CREATING THAT LOOK:
Tailors make it fit with flair
Clothes don't make the man, custom tailors do
The custom tailoring industry, the art of designing
clothing specifically for a client's body and lifestyle, is
experiencing a "big boom" nationally, according to
local tailors And surprisingly enough, the sagging
economy is responsible
"People are tired of spending money over and over
again for the same things," says Robert Lewis, of
Robert Lewis Tailors in Portland "The disadvantage of
cheap clothes is you just can't build a wardrobe when
you're busy replacing the clothes you already have just
as quickly ''
So some people turn to custom tailors and find
some interesting benefits
"The main thing a salesman says is 'I know what's
good for you.' Yet all you know about his tastes is what
you see of him If he looks like he can’t dress himself in
the morning, or worse yet, if you know something’s
wrong with his appearance but you can’t place it, he's
not going to make the sale
"I can make a guy look so conservative, you'd bet
he still had his first earned dollar, or so bright and
flashy’ you'd think he was just off the plane from L.A.,”
Lewis boasts
But what about the people who just step off Amtrak
from Eugene? Have no fear, we Eugeneans have a few
of our own image-makers
Cindy Sato, store manager for Teresa Harter's
Fashions and Fabrics, has had a customer ask to "look
like a fairy princess ” From this relatively vague request,
Sato must dig for what “fairy princess" really means to
her customer
"We serve as a reference source.” Sato says
"They bounce ideas off us, and we help critique them
based on our tailoring experience Together, we arrive
at their choice.”
Hand-made and designed clothes have definite
advantages, the two tailors agree Oftentimes, cus
tomers must fit their bodies into pre-made garments;
tailors fit the fashions to specific frames Lewis argues
that store-bought fashions become battered too quickly
because of "short-cuts
"We don't take any short cuts," the self-proclaimed
fastidious tailor says Lewis chooses high-quality
grades of fabric and elastic and strong zippers
Through a series of fittings, the tailor designs a
permanent pattern for each customer After that, the
customer need only call his tailor, indicate the fabric
and style needed for a desired garment Then pick it up
in a month
Jeanee Moon, of Jeanee's Custom House in
Eugene, adds that much of the work she does is for
"people who want to be individuals They either can't
find what they want or don't want to look like everybody
else on the street "
Although consulted tailors quote prices for a
two-piece wool suit from $100 to $900, with a $400
average, all say their customers are not exclusively the
"super rich ”
Lewis says most of his customers are from the
"working middle class, but are buying upper-level
clothes and using them to work in "
The tailors agree that their clientele tends to be
over 25 and buys “classic investment clothing" for
business use Students seldom use their services
because of the lack of time and money, as wtill as the
general unimportance of clothing at that stage in their
lives
Lewis maintains that the demand for custom tailor
ing has been making a comeback in the past three or
four years
He attributes the recent turn-around from pre
made outfits to custom clothes to a change in the
public's decision making "They're realizing that with
the same budget they spend on throwing away their
clothes, they can begin to build a permanent war
drobe.”
“I've got more here than I can do,' says Lewis, who
started out with little work and now hires part-time
assistants
By DIANE WINOCUR
Graphic by Max DeRungs
Tips, hues mahe fashions worh
Long before the movie "10" came out, both sexes
were comparing women to the so-called “perfect”
woman. The ideal woman is bold, lean, long and
healthy She looks strong and sexy, with a natural
beauty radiating from an inner glow
Okay, so how many women really look like the
long-legged mademoiselles who prance across
magazine pages?
Very few
Careful attention to clothing can make the most out
of a woman’s best features But that doesn’t mean
shelling out the bucks Knowing the clothes that com
pliment an individual shape and using certain dressing
rules while shopping can save money
When advising someone on how to pull together
her total look, Jane Phillips, Kaufman’s fashion director,
studies fabric, colors, design concepts and proportion
"There’s something in every one of these categor
ies to make you look thinner, taller, shorter, and so on,”
Phillips says
Watch the fabric weight, she warns
"Bulkier fabric can make you look bulky; lighter
fabrics can make you look lighter.”
Large plaids and floral patterns also add weight,
but vertical stripes elongate a short body and horizontal
stripes break up a long body, she says
In general, dark colors slenderize and light colors
enlarge, but not always, says Audree Pedemonte, of
Hue Review
"If you are silhouetted against a white wall, then
dark clothes might actually make you look bigger
because there’s such a contrast But when you go out in
the evening in low, subdued lights, then dark colors will
blend in with the background and make you look
thinner," she says
Pedemonte says colors may not be as important as
the way they are broken up A short person should keep
the same color from the shoes up. The blending of all
pieces of clothing create a long line with an illusion of
height, she explains.
Design concepts concern the style and shape of
individual pieces of clothes, Phillips says.
High heels don't make legs look longer or make a short
person look taller in every case, she says. Low or
medium heels in a color blending with the outfit can be
more elongating than high heels, which accentuate
heavy calves
A form-fitted boot that stops at mid-calf breaks up
the smooth line of the body and draws attention to the
calf while a straight-legged boot that stops below the
knee slims down a heavy calf, she says
Baggy jeans are good for hiding heavy calves,
Pedemonte says, but not for hiding heavy thighs In
general, baggy clothes make overweight people look
wider Clothes should fit with room to move but should
be well-tailored, Pedemonte says.
"Matching hair color with a blazer or sweater will
increase height by three to five inches," Pedemonte
says
The 5 3" color consultant says to look taller, short
people should walk erectly and wear scarves and
hairpieces
A jacket can right a thousand wrongs, she says.
Long-waisted people should wear a bolero-length
jacket that stops between the waist and the hip bone.
Jackets should stop just below the hip bone for short
waisted people to avoid a “tent" look, she says
A pudgy stomach, affectionately termed "beer
belly,” can be hidden with pleated pants and skirts,
Pedemonte says She says people should avoid wear
ing tightly fitted clothing and, instead, should wear a
smooth-fitting, A-line skirt.
Ruffles may flatter Britain’s Princess Diana, but
large-busted women should avoid them to keep from
drawing extra attention and should wear a top with lace
around the neck instead She says wearing scarves,
collars or barrettes in “eye-extension colors” around
the face will draw attention to the face and eyes.
The bottom line is proportion, Pedemonte says.
She says the attention paid to the total look is analagous
to an artist's attention to detail—the little hints work if
combined appropriately with the total image
By CAROL MORTON
Page 4 Section B
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