Should bespoke always achieve a perfect fit?

"The brute covers himself, the rich man and the fop adorn themselves, the elegant man dresses!"

-Honore de Balzac

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Slh
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Tue Jul 26, 2016 4:14 pm

I just recently started to have garments made bespoke, so excuse me if some of my thoughts can appear naive.
What I would like to know is, should bespoke garments always have a perfect fit?
I had some shirts and a jacket made bespoke and honestly they are not perfect fit and there are a few aspect I'm not totally satisfied. Don't get me wrong, they are better than 99% otr I could find. Not huge fitting mistakes, but maybe a wrinkle where it shouldn't be, maybe a fold under the jacket back collar, etc...
The thing is that when I see some outfits in this forum ( and in others) I rarely see imperfections ( if they are not huge). I realize most of you guys are more knwoledgeable than me about correct fit, but still.
I talked about something I would like to correct in future garments and the tailor is willing to satisfy me and correct what's wrong, but he appears dubious like he thinks I'm overly precise, too perfectionist.
It's obvious that when something is incorrect should be corrected, but when one goes too far?
Do you accept some imperfection in your bespoke garment?
dfoverdx2
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Tue Jul 26, 2016 6:32 pm

Slh,
Your question is legitimate...It really depends imperfections. For me a good suit is balanced on you and fluid. You may have some imperfections, especially on the back where you don't have canvas structure. Especially depending your body type the tailor may leave some extra fabric underarms etc. This is for me totally acceptable but as i said the suit should be fluid, should fall correctly, the waist should be wide enough so that you can button the jacket and it doesn't crease on the back waist side. Generally it's said that vertical imperfections are fine but not horizontal.
However if you have imperfections on collar level then it's definitely an issue...
Concordia
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Tue Jul 26, 2016 6:39 pm

More broadly, bespoke is not by definition perfect, even though it would be wrong to say that by definition it is imperfect.

Tailors and shirtmakers don't all have the same skill, much less the same vision for solving the problems that you present. So getting something you like not only involves finding a good shop, but one that wants for you what you also find yourself glad to get. The guy who wants everyone to look like Fred Astaire might not be the man for Jay Leno.

When you find your team, you then have to give them time to get it really correct. Not to say that you should expect the first one to be bad.
Noble Savage
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Tue Jul 26, 2016 8:46 pm

We can't know for sure, but it looks like in your case, there is some misunderstanding.
Last edited by Noble Savage on Wed Jul 27, 2016 5:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
lordsuperb

Tue Jul 26, 2016 10:29 pm

Sounds like you should keep it moving if you aren't happy with the work.
old henry
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Sun Jul 31, 2016 12:03 pm

a second suit usually fits better than the first as the tailor is learning your structurs. The more pattern tests you do (muslin fittings) the closer you get to " perfection" on the first suit. Also , after the cloth is cut there should be three fittings on the first suit. But who has time for this these days ? The wrinkles mentioned above should have been remedied on the first suit. Wrinkles under the collar usually mean the shoulders need to be squared. Diagonal wrinkles across the back... A low shoulder. Although "perfection" is unlikely on the first suit your tailor should work for it so that on the second, third and fourth suit he can go right to the second fitting. And the Gent above is right about the back and extra cloth. The real tailors judged their expertise, not on how well their fronts looked, but on how clean their backs were. And more cloth does not give ease and comfort. A balanced pattern and a high armhole give ease and comfort. Also, enough fullness gathered and pressed into the back shoulder seam gives ease and forward movement to the back and shoulder. You should be happy with your first suit. You should love the old world process of the fittings. You should feel that the tailor cared deeply about doing his very best for you.
Frank
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