When did you last think someone look genuinely good in the clothes he was wearing? Whatever your age, but especially if you are in the post-forty bracket (join the club), there are some basic rules to follow, one of which is our favourite mantra – keep it simple. Cut down on fuss, buy better quality and appreciate good tailoring. Well-cut and perfectly fitted suits can be scarce, so if you wear one, you will stand out for all the right reasons. 

Few people really realise what goes into cutting their tailoring. It is complicated, precise and an art form that takes many years of training to learn and craft. A little insight can go a long way so here are a few facts.

The art of cutting is in pattern drafting, taking the cloth and using skilled cutting techniques to hand cut the cloth to the right shape. The focus is on accuracy but it is a skilled cutter who makes you a pattern to match your own body measurements and most important – your figuration. Totally personal to you is how you stand, for example do your shoulders slope or do you have prominent calves? An expert cutter and tailor can disguise limitations and delight by emphasising other characteristics. 

A precise and complicated process, it must be checked and checked again. To have some degree of accuracy, a cutter must be allowed time. It is an art, so a certain amount of flair should be allowed-for as a skilled cutter has an ‘eye’ for what is required creatively. 

It can take up to 200 separate pieces of cloth to make a suit and it can be 1 to 2 years before a trainee cutter is permitted to cut any cloth. On average, it takes 10 years before a cutter becomes a master cutter.

A well-cut touch of dignified classic restraint never looked so good.