"It's just like surgery." He was carefully unpicking a buttonhole. "One wrong move and you're done!" he emphasised. This was the first time I heard a tailor compare his work to surgery and many more times as the years passed.
I have always found that a curious statement and I must admit, I have made that comparison as well. I even use genuine surgical tools from B Braun!
But let's face it; tailoring is not like surgery at all. There are no lives involved, no blood management, complex anaesthetic procedures and risk of infections. You don't plan for power cuts when operating or manage your client's morphine supply after the removal of a nasty tumour. Most importantly, your patient doesn't wake up right in the middle of the operation! In short; we tailors can't remove a tumour!
Tailoring is like tailoring and surgery is like surgery. If tailoring was like surgery, then surgery must be like tailoring!
But I bet, you're not going to meet a surgeon anytime soon who will compare his work to that of a tailor.
So why the comparison?
Obviously: both are delicate work that require high levels of concentration and dexterity.
It's the fastest way of explaining a non tailor the essence of your work without getting technical. But something about that comparison begs more questions...
Why not just say that tailoring is delicate work that requires high levels of concentration and dexterity? Or some version of that? Like splitting a hair? Why not say it's just like embroidery?
That's pretty delicate and close to home right? Why has the cliche comparison become tailoring is like surgery? Do tailors lack the vocabulary and imagination to articulate otherwise? Or are they just using Occam's razor to keep things simple? And to be clear, not all tailors make this comparison. I'm talking about the ones that do, including myself.
"The need to compare tailoring to surgery would not be necessary if tailoring was generally perceived as high status by the greater public and tailors themselves"
Talking to tailors worldwide has made me realise that many of them doubt the value and meaning of their work. Rightfully so. I know I have. Oh the frustration...
Breaking a sleeveboard, punching your ham across the room or smashing your shears against the floor.
"What is the purpose of this?" I asked myself. "Why am I putting up with this shit over a piece of cloth?"
"What difference does it make in this world if my pockets are thin, crisp and neat?"
"What's the cause here and why bother?"
My analysis: comparing tailoring to surgery might be a simple way of explaining our work to another. But dig deeper and you'll find a desire for status. Tailoring is originally blue collar work. Let's not forget that. It lacks great public recognition and praise compared to professions that are often perceived as prestigious.
This is why most regular tailors want to be Savile Row tailors or they resent it. They're not perceived as equal. Non Savile Row tailors gladly take the opportunity to neutralise its value while Savile Row tailors see it as the ultimate destination. The public can't judge.
And perhaps this desire for status explains why some tailoring books have been written as if they explained quantum physics in Cuneiform! It just seems more important. Important = high status.
Now imagine a surgeon comparing her work to tailoring. You would instantly judge her for less. I know I would. In my view, at some subconscious level, she would lower her prestige and importance. On the other hand, any tailor comparing his work to surgery is instantly perceived as higher in status.
At the very least, more precise in his approach.
Marketers are masters at this; it's called commercial innovation. They change your perception of a product by changing the context in which the product is presented. You can present a pen as a writing tool or the thing that improves your handwriting and makes your readers fall in love with you. You can present wine in a thin plastic bo'ohw (British Cockney dialect) or have a French speaking monsieur serrrve iz frrraughm an auvy glass uanne.
Your perception will alter.
The need to compare tailoring to surgery would not be necessary if tailoring was generally perceived as high status by the greater public and by tailors themselves.
Unfortunately, we don't have publicly praised 'stars' in tailoring. Not like we have Ronaldos and Jordans, Spielbergs or Pacinos. Those who get close to stardom are the ones featured in menswear magazines whose writers are as shallow as the adjectives they spill without any significant thought on the subject. It's type of writing that only demoralises tailors and damages a crucial industry relationship; that of menswear writers and everyday tailors.
I might sound overly critical here but I assure you I'm not; when a tailor whom you know to be incompetent gets featured in a magazine, you think whatever, good for them. But when the writer goes out of his way to slap terms like "technical genius" or "the best tailor in the world changing the game forever", you think hold on a second...
I know this guy and that's not true! I've worked with him. What the hell are you talking about?
And tailors see that and think: "Wankers, it's all a joke anyway!". Not only do they hold the magazine and its writers in contempt but also develop a resentful mindset towards any tailor getting public recognition.
Of course this is an existential problem with commercial consequences; if tailors don't set the highest possible standards to live up to and see themselves as contributors to the bigger picture, they will remain stuck in exactly those self-fulfilling prophesies that keep them low status. Greatness starts from within and is then granted by the public.
Great business is built when people believe in something bigger than themselves. Even if the evidence for it is not crystal clear. It is called faith. Faith in the idea that if you strive to discover the highest possible standard, you will get close. Or at least not sink any lower. It is not the same as being naive.
Understand: You don't have to cut flesh to be high status. Your significance is measured by the character you build and the good you do for your industry and everyone in it. It starts within you and the standards you set for yourself.
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