Photo: Luciano BarberaDrape, the cutting system invented by Frederick Scholte, is one of the usual elements of the soft tailoring style offered by firms such as London's Anderson & Sheppard and Mariano Rubinacci of Naples. The drape cut is used to make jackets that are more relaxed looking than the more structured, military look of other well-known firms such as London's Huntsman.
Perhaps the most successful tailor on Savile Row in the twentieth century, Scholte's Aha! moment came in the 1930's when he admired the effect of the tightly belted, very full overcoats of London's Brigade of Guards officers. Scholte spent several years evolving a system that evoked that look in suit jackets with extra folds of fabric over the shoulders. The small vertical folds of cloth seen next to the armholes in Luciano Barbera's jacket in the photograph are the descendents of his invention.
Soft tailoring has other elements such as hand sewn shoulders without padding and light-weight canvas and not all soft tailoring products are cut with drape. But it is arguably the word thrown around most often as typical of the soft tailoring genre.
Posts
10 comments:
Will, I see one clothing company is now advertising diamond shaped lapels, and indicating that they are very elegant. I have seen that term before, but I don't know what it means. I think it is sort of a modified notch lapel, perhaps with a smaller hole for the notch. Do you know what this means? Thanks, and keep up the great work on this wonderful site.
Oh, indeed. Possibly the most tossed around word in design also - drives tech designers mad...
Will, I often admired how you have been able to work with your tailors to create a beautiful well-balanced and proportioned shape for your clothing that is absent the pinched and constricted look that is now seen in most RTW and even among bespoke tailors that had not previously cut that way. While I’m aware that your clothing isn’t an attempt to recreate drape jackets from the ‘30’s, how and to what extent would you describe your clothing as incorporating the principle you’ve just explained?
As you know, the selection of tailor has more to do with the cut of your clothes than any cloth or details.
My Mahon and A&S jackets have drape and I continue to like the look in the DBs that have been the backbone of my wardrobe.
On the other hand, I don't particularly care for the button point of those sources on single breasteds, neither of them likes to stray from their standard, and I will only put one item in the works from any source at any time. So I use more than one tailor.
Peter Harvey, whose flexibility in dealing with my unusual requests commends him, makes a middle of the road cut that doesn't incorporate drape. And I'm happy with that look as well.
i've never seen the appeal of the 'drape' or 'London drape'... to me it looks like the jacket is just too roomy in the chest and/or back.
Laurence John has a point: A drape Jacket can look a bit ill fitting, and there is a fine line between a soft, casual drape cut and a sloppy appearance. Maybe this is why Antongiavanni appears not particularly fond of the drape cut. I like it in Italian-style sports jackets, but it might be inconsistent with the overall expression of diligence, professionalism and elegance in a business suit or an elegant dinner suit. Nonetheless, since its inception - and Brooks Brothers played a pivotal role in popularising it in the past - the drape cut has a place in a man's wardrobe.
I haven't read Antongiavanni in a couple of years but if he was not found of the drape cut when he wrote his book he has since modified that view. He is currently a client of Anderson & Sheppard.
"The other, and best, silhouette is the Drape.[...] Many examples can be adduced to illustrate the greatness of this silhouette." N. Antongiavanni, The Suit.
Richard, what are you talking about??
Yes, I can't see any folds in the photograph
B, you are looking for something obvious when it's subtle.
Post a Comment