Brocade Fashion
(Receipt from the tailor: Suzhou, China)
I thought this was a really interesting piece of paper. Aside from my lovely red hooded jacket, I have never had an item of clothing tailored for me – this is from one of Ying’s latest ventures. Three shreds of the chosen fabric have been stapled to the top of the sheet; two white for the shirt and one deep grey for a pair of trousers.
Over the course of Ying’s wardrobe rehash, I have been enjoying the tailor’s diagrams of each individual item that Ying ordered – this is the design for a short-sleeved shirt for summer. You can see all the measurements running down the left hand side of the sheet. I had never considered the need for a drawing at the tailors, but there are so many decisions to be made; how long the sleeves will be, will the stitching match the shirt, what style will the collar be, will the item be tight or baggy, will the front be double hemmed or not, will it have a pocket, two? There is so much to contemplate before the item is finished and it involves being measured with a tape (in Chinese inches…) and having an interview simultaneously about the item in question. This blue slip is taken by the customer and brought back after a fortnight (generally) and exchanged for the new clothes. You might be able to make out the prepayment amount as Y300 and the collection fee as Y200.
I take some delight in the Chinese writing scrawled all over the slip – it’s a pleasure to watch the tailor as he writes. Part of me still almost doubts that such a text is real, that people can really read this. It’s a completely idiotic thought, but hopefully a comprehensible one. As an aside, ‘Middle Hip’ and ‘Slack Bottom’ on the right sound like place names in the English midlands.
– Today Rosie is looking around the degree show in a rainy Glasgow, Scotland –
