is a difficult project to make a costume completely authentic unless you have the money. I have found this to be very true along my journey, even if being made as a costume piece. He mentions ‘’ who are company providers of fabric for many period films such as Master and Commander.

Before the 18^th century most linings were made of rough cotton or even linen, it wasn’t until later that cotton sateen lining was used. Sometime officers coat linings were made of white silk, and coat tail linings were generally a wool fabric.

We have arranged a meeting at the Panopticon in a couple of days where he will show me some of this military tunic collectable items, which should be very interesting.