Tailor made Clothing and the Story of Tailor Buck

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In the middle-ages probably no tailor was as lucky as the fairy-tale tailor who ended up marrying the king’s daughter. In fact, in France, centre of fashion for centuries, as a tailor you were particularly unlucky. Why? Because ~~unlike other professions~~ French tailors lacked a guild that could have regulated their craft and protected their interests! The French Revolution (1789) ~~when Napoleon wreaked havoc in Europe in the name of democracy, liberty and brotherhood only to crown himself Emperor a few years later~~ finally abolished the guild system and now at least everyone was equally bad off.

In other places in Europe, the strict rules of the guilds eradicated any uncomfortable competition between tailors, strictly regulating the number of tailors in a given place and ensuring that no-one who was not an accredited tailor would think about entering the business. Each tailor had to go through a long apprenticeship and only the most skilled ones could pass the Masters examination that allowed them to design and cut the patterns and sell clothes. Journeyman, aspiring tailors who had passed their apprenticeship but not their Masters examination (yet), were confined to sew and iron clothes.

And then around the 12th century something changed: along with the cotton fabric, came the Renaissance and a new idea of clothes developed: body-shaped clothes. In fact, some like to say that was the birth of “fashion”.

But apprentices were by far not the lowest in the hierarchy: they were helped by male seamstresses, badly paid menial laborers who worked “stored away” sitting cross-legged on the sewing tables to save space in the crammed and dark workshops.

At least in Germany, endless parodies have been shaped by this image of haggard figures sitting on tables sewing feverishly, their eyes ~~ruined from working in dark rooms~~ hidden behind thick glasses. The story of Max and Moritz and Tailor Buck by Wilhelm Busch (German caricaturist and poet) is a definite must: here the first lines as a teaser (translated by the Rosetta Project).

Through the town and country round

Was one Mr Buck renowned.

Sunday coats, and week-day sackcoats,

Bob-tails, swallow tails, and frock coats,

Gaiters, breeches, hunting-jackets;

Waistcoats, with commodious pockets, -

And other things, too long to mention,

Claimed Mr Tailor Bucks attention.

Or, if something wanted doing,

In the way of darning, sewing,

Piecing, patching, -if a button

Needed to be fixed or put on, –

Anything of any kind,

Anywhere before, behind, -

Mister Buck could do the same,

For it was his life’s great aim.

you’ll find the rest of the story (including fantastic illustrations) here.

Jun 16, 2009, 10.09 AMby sewella

merryk can you forgive me please???? Pretty please with a cherry on top?! I pay great attention not to make mistakes (and make a fool of myself, of course) while I work but I couldn’t forgive myself for letting this slip of the keyboard and my mind go unpunished so I won’t edit my previous comment and correct the obvious mistake but I shall wear the burden of shame and open my eyes wide next time!

merryk Thank you for the post again!

Jun 12, 2009, 01.42 PMby alden

As much as I wish I could, I can’t take credit for that! It is all MerryK’s doing!

Jun 12, 2009, 03.44 AMby sewella

Just a little “Thank you” to Alden for including excerpts taken from a book of the Rosetta Project into this post. They are doing an amazing job, trying to rebuilt the Babel Tower right there in the childrens’ kindgdom of fairy tales. If you join, then you’ll join a worthy cause!

Jun 11, 2009, 03.19 PMby zickzack

ohhh! When I saw the pictures I immediately knew that it was Max und Moritz! It’s a while ago since I last read it or since someone read it to me. If I’m not wrong it’s an old book my mum already read when she was a child – I’ll see if I can find it!