What is Wednesday #12

What is Wednesday.

WIW #12

This weekly Wednesday post is aimed at answering some of the more basic and critical aspects of tailoring and the terminology we use to describe them. It stems from realizing that I’m constantly throwing out different terms with my clients and quite often they’re unsure as to what I exactly mean.  The goal of this section then is to alleviate this terminology gap and provide you with some know-how to talk tailoring with a little more ease.

What is…a shoulder pad and why do we use them?

Typically made of canvas, felt and/or polyester fleece – shoulder pads are shaped roughly like a half moon and extend from the shoulder seam back over the shoulder itself.  They’re intended to create an even shape over the shoulder to allow the jacket to have a perfect platform from which to hang over the chest and back.  Throughout time they’ve come in a variety of shapes and sizes – from the bigger styles of the 80’s to the smaller version we generally see today.

The top image we see below is an example of roughly the middle ground.  Double the the thickness of the white felt in the middle and we’re getting into Gordon Gekko territory and the power suit of the 80’s.  Reduce the felt just just thinnest of layers and now you have a sense of what today’s lightly padded jacket contain.

WIW #12 II

In terms of the why; the Greek God Ares shows us how the shoulder area is anything but uniform.  In fact it’s much like a mountainous region – there are peaks and valleys and no two are the same.  Some have a lot of muscle and are round in shape, others are bony and angular, while others yet are mix of both.  And this is where the pad comes in – its role is to smooth over these variations and establish and even shape from which the jacket’s shoulders will sit.

Lastly a note on size; generally less is more.  The style of the moment is all about reducing padding and having the shoulders appear as natural as possible.  This is especially important for muscular guys as there is no need to come across looking like an NFL linebacker.

As always please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions. Better yet book a free appointment and we can banter in person and see if we might be a good fit to work together.

Take care – Michael

info@martinfishertailors.com

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