A neophyte could travel to Naples, engage world renown artisans to create an instant wardrobe for him in less than a year, then be considered on the various sartorial MB's as 'knowledgeable', even 'expert.'  Maybe a 100k, tops.

A patternmaker friend of my found Mafoo's blog on recommendation by one of her clients. She called me to scream and howl at what we (on the industrial side of the fence) call "defects". What she found funny were the comments praising and hailing said defects as "features".

Mind you - in 28 yrs, this woman has fitted and cut more suits than most tailors will ever make their entire career. She thinks some of these folks are being victimized by their tailors as a joke. She has a hard time believing that tailors of this calibre would send clients out looking the way they do.

I then pointed her to AAAC for grins and explained that it may not be the tailors' fault. I suggest that the Consumers are ganging up on tailors and making their lives miserable with all these fictitious style "rules".

Mafoo doesn't deserve to be beaten down by Manton. But, he is trying to assert himself into the same role. Frankly, neither of them would make it as tailors or style correspondents, so they need to knock the $hit off. If they want to write about Consumer Experience, I'm happy to read it (in defense, Mafoo does write in this vain, most times). Both need to leave style decisions to the individual instead of inflicting bias (as any true journalist would). And, both need to leave quality assessments to someone who can articulate and analyze cause, effect and solution (namely: a Product Development Manager, Professional Patternmaker or such).

Well, that's just my point. A good journalist doesn't need to possess impeccable style (read: received by the vast majority), s/he simply needs to report what is, illustrate some comparisons, and allow the reader to apply the information to his context to draw conclusions.

RE: Mafoo's garments. We saw grave patterning errors in the try-on garments. The tailor used WAY TOO MUCH inlay, even by custom making standards. This implies, to us, poor training in pattern drafting. In industry (i.e. RTW) our patterns need to be very precise.

Myself, I will cut an inlay if I doubt myself, the customer tells me his weight fluctuates or I'm not sure how the fabric will lay in a specific area. But, I always recut the pattern as soon as I fit the garment on the model and make the final decisions. (PS: she has opinions about my process, too)

The pants... ugh... I have issues with the inconsistency of sewing applications (vis a vis: handwork v. machine). I also don't like the way the fly facing was inserted into the waistband - it was a 2 hr approach v. a 20-min approach (even if by hand, it could be done in 30-min). I just see that as a waste of Mafoo's money (IMO). It was an example of how some of us within the industry feel undertrained tailors (i.e. not enough time drafting patterns, etc) are ripping off their customers - and, the tailor doesn't even know he's doing it!