An Old Market
So back in the day when mass produced clothing came on the scene it was revolutionary. Women and children would slave away in city sweat shops to produce clothing at a reasonable price so that women wouldn't have slave away at making clothes in the home. Apparel came in standard sizes but it was expected that a wife mother or sister would be able to hem or take in any loose material. These were practical skills that most woman had at the time.
We've progressed to this modern age where women are no longer suppose to live the completely subservient role of house slave and doer of every chore deemed womanly. This is a good thing[tm]. A lot of progress still needs to be made in making sure that woman and man are on equal footing, but we have certainly come a long way. The thing is, no one in the home has these basic tailoring skills and still every piece of clothing comes in a standard size.
Take pants for example, well men's pants, I don't understand the all the different sizes there are for woman's pants, but I suspect the real deal is to keep men from knowing just how big or small women really are. Anyway men's pants have two numbers waist and inseem measured in inches. I know this is hard to believe but I've got a pretty large gut on me. Thighs and shins are pretty well defined from all the walking I do so most of my extra weight deposits itself in my torso, mostly around the waist. So I do not wear my pants at my waist, but rather at my hips. If I get pants that fit comfortably around my hips the crotch drops down about 4 inches from where it should be and after a few short months of wearing my pants like that the crotch of the pants tear wide from all the stress put upon them. If my pants fit me properly they could last much, much longer.
So what I think we need, what I want to see, is a resurgence of tailors. I don't mean we need more places where I can go to get fitted for a suit, or women can go to get their wedding gowns, but rather a place I can take my store bought Levi Jeans and get em to fit me properly. A place I can take my spring / fall jacket that is about three times bigger than I am and have the arms shortened and some of the fabric on the sides taken up an inch or two so that instead of having a jacket draped over me I will have a jacket that looks good on me.
And lets face it this is a viable neighborhood industry for people to get into. I've seen so many boutique clothing stores open and close over my life as fashions change and its hard for a small clothing store to compete with the prices of giant retailers. Also there are more people out there with badly fitted jeans than there are who need to get a suit to fit properly. As more jobs get shipped out of country people will need to be able to repair and reuse their clothing. Heck if you had a good relationship with the local tailor you could have the clothes you order from the online retailer delivered to the tailor and have em call yas when they are ready to be worn.
In Summary: If you want your children to have a good trade to fall back on, teach them to sew. And find me someone to fix my jeans!
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We've progressed to this modern age where women are no longer suppose to live the completely subservient role of house slave and doer of every chore deemed womanly. This is a good thing[tm]. A lot of progress still needs to be made in making sure that woman and man are on equal footing, but we have certainly come a long way. The thing is, no one in the home has these basic tailoring skills and still every piece of clothing comes in a standard size.
Take pants for example, well men's pants, I don't understand the all the different sizes there are for woman's pants, but I suspect the real deal is to keep men from knowing just how big or small women really are. Anyway men's pants have two numbers waist and inseem measured in inches. I know this is hard to believe but I've got a pretty large gut on me. Thighs and shins are pretty well defined from all the walking I do so most of my extra weight deposits itself in my torso, mostly around the waist. So I do not wear my pants at my waist, but rather at my hips. If I get pants that fit comfortably around my hips the crotch drops down about 4 inches from where it should be and after a few short months of wearing my pants like that the crotch of the pants tear wide from all the stress put upon them. If my pants fit me properly they could last much, much longer.
So what I think we need, what I want to see, is a resurgence of tailors. I don't mean we need more places where I can go to get fitted for a suit, or women can go to get their wedding gowns, but rather a place I can take my store bought Levi Jeans and get em to fit me properly. A place I can take my spring / fall jacket that is about three times bigger than I am and have the arms shortened and some of the fabric on the sides taken up an inch or two so that instead of having a jacket draped over me I will have a jacket that looks good on me.
And lets face it this is a viable neighborhood industry for people to get into. I've seen so many boutique clothing stores open and close over my life as fashions change and its hard for a small clothing store to compete with the prices of giant retailers. Also there are more people out there with badly fitted jeans than there are who need to get a suit to fit properly. As more jobs get shipped out of country people will need to be able to repair and reuse their clothing. Heck if you had a good relationship with the local tailor you could have the clothes you order from the online retailer delivered to the tailor and have em call yas when they are ready to be worn.
In Summary: If you want your children to have a good trade to fall back on, teach them to sew. And find me someone to fix my jeans!
More Laters
posted by Rich Rosenthal II at 3:06 AM
5 Comments:
Thought of making friends with a nice new fashion design student? there must be some somewhere near you...
But I agree completely with the whole thing - I'm 5ft and the tradtitional 'hourglass' do you KNOW how hard it is to get clothes that fit?!
*mutter* *grumble*
I have to have everything I buy sent for alterations, as my top is somewhat err.. more endowed then my bottom. I either where tent stuff that makes me look huge, or I go for the alterations.
Alterations make everyone look so much better.
Dude, you can find a million people in Chicago that do that. My friend's Aunt does mine, but she lives out in Indiana land.
I can sew. I took 3 years of Home Economics in high school (feel free to make fun now, if you wish). I sewed by own wedding gown and make my dining room drapes.
But when I bust my zipper because I have overindulged, I simply go to my dry cleaner's shop and they fix me up. Check out yours - they probably do alterations and repairs too.
Too bad you don't live where I do. There are at least 4 tailor shops in the neighborhood. And when I say they're tailors, they really are. That's all they do. I really need to take my pants in and get them tailored, but I never seem to make the time. There's enough fabric in the back that it sounds like a flag billowing in the wind when I grab the excess fabric and shake it. I, too am no stranger to the "big and tall" shop.
Now for my main bitch. Why-the-fuck do the majority of sweaters, shirts, polos, etc. at all the big and tall stores have fuckin' HORIZONTAL stripes/designs on them? And why do they feel obligated to carry only horizontally-knitted sweaters? My kingdom for a simple, black vertical knit sweater without a v-neck. Goddamn!
And the brand name "Big Dog" doesn't really scream "purchase me." Is this really the best name for their clothing line that they could come up with? Why not just call the line "Fat Fuck"? Ack!
The moment we walk into the Big and Tall store we get these terrible "fat fuck" colthes lines. What in the word does a man like me need baggy pants for. Idont need to bulk up. I dont want saggy butt. If I want to show off my bikini briefs I'll go with out pants. (TO which everyone always over reacts. As if seein a fat mman in his underwear is the worst possible torture they can endure.
I kinda like the big dog t-shirts though. Black t-shirts with a bull dog.
Diva -- I woudln't make fun of yas for learning a skill. I might make fun of yas for other stuff though. Not sure what. The love of spiders whan any sane person like me knows they are big mosnters with pointy fangs.
Kj -- When forced to wear the clothes tent style you can se it to do mary poppisn style tricks by turning ti into a parachute. ALso good for jumping into watter fully clothesd and making flotation devices out of clothes. (little scouting sklls we never forget).
Vics -- 5ft a comletely incomprehensible size to my male mind. Admit the female conspiracy to keep men clueless!Don't know any fashion design students, but I dont get out much and have a bad habit of dropping out of touch with people. Plus there is the whole cre of people I dont associate with anymore due to their involvement in the disolution of my older brothers first marriage. Also South Siders probably look on fashion design as a north side thing.
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