Leave elegance to the tailor

By |Published On: April 26th, 2016|

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Who would have thought that we would one day live in a world of such an abundance of fabrics and clothing, colours and styles and yet feel more unsatisfied and unhappy than ever with the way we look? In modern society there are hardly any restrictions or rules to what we wear and how we wear it, even at the work place, yet women want to create capsule wardrobes and wear the same thing over and over again, buying ready to wear with the risk of seeing 10 more women wearing the same look. No one imposes uniforms on us today, but we choose them voluntarily. Is this because it is difficult to retain your own style without drowning in the sea of stores and designers’ brands out there? Or is it that we just don’t have time to familiarise ourselves with all these labels so we can choose what suits us best? I have come to the realization that the modern woman has become much more careless about what she wears than our mothers before us.

Our mothers would have dreamed of such abundance and freedom, but the modern woman doesn’t seem neither happy nor confident about what she wears, or indeed about herself.

What choices do we have left, stuck between ready to wear clothes that don’t fit, super expensive designers’ items and new designer names with six collections per year popping up from all over the world…What I see are women who just don’t want to play along those rules, because it feels more than ever, like a rat race.

To remind us of the old times, to discuss modern fashion and what real choices we have left, Mums in Heels met with Claire de Fays, owner of the Personal Tailoring Atelier By Claire:

Tsitaliya: How did you decide to open a Tailoring Atelier in Zurich?
Claire: My mom used to sew clothes for me when I was a child so I grew up with the belief that getting new clothes was a creative process and that these new clothes would naturally fit perfectly. Because if they were not, my mom would alter them until they reached the level of perfection I was expecting… I realise I must have been a bit of a pain sometimes, but the result was always exactly like I wanted and I ended up wearing these clothes until they were worn out. Then I learned to sew myself and made all sorts of clothes: like I wanted them and how I wanted them.

Claire: A few years ago, I realized that I had not sewn for myself for a long time and it suddenly hit me: I was spending a fortune on designer clothes but was most of the time disappointed by the fit, the quality or the purchasing process if not all three together. So I started to sew some trousers for work because I had this wonderful pure wool at home that felt so luxurious and that I really couldn’t resist… and because it was fun too. That’s when the second thought hit me: Maybe I was not the only one looking for a more intelligent way to dress myself!

Tsitaliya: Where do you source the fabrics from?
Claire: They almost exclusively come from Europe, primarily Italy, England, Scotland and Ireland. The only non-European fabrics are our silk linings that we source from Japan. We have also found a French weaver, producing everything close to Paris. She does an amazing job, each creation is a real piece of art!

Tsitaliya: How would you describe the collection made By Claire?
Claire: Our pieces are designed to be worn as suits or as separates because women do not really wear suits any more, except at work for some important meeting. We want our designs to be elegant and timeless so that you can wear them today but also look stylish and elegant in three years time. We also wanted to design the collection not to be fashionable per se, but to embellish women. Every design is not right for every body shape, so we developed the collection, and will continue to do so, to ensure that whatever your body shape, you will find a piece in our collection that will fit perfectly, but also flatter your silhouette.

Tsitaliya: In what way do you want to influence women and the way they dress for work?
Claire: I want to dress women not only for work, but also in their everyday life. When you have a family, a challenging job and plenty of activities to fill your days and evenings, dressing should be something you look forward to, not something you dread every morning because it is so difficult to choose.

I want women to worry about what is important in their lives and days, be it an important meeting or friends whom they have dinner with or their kids’ activities. And if fashion is important in their lives, then it’s great because we will have a wonderful time selecting colours and patterns, pairing them and thinking about how to wear it, and what other items they could wear their new piece with.

The point is that if you have a few well-tailored pieces, maybe a couple of blazers, a few trousers and a few skirts, you can wear them either together for a formal occasion, but also separately outside of the office with anything else from your wardrobe.

Tsitaliya: How has office wear changed in the last few years?
Claire: Remember the “power suit” from the 80s? Melanie Griffith´s suits in Working Girl? These times are all gone now and it is great news because women do not have to dress like men any more to be taken seriously. Office wear is a lot more casual than it used to be and wearing separates has become the norm. It leaves a lot of freedom to play with colours and patterns to reflect personalities and personal styles. It has never been so easy to apply Oscar de la Renta’s principles: “Fashion is about dressing according to what’s fashionable. Style is about being yourself.”

Tsitaliya: Do you think more and more women will choose tailor made rather than mass ready-to-wear?
Claire: I believe more and more women are becoming sensitive to buying less but better after the scandalous news of the conditions in which workers in low labour cost countries live and work. We cannot continue to buy ever cheaper, always more and expect no one to suffer from it. People suffer and our planet suffers. I do not want to participate in this and I believe, and hope, that more people will agree and act accordingly.

Tsitaliya: Since our mission at Mums in Heels is to make your life more exciting and meaningful, to empower and add value to each one of your experiences, even when shopping, we partnered with By Claire so you can get 15% discount on any of their services and products. Click here to receive the discount.

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About the Author: Tsitaliya Mircheva

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Tsitaliya is a writer and fashion journalist for more than 20 years. She founded Mums in Heels 10 years ago and keeps growing and evolving together with her community or fashionable mums and responsible consumers. Fashion and Wellness are her most favourite topics to write about.