My Love Affair With Tailoring

Bespoke Style is a newsletter about personal style with vintage and tailored pieces. I write it to share my love for clothes and building a wardrobe with longevity and personality with you.

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Enjoy! - Johanna.

My love affair with tailoring started when I was an infant. My mom is a tailor, a master of her trade, and has decked me out with beautiful pieces ever since I’ve left the womb.

I spent my childhood in her atelier and learnt to count on her measuring tape. She taught me about fabric quality and fit. Perusing her trade magazines, looking at the latest images from the runways was my favorite past-time as a child and teenager.

Her work gave me a great appreciation for what I consider an architectural process - draping fabric around a body to highlight the beauty and personality of its wearer. It’s complex and geometric and at the same time highly artistic and creative.

Often, when talking about fashion, we trivialize it as vain and vapid. Or, we devalue it with the countless offerings of fast fashion outlets that produce mass-market goods made in factories with dubious standards and so-so materials.

I’ve bought fast fashion in the past. I may do so again, when a piece speaks to me. Yet, they are no match on no planet for a carefully crafted, individual garment. A true luxury - and one I know I was fortunate to absorb in my life through osmosis.

I found this quote by Hubert de Givenchy in my notes. It highlights the ethos of well-made clothing perfectly:

"The dress must follow the body of a woman, not the body following the shape of the dress."

Too often, we’re shamed into believing we or our bodies are not good enough. We’re too tall, short, round, angular or what-not. In reality, that’s a failure of those who make the clothes, not us buying them. You can, of course, learn how to style things and put outfits together so you look your best. Still, an ill-fitting skirt will never make you shine.

My intent with this newsletter is to highlight the beauty of tailoring, of thoughtful styling, and of leaving behind trend norms. I like dressing for myself, for the shape of not only my body but also to highlight my personality. Personal style at is best communicates the inside of a person, their inner life and character in harmony, holistically with the outside world. It’s fun to play with what’s there and enhance it.

In that spirit, have a wonderful, playfully stylish week,

Johanna

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