Bespoke

I saw a bespoke headband from the Gap recently.  It was labeled “bespoke”.  That’s an adjective I’ve been seeing alot of – especially the last few years.  So much so, that it’s now lost its meaning and can’t be trusted.  How can everything, right down to a headband, mass produced in an overseas factory be honestly called “bespoke”?

I did squeak in some reading this past winter – a book about Sylvia Plath’s years at Mademoiselle Magazine (terrific) and an interesting little gem I picked up in the used bookshop near my office.  That book is called The Coat Route, Luxury, & Obsession on the Trail of a $50,000 Coat  by journalist Meg Lukens Noonan.

The book caught my eye because I couldn’t imagine why a men’s tailored coat would cost so much, I needed to know who would commission it for that price (was he a sheik or something?), and what was involved in making it.  Right off the bat, I learned the origin of the word bespoke.  And that alone paid me back the price of admission (the cost of the book).

When nearly all clothing was made by hand, a person in need of a garment would visit a tailor and hand-pick the fabric for their article of clothing.  This meant that the piece of material would be labelled “bespoken for” or reserved and thus, the word bespoke morphed into a word that meant something that created by a particular tailor for his brand.  It’s actually a little more complicated than that but for me, bespoke always evoked something very special.  That is, until I saw the headband at The Gap a while ago.

Ms Noonan is a very engaging writer and her book took me down many intriguing trails.  She leads us to Peru where the lux wool for the costly coat is sheared, all the way to the button factories in England.  I was riveted.  I had no idea that a bespoke garment, in the truest sense of the word, would be so exacting, take so long, and be so utterly beautiful.  And yes, we do meet the man who commissioned the coat and we get to see the coat on him too.

I am so glad that the book included a long discussion about today’s throwaway fashions and the damage they are doing to the bespoke industries and how these crafts are now quickly disappearing.  The apprentices for these old world master tailors are dwindling rapidly and soon there will be none left to carry on this artform and it is indeed art.  But I was particularly impressed with Ms. Noonan’s thoughts on the bizarre shopping frenzy that throwaway fashion creates in everyone.  With new fashions so quick and easily run up on offshore sewing machines, the store chains we all support are turning over new merchandise every few weeks.  In a business that used to have two distinct seasons – fall and summer – there are now 15 or more!  No wonder my local H & M changes their windows every Thursday!  The rollover of merchandise is obscene and it can’t all be selling either and yet, the profits are incredible.

The parts of the book about luxury- true luxury – were heartbreaking.  When my grandmother bought me a plaid kilt in 1965, I knew I had something very, very special and I wore my skirt with pride and zest and knowing how dear it was, I treated it well.  And so did my mother when she cared for it.  That plaid kilt was a luxury that we could ill-afford to squander as were many of the other things that my mother and grandmother had to stretch to pay for.  No one ever doubted back then that our luxuries were not worth that stretch or not worth the painstaking care we took with them in their wearing, cleaning, and storage.  Happily, my kilt lives on today and is ready for another generation of wear.  It was made well  – as well as a bespoke piece from any local independent cottage tailor.  But that’s the quality one could find in our fancy department stores at the time.

I was spellbound by the tale of this $50,000 men’s coat and have since thought a lot about the buying of clothes especially since a have a few fashion needs this spring.  It may have changed me a bit too.  I’m no longer looking for quick fashion fixes and fast additions to my spring wardrobe.  I’m sure you can tell…I want quality this season.