The Washington herald., 1911-10-19
VAST UPLIFT SEEN
IN TAILORS' TRADE
American Man Educated in
Dress Ideals.
SOME NEW sARToRIAL FREAKS
Tailoring of Twenty-Five Years
Ago Crude as Compared with the
Fashionable shops of the Capital
Some Odd Fashions.

No other trade in the history of the
world ever developed so greatly in a
thousand years as Tailoring has done in
the past century. Tailoring. as 1t was
done when the nineteenth century be-
gan. compares with the tailoring of to-
dav about as much as a four-horse stage
does with a modern 5000 automobile as
a mode of transit. One hundred years
ago tailoring was a despised trade and
the work done by the tailor was crude.
The materials from which clothes were
made were rough and coarse. and COM
pared with modern fabrics were so I'M
pIlable that they would now be consid-
cred almost unworkable. The highest
knowledge of systematic garment cut
ting in those days would not now allow
the cutter to hold the humhlest cutting
position in the world.
The finest and most pretentious estab-
lIshment, even when the century was
half over. would now be thought too
commonplace by the average merchant
tailor in any town Of 1000 inhabitants.
Like Sorcerer's Products.
Tailoring. from the time It first as
sumed distinctness as a trade. retained
its characteristic features almost un-
changed until the middle of the last
century This is SO true that the tailor
of 100 years ago and one who lived five
centuries before could meet on common
ground; hut between the tailor OF fifty
wears ago and one Of to-day there IS
nothing in common. Many Of the tools
that were then in use would seem use
less to the tailor Of the present. and
some NJ the tools OF to-day would have
seemed like the products Of sOrcery 10
the tailor. even Of half a century ago.
The tailoring Of fifty years ago. even
Of a quarter Of a century ago. Is Diff
ferent in almost every particular from
that OF to-day. and even at present tai
loring is undergoing a transformation
and an uplift that is but dimly per-
ceived by many in the trade. The
American man has become educated in
his dress ideas. He changes his collar
at least once a day. he polshes his
shoes, he presses his clothes. and in ev-
erv other way gives thought to his raj
ment in a way he never did before. He
has ideas about suitability in his gar
ments, and demands more from his tai
lor.
The "TaiIor who Knows"
The custom tailor who realizes this
change. who meets the demand Of his
customers with special knowledge and
skill. who builds clothes to emphasize
the customers personality, is prosper
Gus and does not feel the clothier's COM
petition. He has not worried about his
survival IN the other hand, the tailor
who makes clothes as they were pro-
duced A quarter Of a century ago. who
fails to see the handwriting on the wall,
is sure to be crowded out. The old law
Of the "survival of the fittest" works
inexorably in the tailoring trade as in
everything else.
Now that the theatrical season Is open
again. the dress OF the different actors
merits attention. John Drew, who open
ed in September with a new play, is, as
usual. Immediately turned out. In fact,
Drew is one of the few actors of to-day
who dresses off the stage as he does on
it-with excellent taste. Perhaps no man
on the stage influences male fashions to
the extent that Drew does, although some
of the younger men, like Donald Brian.
who is generally first in the field with
a new turn Of style, and is in position
to exhibit it to thousands Of men, are
looked up to by the element that gains
most of its ideas on clothes, as well as
all other subjects. from the stage. Those
who know, however. do not, of course,
take too seriously the sartorial ideas Of
stage heroes, especially the musical
comedy brand. In their light and live
" surroundings they are likely to give
rein to dress notions suitable to their
environment, and these notions are fire.
ouently frivolous and fantastic.
Some Oddities in Mems Garb.
In the new fall plays one prominent actor
appears in a dinner coat with frogs on
the front and piped pockets; another
wears a dress coat with purple silk lapel
facings and a waistcoat Of a faint pur-
nile shade. Velvet collars on dress coats
are common, and stock ties worn with
dinner jackets, even with the formal
dress coat, are not unusual
Velvet waistcoats with a raised corded
stripe in quiet colors, others made from
a wooden fabric resembling the knit
sweaters, are shown by one Of the ex-
elusive Washington tailors.
Golfing enthusiasts who wear coat
while playing-and there is an increasing
number in America-find. that If the
sleeve is finished at the cuff with a link
hutton. instead of the ordinary false
vent. much more freedom is given to the
arms. This little innovation is one
adapted from the other side. where play
ers habitually wear their coats on the
links
One of the magazines devoted to mems
fashions notes that gold monogram belt
buckles are one of the luxuries and cost
ly trifies of evening dress. The buckle
is detachable and may be refastened to
a new belt wheh the old one wears out.
Several of the washington tailors are
featuring the old-fashioned covert coat
for early fall. That is. so far as length
ana the fiy-front are concerned the coat
is a covert. although the material is
sometimes a rough cheviot The gar
ments which have been taken into ia
vor, however, have been made of the
old-fashioned, plain tweed Venetian.