BBC4 - The Perfect Suit

I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned, but tonight, at 21.00 British Summer Time on UK television,
there is a broadcast called The Perfect Suit. It's on BBC4.

Record it and put it on youtube for us

Originally Posted by landshark

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Record it and put it on youtube for us

I've had a better idea - you can watch it on BBC iPlayer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/

Originally Posted by Russ_H

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I've had a better idea - you can watch it on BBC iPlayer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/

I'll certainly watch it on the iPlayer after it airs, but I don't think those outside of the UK can do so.

That's correct. Someone record it for the ROW.

Just watched it - quite fun, nothing too revolutionary. Interviews with the omnipresent Patrick Grant, plus Paul Smith, Charlie Allen. Very accessible, with the advantages and disadvantages of being accessible (i.e. entertaining, but not particularly deep). On iPlayer now.

Originally Posted by wholphin

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Just watched it - quite fun, nothing too revolutionary. Interviews with the omnipresent Patrick Grant, plus Paul Smith, Charlie Allen. Very accessible, with the advantages and disadvantages of being accessible (i.e. entertaining, but not particularly deep).
Yes, I'd go along with this. Paul Smith and Antony Price were the most entertaining interviewees I thought. Much of the programme was a sweeping chronology of the evolution of the suit, light on detail but with enough interesting archive footage to keep things moving at a good pace. Some mildly daft comments and set pieces, but that goes with the turf for this kind of popular documentary. The chronology presented probably won't tell anyone interested enough in clothes and clothes history to post on SF anything new. The presenter's background made the programme what it was. He's got an Art History background, and often does segments on the Arts generally. So, as would be expected, he's very green when it comes to anything about tailoring, fit, construction and the more technical aspects of a suit. For instance he's inordinately pleased with a RTW jacket's working sleeve buttons, and with another RTW suit that he's given that doesn't really fit him all that well. However, his natural appreciation for aesthetics and artistic intent allowed him to identify and expound some of the reasons for the suit's ongoing existence and its emotional/psychological import. A more technically savvy presenter may well have missed this crucial aspect to clothing. The social history of the suit came across well, and his final closing piece to camera on why a suit remains both relevant and enjoyable to wear today was an accurate and pleasing summary. This programme's conclusion was really about the aesthetic/emotional meaning of a perfect suit, not its execution. If that interests you - it certainly is why I personally like clothes - then you'll probably enjoy watching this one.

The perfect suit? No such thing!

Originally Posted by RSS

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The perfect suit? No such thing!

Funnily enough, I don't think I'd be reading too much into what was said to say that was pretty much the subtext of the presenter's conclusion. Cutting through some of his waffle, he essentially argued that it's all in the mind of the wearer, if the suit achieves the social/emotional purpose and meaning that the wearer desires for it. It isn't the garment itself, what it's made from or how it fits, but that its infinite malleability/versatility as a concept gives the lounge suit its perfection. The title is really quite cheeky in that regard I think.

Originally Posted by Holdfast

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This programme's conclusion was really about the aesthetic/emotional meaning of a perfect suit, not its execution. If that interests you - it certainly is why I personally like clothes - then you'll probably enjoy watching this one.

Thanks for the feedback.

Actually, producer Alastair Sooke had an article about his documentary in The Telegraph today:
http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-...fect-suit.html

"Never do both" (buttons)
"Why not?"
"Because you'll look like a newscaster"

Holdfast sums it up pretty well. Charlie Allen and Anthony Price were great and and the section on the DOW will please the American viewers. Well worth watching. Berwin and Berwin have had a lot of airtime recently their Chinese factory was on the BBC2 show about manufacturing last week and their Hungarian factory was in this program. http://www.berwinberwin.co.uk/operations1/index.html

Is it just me or is Patrick Grant's beard trying to consume his face? Everytime I see him it seems to have expanded further!

cheers

Hi there. I'm a newbie here and found the site after I googled about this programme.

Specifically I was looking for any info on where I could get a suit like the early edwardian one the presenter had on in the section with Eric Musgrove.

I guess a suit like that isn't available anywhere off the peg and I would need to get it made but any advice on a suitable tailor for a suit like that would be very welcome.

The last tailor I went to was more of a "mod" tailor (Threadneedle Man in Elephant and Castle) who was great but I don't think an Edwardian throwback would be up his street.

Any suggestions very welcome.

Thanks

Bookster may be able to help you. http://www.tweed-jacket.com/SUITS%20...its%20page.htm