Fit versus skill

[Guest]

I have a wide variety of suits, gathered over the years. Some are fully bespoke, others bought off the peg and altered by a local, and very good, alterations tailor, and yet others of a very high standard of made to measure.
Leaving aside craftsmanship, and to an extent longevity, where would you rate fit versus skill?
I ask this question simply because I have some seriously expensive bespoke, and some realtively cheap altered off the pegs, and objectively a lot of the latter look a lot better than some of the former.
Do you get a warmer glow knowing that there are thousands of hand applied stitches on a garment made just for you, or from knowing that the suit you are wearing fits you like the proverbial glove?

[Guest]

Interesting. I have never had a RTW suit which, objectively or indeed subjectively, I would say could be compared favourably in any way with my bespoke suits.

Perhaps you could tell us more about the bespoke makers and indeed the RTW? Brand, cost, style etc?

Sartorius

[Guest]

Skill is no end in itself and it means nothing without fit. However, a suit is not meant to fit like the proverbial glove. An altered RTW or a MTM suit may fit pretty well, too, but bespoke is not just about fit, I am sure you agree. I will turn your words around and say that indeed, you need to take out of the equation all essential terms like style, longevity, choice of cloth / trimmings, adapting construction technique to these choices etc. that define bespoke in order to make it comparable to RTW in terms of fit only. They really don't compare if you consider them in all complexity and implications. If you are interested in fit only and if your body is not very quirky, I think it is quite possible to have RTW garments altered to fit you decently (although even the notion of fit is different in bespoke due to differences in cut, construction, style choices etc.), but this makes it no better than bespoke. If you are unhappy with many of your bespoke experiences, try to change what doesn't seem to work - tailor, style, your ideas of what it should be like. With RTW and MTM your choices and results are objectively limited. With bespoke you have the CHANCE to make great things, but nobody guarantees you will get them every time.

Costi

[Guest]

One firm often tells its customers: Our suits may not fit, sir, but they last for ever - indicating, I suppose, that some tailors have different aims from their customers. Mind you, there must be someting in it as they have remained in business for 206 years; maybe they know something that we don't.
NJS

[Guest]

I am in agreement with the earlier response, in that I have never seen a RTW suit that looks anything like a true bespoke suit. I had lunch this week with Chris Despos at RL (Ralph Lauren's restaurant in Chicago) and we went into the store after. We checked out the Purple Label suits (his highest make) and you could see that they had no shape on the hanger. My bespoke coats have an obvious 3 dimensional shape built in via pressing and canvas work that looks like no RTW suit out there and creates the fit. At the extreme end of RTW, even Kiton does not have shape like my bespoke coats. Additionally, they seem to be cut so that they don't actually fit anyone that I have seen wear their clothing.

Cheers,
jb