Louis Copeland explains what a tailor does.
Louis Copeland comes from a family of tailors. They have been making suits in Ireland since his grandfather moved here from Lithuania in the 1900s. There are Louis Copeland shops throughout Ireland selling menswear and hand-tailored suits. In this TV clip from ‘Head to Toe’, he explains what he does to presenter Ronan O’Kelly in the workshop above the flagship store in Capel St, Dublin.
Louis says that a hand-tailored suit is like a portrait, with little imperfections, while an off-the peg suit is like a photograph. When making a suit, he tries to get to know the client, so that he can match the cloth to their job. Usually, he would meet the client three or four times. A hand-tailored suit is just as reasonably priced as “a good-named off the peg suit”. Ronan is wearing a Louis Copeland suit made in 1972, which shows how long they can last.
| Title: | Louis Copeland on Hand-Tailored Suits |
| Clip Duration: | 00:02:35 |
| Material Type: | Video |
| Clip Title: | A Hand-Tailored Suit is Like a Portrait |
| Series Title: | Head to Toe |
| Information: | 'Head to Toe' was a weekly lifestyle programme which focused on clothes and fashion. 'Head to Toe' ran for 10 series between 1988 and 1997. The first show was aired on 21 October 1988 and was presented by Frances Duff, Mary O'Sullivan and Marty Whelan. Mary O'Sullivan described the show as "a magazine mix of everything to do with clothes, people, the rag trade in general, personalities, swap shops, the nostalgia scene, people's private collections, country shopping and dressing and budgets and even problems". (RTÉ Guide, 14 October 1988, p.6) |
| Local Keywords: | Fashion, Fashion designers, Clothing industry, Rag trade, Tailors, Tailoring, Made to measure clothes, Tailored suits, Menswear, Louis Copeland, Ronan O'Kelly, Head to toe |
| Coverage: | Ireland |
| Genre: | Factual |
| Topic: | Lifestyle and Consumerism |
| Provider: | RTÉ |
| Contributor(s): | Ronan O’Kelly (Presenter) |
| Publisher: | RTÉ |
| First Broadcast Channel: | RTÉ One |
| Production Year: | 1995 |
| Country of Production: | Ireland |
| Original Identifier: | 95D00893 |
| IPR Restrictions: | Rights Reserved - Free Access |
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| Item Type: | part/extract |
| Colour: | Colour |
| Sound: | Mono |
| Aspect Ratio: | 4:3 |
| Language: | English (eng) |
| Original Language: | English (eng) |
