Warrick Wonhyung Do
Advanced Research Seminar
Object Description
3 February 2017
Descriptive Analysis
As a designer, one has to consider not only problem solving solution but also aesthetics and how it would be presented. As a designer, I underwent series of problems regarding what needs to be added or subtracted to adjust the design to near perfection. There were also times when I had to throw out an unfinished garment that I worked on for weeks because it didn’t look persuasive. Taking tailoring class during first semester of my junior year in Parsons was an experience that gave me a break from the fierce battle against world of creativity. Furthermore, the tailoring became my design inspiration and directed my abstract view on designing garments to more defined and constructed garments. Tailors, which who I was at the moment, focus on making a suit with the customer’s detail choices and patterns that were drafted according to the customer’s body shape. They are more concerned about the details, fabric choice, and the fit than silhouettes or drapery. In addition, tailoring is a kind of concrete system and cannot discard certain contents such as lapels, leaving less room to play around with creativity. The gray jacket I made for the class was mostly hand stitched and structured with full canvas and a pair of size 10a shoulder pads. Not much of design aspects were put into the garment since I used the pattern that was pre-made, never fitted to anybody, and decided to have very subtle details. Despite I chose to construct a typical men’s tailored jacket without any unique features, can it be considered as my own design.
It is a dark-gray tailored jacket with a light-gray plaid pattern. The front of this jacket has two sizes 36, black, plastic buttons and two buttonholes made with the same colored thread as the self-fabric. The roll of the jacket’s lapel is smoothly rolled and is not pressed to sit flat on the body. Under the lapel, the small stitches with same color thread are visible if you see carefully, which is a sign of a handmade tailored jacket. However, there are some wrinkles along the edge of the lapel on both sides. The wrinkles might have formed due to the shrinkage of lapel or lapel facing, lack of pressing, mistake on patternmaking, or poor production. The jacket has a set of unusual notch lapels. It is more like a style from 90’s because the separation of the notch is wide and the collar sits on the shoulders rather than hanging lower like how most of the popular notch-lapel jackets are designed. The lapels are one of the most important features in a jacket, which often determines how the jacket would be called. The customer can choose what type of lapel, width, length, presence of buttonholes, and even the fabric for the lapel, which tailor would apply to the pattern accordingly. In this particular jacket, the lapel is three inches wide at the tap and the edge runs straight down to the waistline where the roll begins. Three-inch width lapels are considered regular lapels whereas thinner lapels are called ‘slim lapel’ and lapels wider than three and half inches are called ‘wide lapel’. Self-fabric was used for the jacket’s lapel facing. The lapel facing can have different fabrics, especially in tuxedos. Tuxedos often have satin facing on the lapels, buttons, and pocket trim.
The technique used to sew collar to lapel is called “blind stitch”, which means stitches can’t be seen on outside. However, it is not sewn in a straight line. The stitch line that connects the collar to the lapel is not done cleanly; rather it looks wiggly and puckered. A pocket square in a jacket can be a set of besom pocket or a flap pocket but technique called ‘welt pocket’ is the most commonly used for a pocket square. The pocket square in this jacket is also not sewn cleanly in a straight line. Although the plaid pattern on the pocket square matches to that of the body of the jacket, the top of the welt looks slightly narrower towards the center than the bottom, which makes the welt seem opened rather than closed tightly to the chest. At the lower half of the jacket, there is a set of flap pockets. The plaids on the flaps are matching precisely with the body of the jacket. Under the flap, it is lined with a lining fabric that is a bit lighter than the self-fabric. The flaps can be hidden inside the pockets to appear as a set of besom pockets, so the wearer can decide whether to have flap pockets or besom pockets. The side pockets are parallel to the waistline. In some of the higher end tailored jackets, the side pockets are done in bias, which means it run diagonally across the jacket, giving it an angle for easier entrance of hands. The bias besom pockets are known to be more difficult to achieve due to the woven fabric’s tendency to stretch when it’s pulled on bias. A jacket can also have an extra smaller pocket above the right side of the jacket. It is usually called a change pocket or a ticket pocket. It was first become popular in during the Industrial Revolution when people needed quicker access to coins at toll points of railroad. It allowed wearers to conveniently store coins or train tickets, and take them out without unbuttoning the jacket.
The shoulder is one of the most visible part in a suit because it pops out of the body and it is the first thing catches one’s eyes when the wearer is seen in an angle. The shoulder of this jacket is lightly padded, and the volume of sleeve head looks natural. The plaids on the sleeve match the plaids on the body of the jacket. The build up of sleeve head could be improved since there are some visible puckers on the top of the sleeve head. Also, sheering stitches, which is done on the top half of seam allowance to help creating the curvature of the sleeve head, are exposed to outside. The plaid on sleeves match partially to the plaid on the body of the jacket. The sleeve vent contains working buttons and buttonholes. In mass-produced jackets in stores, the sleeve vents are often closed There are four size-sixteen buttons on the vents. Among the four buttons, three buttons from the bottom are black and the top button is dark navy, however it’s hardly visible from a distance. The sleeve construction is one of the most challenging steps in tailoring. A tailor must adjust the slope of each shoulder if the customer has one shoulder higher than the other, and create padding for the shoulder accordingly. The goal of this process is to have balanced shoulder line, however, it can’t be done with tape measures and protractors but with knowledge and experience of the tailor. Depending on how shoulder padding was done, a jacket can be considered as a natural shoulder, a lightly padded shoulder, a broad padded shoulder, or a roped shoulder. Each serves its own purpose and can become design elements. The construction of shoulder head can vary accordingly. In natural shoulder, or soft shoulder, the shoulder head often stays flat to the shoulder line, giving the look of sportier jacket. In case of broad padded shoulder, the shoulder head floats above the shoulder line, making the silhouette to be more structured and refined. The lining of the sleeve vent is done by hand with the same color thread as the self-fabric, and the technique use to sew the shoulder lining to body lining is called “pick stitch” which appears as small dots around the armscye and less visible from a further distance. It is among the toughest stitches to tear, so gives strength to the armhole where most movements and stresses occur in a jacket.
When I think about a menswear, the first thing comes up in my head is a suit. A tailored suit is the most traditional way of how men have been dressed and most classic item that a man must have in his wardrobe. Going back to my initial question, can a tailored jacket be considered a creative design? I believe many design elements are put together in a suit jacket. Even the smallest details are created with the tailor’s decision. The pockets can be either flap or pipes, the buttons can be bigger and different color, the threads can be shown, hidden, or certain color to give accent, the lapels can be wide, narrow, peak, notch, or shawl. Among these various choices to make, a tailored jacket becomes not only a well-fitted jacket, but also a piece of art. However, the jacket is created from a set of choices, while a good design needs something more than just a set of choices. It requires adequate functional elements as well as outside of box thinking. Instead of choosing between unstructured shoulder and a broad padded shoulder, a designed garment must break from the traditional way of construction and bring new features to the jacket.
