One of the ways I think video can be very useful is showing how craft is done, rather than just the static nature of pictures. It worked well for the film we did with Dege & Skinner, showing how much difference pressing makes, and the ones with Ben Clarke, on hemming trousers and sewing a button.
For our next series, I wanted to focus on the sheer volume of work that goes into making a bespoke suit. To do that, we’ve taken three aspects of making a suit and filmed all of the work involved, with myself and the tailor Jennie Adamson explaining it as we go along.
The first instalment shows how a hip pocket is made. From forming the jetts to mitering, cutting away the lining to sewing an invisible silk stitch, there’s a lot involved that no one would ever realise – unless it was shown like this.
It takes hours to make the pockets on a bespoke jacket, and minutes to make the ready-to-wear equivalent. Hopefully after watching this you’ll look down at those pockets on your bespoke jacket and appreciate all the craft that went into them.
Jennie is a very talented tailor: a coatmaker for Gieves & Hawkes, a pattern maker for brands like The Deck and Casablanca, and a cutter and maker of her own tailoring. She has style too. More on her here.
The location is Cockpit Arts in Bloomsbury, a wonderful home for craftspeople that’s just behind Lamb’s Conduit Street. It’s worth a visit on one of their open days if you ever get a chance – you can see the studios of jewellers, designers, artists, and buy from them where they work.
Thank you very much to Vitale Barberis Canonico for supporting this series. The cloth we used is my favourite VBC material, the four-ply high-twist wool in the Ascot bunch from Drapers. The suit being made is for Jennie, and I am wearing my suit from Assisi in the same material.
The code is 18054, which is the slightly beige-tinted grey. I think I misquoted that at one point, so apologies. It does look more grey than beige made up, as I think you can see. I’m also wearing it with our PS black denim shirt, which worked quite well (helps to have a bit of a tan I think).
Remember that all videos are available on the dedicated page of the PS site. Other similar videos are:
