derek guy Profile picture
Apr 19, 2024 6 tweets 4 min read Read on X
Charles may have visited the shop and perhaps even accepted a gift, but this does not make Sam "his tailor." The king's civilian suits are made by Andrson & Sheppard (for decades now), and his military garb by Gieves & Hawkes. You can tell bc he wears a drape cut. 🧵



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The term "drape" refers to the extra material around the chest, where excess fabric "drapes" along the armhole. This cut was invented by the Dutch-English tailor Frederick Schlote, who trained Per Anderson, co-founder of Anderson & Sheppard. Here he is with A&S cutter Hitchcock
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The drape cut results in a fuller, rounder chest, which you can see here on Daniel Day-Lewis (who is wearing an A&S suit). This cut is essentially the opposite of Sam's, which is very lean through the chest. Sam's tailroing has no shaping.
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The drape cut is achieved through pattern drafting and placing a dart that doesn't quite come up to the armhole (allowing some fullness near this area). It's also achieved by cutting the chest piece on a bias, so it gives the chest some roundness. Look at this shaping:
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Most people don't need custom tailoring and would be better off with quality ready-to-wear than budget bespoke. If you want to get the drape cut, I recommend Steed in the UK, a company I've used for over a decade. Edwin is a former head cutter at A&S.
Other good tailors in the drape cut tradition include Redmayne (now headed by Tom Mahon) and Steven Hitchcock. All three tailors mentioned have cut clothes for King Charles that he actually wears.

Anyway, it is more important to focus on the quality of work, not client names.

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More from @dieworkwear

Dec 18, 2025
A story I found about Haiti:

In 1999, a group of Haitians were tired of political disorder and dreamed of a better life in the United States. So they built a small, 23-foot boat by hand using pine trees, scrap wood, and used nails. They called the boat "Believe in God." 🧵 Image
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In a boat powered by nothing but a sail, they somehow made it from Tortuga Island to the Bahamas (about a 90 mile distance). Then from the Bahamas, they set sail again. But a few days and some hundred miles later, their makeshift boat began to sink. Image
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The men on the boat were so dehydrated this point, one slipped in and out of consciousness, unable to stand. They were all resigned to their death.

Luckily, they were rescued at the last minute by the US Coast Guard. Image
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Read 5 tweets
Dec 1, 2025
After this post went viral, I called Caroline Groves, a world-class bespoke shoemaker, to discuss how women's shoes are made. I normally don't talk about womenswear, but I found the information interesting, so I thought I would share what I learned here. 🧵
First, who is Caroline Groves?

Footwear is broadly broken into two categories: bespoke and ready-to-wear. In London, bespoke makers, including those for women, are largely focused on traditional styles, such as wingtip derbies and loafers. Emiko Matsuda is great for this. Image
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In Paris, there's Massaro, a historic firm that has been operating since 1894, now owned by Chanel. Their designs are less about creating the women's equivalent of traditional men's footwear and more about things such as heels or creative styles. Aesthetic is still "traditional." Image
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Read 18 tweets
Nov 29, 2025
Earlier today, Roger Stone announced his partnership with a menswear company, where together they've released a collection of tailored clothing items.

Here is my review of those pieces. 🧵 Image
The line is mostly comprised of suits and sport coats, supplemented with dress shirts and one pair of odd trousers (tailor-speak for a pair of pants made without a matching jacket). Suits start at $1,540; sport coats are $1,150. One suit is $5,400 bc it's made from Scabal fabric Image
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Let's start with the good points. These are fully canvassed jackets, meaning a free floating canvas has been tacked onto the face fabric to give it some weight and structure. This is better than a half-canvas and fully fused construction, but requires more time and labor. Image
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Read 24 tweets
Nov 24, 2025
Here is a guide breaking down what goes into quality men's footwear. This is focused on men's shoes, as women's shoes, depending on the style, will have different construction techniques and thus standards. 🧵
First, let's set a standard. What does it mean for a pair of shoes to be "good quality?" In this thread, I define that standard to be two things:

— Do the shoes age well?
— Can they be easily repaired?

In short, you should want and be able to wear the shoes for a long time. Image
We'll start with the part most people see: the uppers.

Quality uppers are made from full grain leather, which shows the natural grain of the hide (pic 1). Low quality uppers will be made from corrected grain, where bad leather has been sanded and given a chemical coating (pic 2) Image
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Read 20 tweets
Nov 23, 2025
When I was on a menswear forum, one of my most controversial opinions was that certain coats look better when they're worn open, while others look better when they're closed.

For instance, which of these two outfits look better to you? 🧵 Image
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If you shop for an overcoat today, there's a good chance you'll land on a single breasted. As suits and sport coats have receded from daily life, the types of outerwear that men historically wore with them have also slowly disappeared. Image
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If you look at the past, men had all sorts of designs to wear over their tailored clothing: polos, Ulsters, Balmacaans, Chesterfields, paletots, wrap coats, etc. They were offered in a wider range of materials: gabardine, camelhair, covert, heavy tweeds, etc. Image
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Read 8 tweets
Nov 22, 2025
The reason why this looks off is bc the coat is built from many layers of material — haircloth, canvas, and padding — which sits on top of another jacket with similar structure. This can make you look a bit like a linebacker. If you find this to be the case, switch to a raglan 🧵
A raglan is defined by its sleeve construction. Most coats have a set-in sleeve, which is to say the sleeve attached to a vertical armhole, much like a shirt. A raglan, by contrast, has a diagonal seam running from the neck to armpit. Historically, this was put on raincoats. Image
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A raglan construction is a bit more waterproof that its set-in sleeve counterpart because there's not vertical seam in which water can sit and eventually penetrate. But most importantly, it's completely devoid of padding. This results in a softer, rounder shoulder line. Compare: Image
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Read 4 tweets

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