Visiting a tailor isn’t shopping. Shopping in a physical space is, for many of us, a necessary evil. An experience such as that offered by Anatoly & Sons’ bespoke division, conversely, is a ritual: a creative journey undertaken with your chosen establishment, in pursuit of garments that are far more yours—far more you—than even your most favored off-the-rack pieces.
Bespoke tailoring is not simply about measurements. It is the practice of creating a garment by hand, from the ground up, for one individual wearer. Each piece begins as cloth and concept, shaped through judgment, experience, and repeated handwork rather than automation or standardized templates. Patterns are drafted uniquely, seams are built and adjusted through fittings, and critical elements—such as the canvas, lapels, collar, and sleeves—are shaped by hand to respond to both the fabric and the body wearing it.
For the newcomer, bespoke tailoring—having a garment made entirely to your personal measurements, preferences, and specifications—can feel inhibiting. And, as with learning about baseball as an adult, once you scratch the surface of the finer nuances, you quickly realize how much more there is to learn.
Fear not: the concepts involved are simple enough—and the more you learn, the more hooked you become. The following carefully curated terminology, divided here into sections for Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced sartorialists, will allow you to enter the field with confidence. That confidence will only grow once you begin quizzing your tailor on the advanced entries.
NOVICE
Made-to-Measure (MTM)
Many newcomers confuse made-to-measure with bespoke, but the difference is stark. Anatoly & Sons’ made-to-measure division begins with a pre-existing pattern that is adjusted to the wearer’s measurements. The resulting fit is excellent—far superior to ready-to-wear—but the garment’s underlying architecture remains standardized. Fittings are limited, and alterations must remain within the boundaries of the original template.
Bespoke tailoring, by contrast, begins without a template. A unique pattern is drafted for each client, informed not only by measurements but by posture, proportions, and movement (see “Rock of Eye”). Each fitting refines the garment’s balance and character, resulting in clothing that reflects not just the wearer’s dimensions, but the way they plan to live in that clothing.
Full Canvas
The hidden interlining stitched between a jacket’s outer fabric and its lining, typically made from natural fibers such as horsehair, camel hair, wool, and cotton. A full canvas runs from shoulder to hem, lending the authoritative, formal silhouette associated with Savile Row’s military heritage. A half canvas extends only through the chest. Traditional unstructured Neapolitan tailoring may feature little or no canvas at all.
Fittings
In Anatoly & Sons’ bespoke process, the client returns to the atelier four to six weeks after the initial meeting, at which cloth, trimmings, and other details were chosen and measurements first taken. At this stage, the client will see their clothes taking shape: garments are loosely assembled with temporary, or baste, stitching. This allows the tailor to assess balance, posture, proportion, and comfort before committing to permanent construction.
By the time of this highly focused fitting, the garment’s core architecture has already been resolved. Adjustments are made holistically: factors such as drape, front-to-back balance, sleeve pitch, and overall line are refined together rather than in isolation.
Lapels
We all know what lapels are—but in tailoring, there are three principal types. Notched lapels are the conventional V-shaped option traditionally seen on business wear. Peak lapels, with their upward-pointing tips, are more flamboyant and are often found on double-breasted jackets. Shawl lapels, which follow a smooth, continuous curve, are most commonly associated with tuxedos, often in a contrasting fabric.
Sleeve Pitch
Much of the tailor’s art lies in accommodating the quirks of the human physique. Sleeve pitch refers to the angle at which the sleeve is aligned with the wearer’s natural arm position. When executed correctly, the arms move freely, sleeves neither twist nor pull, and the jacket body remains clean and undisturbed at rest.
INTERMEDIATE
Balance
Put simply, balance describes the relationship between a jacket’s front and back. While a level hem is one indicator, true balance is felt rather than seen: the jacket should not pull forward or backward, and the collar should remain anchored to the neck, even in motion. One famously exacting Savile Row client understood this well—Fred Astaire, who would dance in the showroom and study how his suits responded in the mirror.
Drape
Though pioneered by the Dutch tailor Frederick Scholte—whose interwar clients included the Duke of Windsor—the drape cut is considered a staple of English tailoring (Scholte’s apprentice, Peter Gustav Anderson, founded Anderson & Sheppard). Featuring extra fabric in the shoulders and chest, high armholes, natural shoulders, and a comfortable but tapered fit, it remains a hallmark of English tailoring.
Finish
In jackets, finish refers to overall structure, shape, and silhouette. A clean finish suggests sharpness and precision, familiar from military and business tailoring. A soft finish favors ease, fluidity, and natural shaping, and is more commonly associated with Neapolitan tailoring and casual jackets.
Shoulder Expression
Karl Lagerfeld once remarked that he could recognize a Cifonelli shoulder from 100 meters away—a testament to how decisively the shoulder defines a jacket’s character. Cifonelli’s signature Le Cigarette employs a roped sleeve-head. Other expressions include “natural” (soft), “pagoda” (with a saddle-like curve), and “structured” or “roped,” the formal look traditionally favored in British tailoring.
Pant
Note the singular. Tailoring is the only corner of daily life in which “pants” (or “trousers” in British English) are routinely divided into individual legs. Key vocabulary includes rise—the distance from the crotch seam to the top of the waistband, which dictates how high the pant sits—and fork balance, the alignment of the crotch to eliminate drag lines and discomfort whether the wearer is standing or seated.
While “waistband” is common parlance, tailors recognize important variations. Anatoly & Sons’ pants feature a split waistband, defined by a V-notch at the back, and French bearers to distribute tension and enhance comfort.
ADVANCED
Milanese Buttonhole
The ultimate benchmark of bespoke virtuosity, the Milanese buttonhole is cut first, then painstakingly hand-stitched with a silk-wrapped gimp to create a raised, rope-like effect. Any error can require starting again from scratch.
Spalla Camicia
Literally meaning “shirt shoulder,” spalla camicia describes the Neapolitan method of attaching sleeves to jackets, producing a soft, natural, and exceptionally comfortable shoulder. Another Neapolitan hallmark is the barchetta—a gently curved breast pocket. The spalla camicia is a particularly appealing option for wearers in warmer climates.
Rock of Eye
This intriguing phrase—whose origin seems lost to time—refers to a tailor’s reliance on experience and instinct, alongside recorded measurements. It reflects the ability to absorb a wearer’s physique through observation: how they walk, sit, and stand, and how their body behaves in motion.
“I watch customers when they walk in, when they walk out, the way they sit, the way they stand,” London tailor Stephen Hitchcock once explained.
Padding Stitches
Padding stitches are the diagonal stitches that secure a jacket’s internal canvas to its outer cloth, shaping the lapels, collar, and chest. In bespoke tailoring, they are applied by hand, allowing the tailor to vary tension and spacing to coax flat fabric into three-dimensional form. Lapels develop a natural roll; collars sit cleanly; the chest is afforded a gentle, elegant structure.
Machine-applied padding—the default outside bespoke—offers the efficiency of mass production but lacks responsiveness to cloth and the movement quirks of the wearer.
Pick stitching, conversely, is intentionally visible. Traditionally done by hand, it runs along lapel edges, pockets, and seams, reinforcing the jacket while giving it character. Hand pick stitching adapts to the garment’s contours, while its mechanized equivalent is perfectly regular and primarily ornamental.
Like much of that discussed above, the distinction between padding and pick stitching remains a key differentiator between garments shaped by a tailor and those assembled according to the tenets of mass production.
