Tailoring's back in style as apprenticeships arrive on Savile Row
Few of us get the chance to have our clothes made to measure, but in London’s Savile Row, bespoke tailoring is thriving. The traditional skills involved in cutting and tailoring bespoke jackets, coats and trousers take years to learn. Masters of the trade must pass these skills down to the next generation.
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Zee Mészáros, 31, is an apprentice coat maker at Savile Row’s Gieves and Hawkes, which was founded in 1771 and is one of the world’s oldest bespoke clothiers. Mészáros started her training in August 2018, working with veteran coat maker Andrew Gomez, who supervises and guides her work. The apprenticeship will last between three to four years.
After coming to London from her native Hungary six years ago, she took a bespoke tailoring course at Newham College, then jumped at an opportunity of an apprenticeship. “When I was younger I wanted to be a fashion designer, then someone said if I like making and want to gain a bit more knowledge, why don’t I go to Newham College? There, I realised that bespoke tailoring is what I want to do and can do it for the rest of my life,” she says.
At Newham College, I realised bespoke tailoring is what I want to do for the rest of my life
Zee Mészáros, apprentice tailor
Bespoke tailoring involves two steps: a cutter measures up the client, discusses what they are looking for, creates the designs and hands over the process to a tailor. This will either be a coat maker who marks up, cuts and stitches jackets, waistcoats and coats, or a trouser maker.
“My master shows me everything from the beginning to the finish, so by the end of my three years I will be able to put a coat together from scratch,” she says. “It’s physical work, you are on your feet for eight hours, bending over a table, concentrating on making little even stitches and measuring.”
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Mészáros will start a level 5 higher apprenticeship in tailoring – equivalent to a foundation degree – once she is up to speed. She hopes to continue working at the company after qualifying. “It’s just a really good environment. I love it,” she says. “It’s an art form,” she explains. “You are making something by hand. We’ve got some returning clients who like to meet the coat maker and the trouser maker and say thank you to them and to the cutters. There’s an extremely good relationship with the clients and the cutters, everyone is very well looked after.”