Tailoring: A Centuries-Old Craft That Endures

What Makes Tailoring Special: 200 Years Of Tradition

Michael Pascalis • June 4, 2025

The Timeless Tradition of Tailoring: An Artisan Craft for the Ages

We live in an era where fast fashion dominates and disposable clothing has become the norm. Yet, there remains an appreciation for quality, and this leads some to seek out an art and craft that has more than 300 years of heritage behind it: tailoring.

The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.Like with any create craft, tailoring is a skill that gets passed down through generations of skilled hands. It represents not just a profession, but a dedication to excellence that transcends time, and it’s something that no machine or factory process, no matter how well designed, can hope to emulate.

A Heritage Spanning Centuries

The tradition of tailoring stretches back hundreds of years, with the earliest known portrait of a tailor dating to 1640 in Italy, captured by the brush of Murillo. In this historical image, we see the essential tools of the trade—scissors, fabric, and measuring implements—tools that remain fundamental to the craft today. This visual testament speaks volumes about the enduring nature of tailoring as both an art form and a practical skill.

What's particularly remarkable about tailoring is how little the core techniques have changed over the centuries since. While modern machinery has been incorporated to save time on certain tasks, the essential methods of measuring, cutting, and constructing garments remain steadfastly traditional. In an era where digital disruption has transformed countless industries beyond recognition, there's something profoundly beautiful about this continuity.

The Language of Measurement

One of the most fascinating aspects of traditional tailoring is its adherence to imperial measurements. For the true artisan tailor, everything is measured in inches, not centimetres as you might assume. This isn't mere stubbornness or resistance to change; it's about preserving the precision and intuition that comes from working within a system perfected over generations.

Master tailors can tell you about the "ten measures to a cut"—the critical measurements that inform how a garment will be shaped to fit an individual's unique physique. These measurements, taken with care and interpreted through years of experience, form the foundation of a well-crafted garment. They represent the tailor's intimate understanding of how fabric drapes on the human form and how subtle adjustments can transform both appearance and comfort.

From Master to Apprentice

Perhaps the most precious element of the tailoring tradition is how knowledge is transmitted. It’s not typically done through textbooks or online courses, but rather, through the ancient practice of apprenticeship. Young tailors learn by watching, by doing, by making mistakes under the watchful eye of their mentors. They inherit not just techniques but philosophies about quality, service, and craftsmanship.

This direct lineage can be traced through generations. In Australia, we see this with tailors who learned their craft from masters who, in turn, learned from legends like Vince Moloney. These connections form an unbroken chain of knowledge stretching back centuries, each link representing years of dedicated practice and refinement.

The Bespoke Experience

Why do tailors go through all this, and then stick to their traditions? Because it allows tailors to provide clothing of a deeply personal nature. Made to measure suits are not just a turn of phrase in this craft – it’s a phrase with real meaning. When a client commissions a bespoke suit or garment, they're not just purchasing clothing. Rather, they're participating in a collaborative creative process. The tailor considers not just the client's measurements but their lifestyle, preferences, posture, and the purpose of the garment.

This level of personalisation creates clothing that does more than just fit well. It also enhances the wearer's presence and confidence. A well-tailored suit or jacket becomes an extension of the wearer's personality, a second skin rather than simply a covering.

Evolution Within Tradition

While the core techniques remain unchanged, tailoring hasn't been entirely static. Fabrics have evolved significantly, becoming finer and more diverse in their properties. Modern tailors have access to materials with performance characteristics their predecessors could only dream of—breathable wools, crease-resistant finishes, and lightweight constructions that maintain structure without bulk.

Similarly, styling has evolved to reflect changing tastes and social contexts. Today's bespoke tailors can create garments that honour traditional craftsmanship while incorporating contemporary aesthetics. These are proof that respecting tradition doesn't mean rejecting innovation.

A Future Worth Preserving

Despite all the conveniences available to us today, artisan tailoring will forever remain valued as a skill that requires true craftmanship. It reminds us that some things are worth preserving not out of nostalgia, but because they represent excellence that cannot be improved upon through mass production or automation.

The future of tailoring lies in the hands of those who recognise its value—both the craftspeople who dedicate themselves to mastering its techniques and the clients who appreciate the difference that true craftsmanship makes. As more consumers grow disillusioned with disposable fashion, there's a growing appreciation for garments made with care, designed to last, and created with the wearer's unique form in mind.

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Why Good Tailoring Beats Shorts In The Summer Heat

By Michael Pascalis • October 24, 2025

Smarter tailoring, breathable fabrics, and better cuts keep you cool and professional—without resorting to shorts at work.

Eight Things to Consider for Your Summer Suit

October 22, 2025

The conversation about summer dressing too often circles back to gimmicks. Shorts in the office, polo shirts in the boardroom, but these are symptoms of a deeper problem: we have forgotten how to make and wear proper clothing for the climate we live in. A summer suit, chosen with care, remains the most elegant answer. But not all suits are created equal. If the heat leaves you dreaming of linen drawstrings, it’s not the suit’s fault. It’s the wrong suit. Here are eight considerations that turn summer tailoring from punishment into pleasure. 1. Fabric First The single most important decision is fabric. Natural fibres are non-negotiable. Polyester and other synthetics trap heat and suffocate the skin; they are cheap in every sense of the word. Tropical wool, with its fine yarn and open weave, has been the quiet hero of summer tailoring for decades. Linen, either pure or in a wool blend, brings unmatched breathability and texture. Cotton offers a crisp alternative for the more casual office. The principle is simple: fabric should breathe. 2. Lightness of Weave Weight is not enough; weave matters too. A dense cloth, no matter how fine, will feel like armour in January. Fresco, hopsack, and other open-weave constructions let air circulate without sacrificing drape. They prove that you don’t need to bare skin to keep cool. 3. The Case for Unlined Jackets Every layer in a suit traps heat. A fully lined jacket in the peak of summer is as unnecessary as it is uncomfortable. Half-lined or unlined jackets offer structure without insulation. Stripped back to its essentials, the jacket still frames the shoulders, flatters the waist, and gives shape, only now it does so without suffocating the wearer. 4. Rethinking Fit The tyranny of the skinny suit has done more to ruin summer dressing than the thermometer ever could. Narrow lapels, shrunken jackets, and trousers cut like leggings may look sharp in shop windows, but in the real world they cling, sweat, and stifle. A summer suit demands room to breathe: a touch more fullness in the chest, pleats in the trousers, a slightly longer rise. These small concessions to airflow make all the difference. 5. Freedom of Movement Tailoring was never meant to be restrictive. The best summer suits allow ease: side vents that open as you walk, trousers that fall cleanly without gripping the thigh, shoulders that move without resistance. Comfort is not the enemy of style, but rather it is its foundation. 6. The Role of Colour Summer is no time for charcoal and midnight navy. Dark cloth absorbs heat and looks heavy against the season’s light. Pale grey, beige, sky blue are shades that reflect the sun and signal ease. Seersucker, with its puckered surface, even lifts the fabric off the skin to create tiny channels of air. If ever there was a fabric designed for August, this is it. 7. Care and Longevity Summer is unforgiving. Suits face sweat, humidity, and relentless sun. The careless solution is cheap rotation: buy more, wear them out, throw them away. The wiser approach is investment. A well-made summer suit, rested between wears and hung to air, will last for years. Quality not only looks better, it endures. 8. Dressing with Intent The final consideration is not technical but philosophical. A summer suit is more than cloth and cut. It is a statement that professionalism need not wilt in the heat, that respect for the occasion is not seasonal. To wear one well is to prove that elegance adapts. Shorts may make headlines; tailoring makes an impression. There is nothing radical about suggesting that a summer suit can be cool, comfortable, and dignified. It has always been possible. The knowledge is there, in the choice of fabric, the looseness of cut, the restraint of lining, the play of colour. What is required is not reinvention but remembrance: a return to tailoring that understands climate rather than fights it. Eight considerations for made to measure suits for summer, then, but really one principle: good clothes work with the body, not against it. And in the heart of summer, a well-made suit is not a contradiction. It is liberation.