Throwing fits about how clothing fits
Ready-to-wear is barely ever ‘ready to wear’ — it often requires alteration.
Ready-to-wear is barely ever ‘ready to wear’ — it often requires alteration. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI:
It often comes as a tragedy for working men and women when we realise we have to shop for Eid, a wedding or even new work clothes. Tragedy, because even though most retailers bill their offerings as ‘off-the-rack’, they are rarely ‘off the rack’, as nothing really fits right.
How many articles have we read about retail brands saying ready-to-wear products are the solution to bothersome tailor visits?
The question begs to be asked; if we are really better off with all these prêt wear stores, why is finding a pair of fitted jeans easier than finding a kurta or tunic that is actually your size?
An avid shopper will tell you that no two kurtas are the same. The ‘small’ you get from store A might be a ‘medium’ from store B; in some cases, you might get away with an extra inch around the waist but if the sleeves, length and bust measurements aren’t proportionate, it looks shabby. You look at a model in an advertisement or a celebrity at some event and the clothes fit them to the T. But what about the rest of us, who can’t find a piece that doesn’t gape here or ride up or slouch down or have about four yards of extra fabric there? Some pieces almost leave you wondering whether you are a giraffe, cow or midget.
In Europe and America, the sizes are standardised and manufacturers tend to strictly follow them for trade and legal reasons. There are even ISO standards for sizes. However, clothing manufacturers here tend to follow their own judgments and have varying standards so to speak. Even small, medium and large in general are based on ‘averages’, which is impractical because there are no ‘average-sized’ people in the whole world, let alone this country.
Manufacturers making clothes for retail often try to create ‘one-size-fits-all’ pieces, which are shapeless, square rucksack cuts. The shirts are made so long that they will fit even the tallest of people. The very popularity of tent-like-silhouettes paired with stretch bottoms is due to the fact that there are so many people out there who cannot find clothes that truly fit. Adding Lycra is so much easier than tailoring clothes to fit the nuances of the human body form.
Umair Tabani, who has been running his sister’s namesake luxury label Sania Maskatiya, says, “Although people are getting averse to making innumerable trips to tailors, this still doesn’t mean ready-to-wear has completely taken over as some women still prefer to design their own clothes and get them stitched by their tailors.”
He adds, “To cater to these needs, they even offer a customisation option to their prêt wear. And although their products are cut on European sizes, they have come up with a special medium-large [size] considering there were a lot of women who were bigger than medium and smaller than the large.”
Unfortunately, not all brands go to such lengths. Their reasons for varied sizes may be for any reason, but those are utterly unrelated to the consumer. All the average customer is interested in, is that the fitting is perfect.
However not all brands go to such lengths to provide customers such product offerings.
Most manufacturers shall continue to make products that fit their narrow view of bodily proportions, or go on to justify bad fits as some quirk in that specific pattern or design. It could be about any number of factors, all of which are utterly unrelated to the consumer. All we want is clothing that fits us in the right places.
So where does this leave us? How do we end up looking fit and dapper? The trick to get it right every time is to ignore the actual size numbers and tags. Find something that fits you at the widest place, and then have it completely altered by a tailor. No matter what people say, there are some situations in which you can’t completely rely on ready-to-wear clothing. If your body shape is not the conventional small, medium or large, you may have to run to the tailors you’ve been complaining about.
Aamir Bukhari
is fashion and lifestyle enthusiast who blogs at aamiriat.wordpress.com
Published in The Express Tribune, October 31st, 2013.
It often comes as a tragedy for working men and women when we realise we have to shop for Eid, a wedding or even new work clothes. Tragedy, because even though most retailers bill their offerings as ‘off-the-rack’, they are rarely ‘off the rack’, as nothing really fits right.
How many articles have we read about retail brands saying ready-to-wear products are the solution to bothersome tailor visits?
The question begs to be asked; if we are really better off with all these prêt wear stores, why is finding a pair of fitted jeans easier than finding a kurta or tunic that is actually your size?
An avid shopper will tell you that no two kurtas are the same. The ‘small’ you get from store A might be a ‘medium’ from store B; in some cases, you might get away with an extra inch around the waist but if the sleeves, length and bust measurements aren’t proportionate, it looks shabby. You look at a model in an advertisement or a celebrity at some event and the clothes fit them to the T. But what about the rest of us, who can’t find a piece that doesn’t gape here or ride up or slouch down or have about four yards of extra fabric there? Some pieces almost leave you wondering whether you are a giraffe, cow or midget.
In Europe and America, the sizes are standardised and manufacturers tend to strictly follow them for trade and legal reasons. There are even ISO standards for sizes. However, clothing manufacturers here tend to follow their own judgments and have varying standards so to speak. Even small, medium and large in general are based on ‘averages’, which is impractical because there are no ‘average-sized’ people in the whole world, let alone this country.
Manufacturers making clothes for retail often try to create ‘one-size-fits-all’ pieces, which are shapeless, square rucksack cuts. The shirts are made so long that they will fit even the tallest of people. The very popularity of tent-like-silhouettes paired with stretch bottoms is due to the fact that there are so many people out there who cannot find clothes that truly fit. Adding Lycra is so much easier than tailoring clothes to fit the nuances of the human body form.
Umair Tabani, who has been running his sister’s namesake luxury label Sania Maskatiya, says, “Although people are getting averse to making innumerable trips to tailors, this still doesn’t mean ready-to-wear has completely taken over as some women still prefer to design their own clothes and get them stitched by their tailors.”
He adds, “To cater to these needs, they even offer a customisation option to their prêt wear. And although their products are cut on European sizes, they have come up with a special medium-large [size] considering there were a lot of women who were bigger than medium and smaller than the large.”
Unfortunately, not all brands go to such lengths. Their reasons for varied sizes may be for any reason, but those are utterly unrelated to the consumer. All the average customer is interested in, is that the fitting is perfect.
However not all brands go to such lengths to provide customers such product offerings.
Most manufacturers shall continue to make products that fit their narrow view of bodily proportions, or go on to justify bad fits as some quirk in that specific pattern or design. It could be about any number of factors, all of which are utterly unrelated to the consumer. All we want is clothing that fits us in the right places.
So where does this leave us? How do we end up looking fit and dapper? The trick to get it right every time is to ignore the actual size numbers and tags. Find something that fits you at the widest place, and then have it completely altered by a tailor. No matter what people say, there are some situations in which you can’t completely rely on ready-to-wear clothing. If your body shape is not the conventional small, medium or large, you may have to run to the tailors you’ve been complaining about.
Aamir Bukhari
is fashion and lifestyle enthusiast who blogs at aamiriat.wordpress.com
Published in The Express Tribune, October 31st, 2013.