The Militant Guild of Rural Tailors Research Group

Who Uses this Research Archive?

2010-04-18T16:30:00.001-07:00

The material archived here is available to both the general public as well as private and corporate institutions. Visitors to this virtual library come from a wide spectrum and include some of the world's most high profile organizations such as; Polo Ralph Lauren, Diesel, Levis, LVMH, VF Corp, Saatch and Saatchi, and others. This obviously begs the question... -If the guild did not exist, why are so many important people so interested?

Tinker, Tailor... Beggar-Man, Thief

2009-02-07T03:18:00.001-08:00

After some time focused on other aspects of garment-research, the MGRT Research Group was forwarded a link to a wardrobing exercise with some hints of the Guild's dogma.

GRADATION OF WHAT ARE YOU WEARING TODAY

While not completely forgoing commercial concerns (the exercise links to the branded site; DENHAM), it does represent a practical contemporary take on some of the dogma's precepts. Logos are sometimes removed, garments are modified with a degree of brutality associated with the Guild's own attitude, and vintage articles (possibly originally crafted by Guildsmen) are shown particular favor mixed used alongside modern components.

We at the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors Research Group are not sure we approve, but there's some charm in seeing an attempt to adopt some of the Standards & Ethics into a real-world user-based application.

A Militant Guild of Rural Cordwainers?

2009-02-07T03:15:00.000-08:00

The Research Group has limited resources to investigate the possible fraternal connection between the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors and any similar union set-up to protect and advance the cordwainers' arts from the same threats faced by tailors.

But while extensive space cannot be granted to that undertaking here within the groups' dedicated research archive, recent developments in the contemporary market give the group pause. Indeed there maybe sufficient rationale to extend the group's brief into this field of study at some point in the future.

In the meantime the group calls attention to a recent posting on Agenda Inc. for those curious about the subject.

Copyleft, Co-Inspiration & the Guild Ethic

2009-02-05T17:52:00.001-08:00

The Research Group it has just been made aware of the Copyleft concept and is embarrassed to have learned of the phenomenon so late in the day.

However as the idea has finally appeared on the Group’s radar it now makes sense to point out how the approach taken by the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors may have inspired it. –Or at least, to draw parallels between this concept and the role of the Guild’s annual ritual of bestowing the honor of King of the Rural Tailors on one of its ranks during clandestine events which served the greater purpose of disseminating new garment-making techniques across the global subterranean brotherhood.

This practices is reviewed elsewhere in this archive. Its fundamental premise being that of CoInspiration. A philosophy whereby individual practitioners are encouraged to progress the tradition in which they work by attempting to inspire their peers instead of by competing with them.

The practice of bestowing recognition on artisans who have used individual creativity and tailorwise invention to advance the overall state-of-the-art uses a competitive mechanism, namely to have one’s work recognized as superlative relative to the work of others at a given moment-in-time. However unlike traditional competitive models this practice also raises up the role of inspirer as the height of individual achievement in lieu of the gaining of power, wealth, privilege, etc.

It has also been pointed out that the culture of contemporary action-sports that emerged in the 1990’s shares some of these ideals. The preference of the athletes to judge each other’s contribution (epitomized by Terje Haakenson’s Arctic Challenge) is a clear example of this impulse. It’s maybe no coincidence that one of the brands operating in this space has gone by the name Gnu, which is also a type of Copyleft protection. The integration of menswear labels with roots in skate and action-sports may originate from this ethical simpatico.

The crux of both Copyleft and the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors’ philosophy toward progression is that when you use techniques invented by a predecessor or peer, your real ambition should be to progress those techniques even further. This reduces the anxiety associated with the stigma of the “knock-off” in garment design and incentivizes participants to add to the tradition overall. -But it also presumes that making such contributions will provide the participant with deep and central forms of personal satisfaction more so than conventional motivators within the free-market model.

In this regard CoInspiraton and Copyleft concepts radiate a certain nobility on which the Research Group will continue to reflect.

Thanks to the contemporary Japanese label General Research for revealing this former blindspot in our investigations.

Standards & Ethics Traceable in Otaku

2009-02-05T17:20:00.000-08:00

For some time now the Reasearch Group has been aware of the growing trend toward high-utility and deep-core authenticity which has been manifesting itself among a loosely associated network of contemporary menswear workshops mostly in Japan.

While this archive exhibited a few Brands Demonstrating Lineage three years ago, that exercise was essentially a postulation regarding the possible generational links between the originl Militant Guild of Rural Tailors of the Industrial Revolution and modern menswear concerns operating today.

The group’s fairly transparent hope was that individuals involved in these modern marks might actually have blood ties to Guild members further up their family trees. Were this to be the case it might partly account for the missing information on the Guild and, at least, connect our generation to theirs.

Since the time of that presentation the list of brands demonstrating many of the features of the Guild’s Standards and Ethics has lengthened steadily indicating possibly that the great grandsons of the Guild are becoming less reluctant to step into the light.

At the same time the Research Group has also kept a keen eye on related development in the East. Specically what we’ll refer to as the “Otaku” menswear brand phenomenon.

“Otaku” translates roughly as “Fan” or, more accurately “Fanatic”. The word covers any obsessive fanatisicm from the coveting of Hello Kitty to the collecting of MacDonalds Happy Meal toys. The expression also relates broadly to fashion in Japan where allegiances between consumers and their favorite lines can become incredibly strong.

But the Research Group is not interested in general Otaku behavior. The Group’s only concern is the growth in Otaku-style brands focused on authentic utility menswear.

It is the Research Group’s express conviction that Rin Tanaka (who graced the group by attending an early exhibition and membership drive in Los Angeles a few years ago) should be credited for having instigated a very large part of the current activity, inspring brand-creators with his periodical surveys; My Freedamn.

The My Freedamn books are passionately assembled to the personal and exacting standards for Mr. Tanaka himself. As such they cannot be claimed as products of the Group’s research but rather they are compliments to it for which the group has great respect and has learned a great deal that has been relevant to the Group’s own inquiries. In fact, along with Free & Easy Magazine, the My Freedamn books are so widely appreciated and so well-known among mainstream global garment researchers that the Group has refrained from adding to the noise on the subject up-to-now.

At this point it is the Group’s conviction that a critical-mass is being reached and it was time to issue comment on the Otaku phenomenon, offer a conjecture as to the role of Mr. Tanaka in inspiring it and remind users of our archive of the parallels between these enterprises and the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors Standards & Ethics. We should be clear that these labels do not adhere to the full list of Standard & Ethics.

-Their singled-minded focus on the “reproduction” of authenticity being ultimately a handicap which undermines the critical and central Guild ethic of promoting tailorwise invention.

This drive toward the purity of the reproduction (even at the expense of invention and progression except where invention/progressive techniques serve to deepen reproductive accuracy) and its acceleration through zealous focus detail and quality creates a forceful "purification" of the original concept. The cyclical double-reflection that results not only blurs the boundaries of conventional branding, but it has famously purified factually impure elements which have accidently stumbled into its zone of reflection and reproduction... A unrivaled collaboration between the author William Gibson and the Otaku label, Buzz Rickson is one such example.

However, the remarkable approach taken by these brands does succeed in subverting the overt use of standard branding mechanisms and in this regard it does manifest kinship with the Militant Guild or Rural Tailors. The focus on quality, utility and de-seasonalization all also reflect elements of the Guild’s Standards & Ethics.

For these reasons the Group advises those using this archive to familiarize themselves with the work of: Buzz Rickson's, Real McCoy, General Research, Post O'Alls, Workers, Corona Utility, Amoskeag XX, Lost Worlds, Tailor Toyo ,Whitesville, Sun Surf, John Severson, Anachronorm, Riding HIgh, Studio d'Artisan , Nigel Cabourn, Sugar Cane, Mr. Freedam, Eastman Leather, Atelier la Durance, Aero Clothing, Stevenson Overall Co., and the many other emerging producers in this arena.

Tailors Shears at Time of the Guild

2008-12-03T15:05:00.000-08:00

David Gensler, an inner-member of the MGRT research community, drew the groups attention to material related to the development and production of Tailors' Shears at the turn of the century.

Get your own - Open publication

This history refers specifally to the work of J. Wiss & Sons Co in the New World roughly at the time of the Guild's formation. Noteworthy the role of both craftsmanship and invention which contributed to the progression of the cutler's trade. Artisan inventors brave enough to try running machinery powered by a Saint Bernard walking in a gerbil's tread-wheel and committed enough to quality to improve the performance of their products at every stage.

Early Guild Scissors Unveiled

2008-11-08T08:21:00.001-08:00

A few members of the research group attended the opening of the new DENHAM shop in Amsterdam last night after hearing rumors that the label would be sharing a portion of its own research material with the public in honor of the occasion. The most intriguing element of the event was the unveiling of an enormous (50cm long) pair of 16th century renaissance French master tailor's shears.

The shears lived up to expectations featuring a series both guild-markings as well as marks indicating what skill levels had been achieved by the master-tailor who had used them.

It is the research group's assertion that the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors first appeared in response to the threats posed by 19th century industrialization, but it was nevertheless fascinating to see the fraternal spirit made manifest in this very early tailoring artifact. -Particularly since all guilds in France were outlawed by the Revolutionary Council in 1791 foreshadowing what was also to happen to later tailoring guilds.

It was also inspiring to see what must be one of the earliest example of the "revolutionary" use a two-part construction in scissor design purpose built for garment making.

The DENHAM Garment Library recently acquired the scissors from the Bradstreet Arcade antiquarians.

Black Knave recognizes MGRT Research as Open Source

2008-11-08T08:17:00.000-08:00

The MGRT Research Group owes a debt of gratitude to Stuart Stapleton of the Black Knave for both recognizing the group's efforts to create an open source archive on the history of the Guild and for personally disseminating this message through his own channels.

The group recognizes the varied orientations reflected across the wide range of people using this archive and has been delighted to see the more obvious historian's interset matched by an equally robust investigation by those seeking to return the Rural Tailor's ethics to their own contemporary menswear concepts.

East London Innovators

2008-11-05T08:02:00.000-08:00

Our British researchers have made intuitive discoveries in the past relating to Guild activity in London. The West End's long established Savile Row has long turned out fine gentlemen's wear for those with an abundance of money. Those working in the less salubrious East End of the city were given less commercial exposure. This allowed them to generate more distinctive styles, which in turn influenced the wider market.

The career of Zachary George Lockwood (above right), was watched with great interest by the British Chapter's leading men – notes on the young tailor are found throughout the archive's current research.

The block between Fashion St. and Hanbury St., taking in Fournier St., Wilkes St. and Princelet St. was a trading place for fine fabrics, and it was from the off-cuts and leftovers that Lockwood honed his craft. His hand-finishing of all his garments was his signature style; rough cut hems sewn with heavy duty cotton thread, patches of different fabrics used within one suit, hidden pockets and handwritten labels. The style suited the area and allowed Lockwood and his small circle of customers to blend in with the crowd of the underclass.

This was, of course, also the time of the Ripper.

Militant Guild: British Chapter

2008-10-22T11:20:00.001-07:00

A recent discovery by our UK based archivists has unearthed a collection of documents referencing a British Chapter of the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors.

As the MGRTRG states: "The Research Group faces a continuous ethical and practical quandary relative to the identification of suspected members past and present of the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors." So it is with caution that we reveal too many details about the founding fathers of the group's British Chapter.

Charles H. Wentworth is the first publicly announced member of the British Chapter. Little is known of Wentworth, other than he was at the forefront of Guild activity throughout London in the late 1880s. A staunch conservative, he was the main figurehead at Guild ceremonies, dictating the traditionalist's orthodox.

Sir W. C. Bainthoth was a well respected Tailor who operated from his West London Gentlemen's outfitters from 1880 - 1921. It is accepted that Bainthoth was active in International Guild ceremonies, most notably in Russia prior to the 1917 Soviet Revolution. He is believed to have been linked to radical socialist factions in that region. No formal connections have been recorded, but it is accepted that he played his part in formulating Lenin's opinions on Free Market Economies. His role in colonial activity was recognised by the crown in 1887.

Mr. W. J. Oakley is believed to have operated with Guild credentials from 1892. The youngest member of the pioneers group, he was noted for his alternative stance on tailoring, often to an extreme nature for the time. Little is known about his professional status, other than he was listed in the 1901 census as a fabric importer.

R. Buckminster was a staunch royalist and it is asserted here that he was closely connected to the inner circles of the royal house of Edward VII, assisting in the transition of the monarch from member of the fashionable, leisured elite to leader of the British Empire. His involvement in Guild activity was light, as it was his connections to the powerful elite classes that secured his Guild membership.

Wallace C. Harmsworth was unrelenting in his pursuit of fine tailoring. Several notes discovered in the British Chapter's archive relate to his inception into the Guild in 1882. He mysteriously disappeared one year later. Even after a lengthy police investigation (with the file being closed in 1912) no evidence was found to suggest his disappearance was linked to any criminal activity.

William L. Hadly was the most senior of the pioneers group. He propagated many of the British Chapter's ethics – beyond those of the individual – in order to ensure the group's longevity. Inducted in 1880 – the earliest entry in the Chapter's records. One reference of interest to his previous activity is a record of a "warrant by the Empire" for his arrest, issued in 1840, for "unorthodox importation of opiates" notably at the height of the Anglo Chinese Wars.

Frederick Shields is the youngest of the British Chapter members making his first entry into the records at the age of 27 in 1890. His pursuit of "sports tailoring" pertains to some of the earliest commercial ventures into "adopting sports styles and embellishments with casual attire for the gentleman."

Mr. Ge. Armitage-Smith was the Chapter's official secretary, many of the notes made over the group's history are signed by him, allowing for the suggestion he was an authorised signatory for much of the commercial ventures made by the group throughout its history. The last document relating to the pioneers' group activity is signed on his behalf by Frederick Shields, noting Armitage-Smith's death and the apparent dissolution of Chapter, in 1921.

Bernard Entwhistle (presumed) is probably the most enigmatic of the British Chapter's members. The documentation suggests that, whilst he was much respected, his participation in Guild activity was almost forced upon him.

British Chapter Emblem.

The documentation is bound with this cover. Curiously the emblem only has 8 pairs of shears, as opposed to the membership of 9 people. Adorned with two British lions and a decorative floral motif. The latin text "Iacio Tui Forfex" can be translated to "Throw Your Shears" or "Forge Your Shears" the assumption being made is that each member was also the craftsman of their own tools.

Lost Shears Reemerging

2008-10-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

Elsewhere in this research the practice of guild members exchanging their scissors for a pair of Militant Guild of Rural Tailors brass-knuckle shears is discussed.

Further we postulated a conjecture that these original scissors may then have been dismantled and integrated into the "Tailor's Crown" as part of the clandestine annual King-of-the-Guild ceremony.

But it has also been conceded that guild members may not have actually parted with their personal shears as these doubtless represented an important element of their individual experience mastering the tailor's arts (they may have been passed-down from their non-guild master or even a parent). Thus a subsititue pair holding less value may have been used in the exchange during the induction ceremony.

D E N H A M

SvSv

A Child of the Jago

The Young Meagher Project

In anycase, there does seem to be a certain duality between the guild's iconic knuckle-buster scissors and those original individual shears belonging to the members prior to joining and very likey remaining in use by them or others in their atelier.

As powerful as the symolic recieving of the brass-knuckle shears may have been, it was not so powerful as to overshadow the imporant semiotic role of traditional tailors' shears in the hearts-and-minds of tailors both inside and outside the guild.

Maison Martin Margiela

Cloak [currently on hiatus]

Dr. Romanelli

Levi Strauss & Co.

Ecko Cut & Sew

The appearance of this symbol in varied forms within the identities of contemporary menswear practitioners may or may not hint at some connectivity (or historical links) between the guild and the individual tailors/designers who have chosen to integrate the iconography into their emblems today. The use of shears in the insignia of the British Chapter has already been revealed in our research. And, at very least, this more current practice does seem to foreground a reemerging awareness of the importance of tailorwise craftsmanship in the minds of these men. Whatever the esthetic or design-ethic, it's likely those within the guild would have been gratified to see witness this trend and appreciated the nod to the artisan ethos it represents.

Child of the Jago Blog Online

2008-09-24T10:27:00.000-07:00

Child of the Jago eases out some glorious gnosis in a new blog. Peek inside.

Corre and Barnzley open Child of the Jago

2008-08-27T22:59:00.000-07:00

Aitor Throup's Militant Requiem

2007-12-02T11:12:00.000-08:00

Aitor Throup tailors a contemporary militant requiem for New Orleans. The spirit of the guild's lament can be felt in his solemn video.

Project Overview

2007-12-01T15:10:00.000-08:00

The ultimate goal is to verify the existence of the Rural Tailors Guild and to outline the nature of its practices and membership from its suspected formation during the early Industrial Revolution up to and potentially including the present-day.

NOTE: Continued Secrecy*
The research community involved in this effort has agreed that it is critical to avoid exposing suspected present-day guild members. In the event that our work leads to the identification of living MGRT members we will endeavor not to directly expose them. This research community recognizes that the current political climate could be potentially dangerous for present-day members (should they be found to exist) due the guild’s founding anti-industrialization posture which is no less controversial today than it was when the guild was first formed. We recognize that, should present-day membership be uncovered, it is likely that these tailors will be active in rural societies (including Muslim) that are already under suspicion and threat by mainstream western political interests.

Use of Aliases

In order to avoid the exposure described above our research community will exercise reasonable precaution in divulging its findings including the use of aliases and the classification of certain information regarding both our membership (the group working on this research) and members of the original militant guild (MGRT) These precautions will be exercised based on our own discretion and may relate to suspected guild members both living and deceased.

Research Community

The researchers involved in this project come from a wide array of backgrounds. Fashion professors, cultural historians, political scientists, menswear industry professionals, sociologists, clothing developers, etc.

Dr. Thomas Skeene: Historian Glasgow University with a specialty in textile history and the socio-economic impact of industrialization on rural textile trades.

Dr. S. Kumar: National Institute of Fashion Design Sector 27, Camac Street, Calcutta. Specialist in research of pre-industrial textile trade in cultures of the sub-continent

David Rand: Lawyer and tailor's trade-union advocate. Social historian of the history of menswear before and after the rise of Savile Row in the United Kingdom and the United States

Lawrence J. Kabanets: Social Studies Lecturer in the Free International University. Specialist in the migration and morphing of Taylorist management techniques in the third world.

Ellen Savitz, PHD: Boston University Lecturer. Specialist in the history of the garment-trade in New York, the rise of Jewish Tailor and the cultural impact of Jewish immigrants on the modern clothing industry.

Sam Young Li: Textile Engineer and Lecturer Central St. Martins fashion program. Research and development in to supermodern garment construction and nanotechnological fiber manipulation.

Ramesh Singh, PHD: Professor of Political Science at Oxford University. Author, The Homespun Paradigm - The Warp and Weave of Revolution. Advisor to the Wool Council of India.

Dr. Anthony Davis Jackson: Professor of Costume and Folklore at University of Grahamstown, South Africa. Specialist in the symbolism of rural costume and the semiotics of garment decoration.

Runar Magnusson: Lecturer The University of Iceland (Háskóli Íslands) on primitive garment function and construction in Northern Cultures.

Supected Guildsmen

2007-12-01T15:09:00.000-08:00

The Research Group faces a continuous ethical and practical quandary relative to the identification of suspected members past and present of the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors.

Our attitude toward the Guild’s activities either above or below ground need to remain neutral in order to sustain the academic rigor of our investigations. We have indicated repeatedly that we have secured no “hard” evidence either confirming or denouncing the Guild’s basic existence. It is not our intention to bring unwanted legal scrutiny to individuals we feel may have links to the Guild either through their current associations or, as is more often the case, through their ancestral connections to the tailoring trade.

However, in order to better understand the merit and historical impact of the Guild’s dogmatic design ethic on the history of menswear development, we feel it is within our mandate to offer some indication of the character and geography of potential members.

In the event that this overview causes any difficulties for those featured or for the ancestors of those featured (in the case of historical records) we both apologize in advance and offer again that we have no substantive proof of actual membership. Our archive should not ever serve as “evidence” of membership by justice systems seeking to oppress these tailors or their estates (should they no longer be living).

In order to mitigate such a negative outcome we have elected to use pseudonyms or leave images as anonymous. We have also elected to present the localities of the featured tailors’ design activities as presented by the actual topographies involved without taking the extra step of offering place-names or addresses.

Regarding the Scissors

Shown adjacent to each designer appear an associated pair of shears. It is widely accepted that, as part of initiation into the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors, the initiate was required to trade-in his own scissors in exchange for a pair of the Guild’s symbolic brass-knuckle-shears. As can be seen in the juxtapositions offered here, there is some doubt as to whether the initiate was actually willing to give up his personal scissors in this exchange.

It would be understandable that such a tailor would be reluctant to forgo scissors on which his livelihood was dependent for a pair which promised to be impractical on several fronts. The fit to the new member’s hand, the “action” of the blades and the calibration of the hinge could easily represent functional handicaps. Moreover the brass-knuckle-shears with which they were replaced could not be used in front of the public.

The Research Group suspects that this accounts for the appearance of scissors outside the garment-making tradition. It is likely that initiates sometimes brought non-primary scissors (tin-snips, hair-cutting scissors, grape-scissors, editor’s shears, etc) to serve in the exchange.

We think this is why you see non-garment scissors included in various manifestations of the Tailor’s Crown which feature an assortment of old scissors handed in by these new members.

Researcher Gensler Uncovers Archive

2007-11-16T16:39:00.000-08:00

Mr. Gensler of the Keystone Design Union dicovered new library sources containing documentary evidence demonstrating a possible proto-guild network in France that the Group believes may have evolved into a French chapter of the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors.

Printed in Besancon by Louis Rigoine in 1689, Ordonnances Reglemens et Statuts des Arts et Metiers de la Cite Royale de Besancon provides a source of little known trade traditions and secret practices in 17th century France. This compilation of rules, regulations and laws concerning the crafts and trades was published in the important eastern city of Besancon in 1689, just 11 years after it had formally been ceded to France as part of the peace of Nijmwegen.

The first section includes general information and regulations, followed by sections expressly for rural tailors.

These sections touch on the details of apprenticeships, trade regulations, succession at the death of the master, and other nuts and bolts aspects of the trades and professions in a 17th century French village.

According to Gensler, information contained in this archive is consistent with evidence reviewed in other historical appraisals such as Uniting the Tailors used by the Group to form a rough picture of how the militant avatar of the guild was ultimately founded and what inspiration tributaries contributed to its unique culture.

Militant Guilds Unite

2007-08-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

The Research Group is exclusively committed to the lost history of the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors. However, of particular interest to the group are those occasions in guild history when fraternities and brotherhoods outside the tailorwise arts formed clandestine alliances with the MGRT. As our research into the background of the various union sects fictionalized in the Gangs of New York indicated, mass production and the threats to artisan traditions posed by the Industrial Revolution were not limited to clothing design and manufacture. Other skilled craftsmen were placed under equally fearsome siege by these developments and no real artisan tradition was safe from Taylorism.

The Research Group regards news of a tenuous alliance currently forming between the American motorcycle concern, Confederate Motor Company and the Amsterdam tailoring outfit, Young Meagher through this socio-historical lens.

It has been reported that Confederate Motors has engaged Young Meagher to develop new motorcycle garments to be framed within YM’s serial development concept as Test Garments Four: Confederate Motors Haberdasher by Young Meagher. The two organizations share similar attitudes toward design ethics and craftsmanship and can be described as spiritual kindred in their approach to their respective disciplines.

The garment types to be addressed in this collaboration have not yet been announced but the MGRT Research Group will be watching the project’s development with a keen eye. The Research Group assumes that Confederate's own dedication to principled individuality and romantic zeal through self-expression and their own dogmatic design language, also known for its fusing of the technical with the primitive, will provide more than adequate inspiration for Young Meagher as they seek to reflect these same characteristics in cloth.

The Church of Quality

2007-08-19T05:27:00.000-07:00

The blog-entry below has been grafted from the site of Legion Los Angeles. The Research Group was intrigued by some of the comments and comparisons offered and felt there was argument to include this material here within in our own archive.

STEAMPUNK, OTAKU & THE CHURCH OF QUALITY

THETOYSURPRISEINSIDE
My dad’s English. I spent all but three years of my childhood in an American suburb in the Northeast but the family culture was agitated by a few anglo rituals including the mostly unwanted appearance of rice pudding at Christmas. Positively the only reason for a kid to draw-spoon on a serving of this stuff is the minor excitement generated by the tradition of submerging a sterling silver charm within the otherwise tasteless paste. No doubt there will be an episode of Mad Men in season two where some junior account exec takes inspiration from this as he conceives the Toy Surprise Inside promotion for Cracker-Jacks or the American breakfast cereal we all scarfed down as kids.

Those toys were always cheap. Poor quality.

I’ve struggled with how to triangulate my orientation to this subject. –How to assemble the few ill-fitting fragments of a dimensional impression that may turn out only to be a phantom anyway. A phantom born of wishful thinking at worst. Sue me proceeding half-cocked.

STEAMPUNKQUALITYBYTHEPOUND
Steampunk is a subgenre fiction. The term denotes works set in an era where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian England —but with prominent elements of science fiction, such as fictional technological inventions. (Torn and shredded from Wiki).

Since we’re interested in fashion, we’ll take the liberty of extracting a visual and tactile atmosphere from the genre. It’s warm and textured with tradition and forthrightness. It features a naturalistic patina, cobbled and improvised inventiveness and it manifests a form of nostalgia unstained by cloying sentimentality. It can be sinuous and feminine; think of Ruth Myers’ gorgeous costume designs for The Golden Compass, or funky and clunky; think of Wieden & Kennedy’s animated journeys through the world inside the Happiness Factory Coke machine. It’s exciting, mysterious, haunting, sexy and reassuring.

Couldn’t I be describing some of the rough tailoring and artisan denim labels that have continued emerge in the last decade? Paul Harnden, Trovata, Carpe Diem, Corpe Nove, Nomme de Guerre, SvSv, Engineered Garments (and now Woolrich), Rag & Bone, Casey Vidalenc, Forme d'Expression, Sruli Recht, Kmrii, KZO … -And all sorts of artisan denim concepts; Rogan, Prps, Ernest Sewn and RRL from the American East. Antik Denim, True Religion and People for Peace from the American West, Alelier la Durance and G-Star from the Netherlands. Imperial and Tsubi from Autrailia. Studio d'Artisan, Sugar Cane, Kapital, from Japan. Couldn’t I also be describing the most compelling retailers? Dover Street Market, Freeman’s Sporting Club, Sidney’s Ontario, Odin, le Claireur, Undercover, Number Nine, Mano, Find Taiwan, UTH, Atelier, Legion LA, etc.

Not to mention the more obvious trends in design disciplines normally expressed in steam era mainstay’s of steel and leather. Bell & Ross square-face watches (and the clones and even those questionable U-Boat wrist-weights and their clones). Bianchi Pistas and (even more-so) more genuine and labor-won fixed gear custom velocipedes (with leather and copper Brooks saddles and the like). Bottegga furniture (Steampunk Moderne).

The thing about looking backward toward steam or Victorian England in order to look forward toward contemporary design is that we’re bound to gain weight on return trip. We pick up some heavy souvenirs of our retrospection. Those were days when both technology and quality could be detected on a scale.

A solid gold pocket-watch (its solidness being key) to a massive new steam-engine. Solid brass. Cast iron. Saddle leather. Milled oak. Gearwork, springcoils, bored cylinders… They’re all blessed with good old-fashioned weight. Hell, the rigid, squatting and earthbound industrial thrust of the Eiffel Tower was a study in weightlessness by comparison. What elese has weight? Lanolin-rich wool, Harris tweeds, oilcloth, Irish linen, drill-twill, gabardine, horsehide and, of course, denim and the vintage American shuttle-looms in Japan on which the connoisseur’s choice is woven. So do shank-buttons, rivets, bone, Bakelite and copper findings. Hard wear and heavy metal.

When every relationship that matters is imprinted on micron-thin silicon chips in our iphone or Blackberry, maybe the heft of the jacket or jeans we stash them in is the only thing left to help keep us grounded. Quality split in two. Simultaneously shedding all worldly form in favor of speed, versatility and capacity and all but evaporating weightless into the ether while it regains its lost substance re-rendering itself in a more substantial drystuff on our backs and asses. Gaining weight as we loose it.

The fact is that quality can still be measured in pounds. Substantial craft and materiality usually does weigh more. –So it might be a steampunk esthetic that has ushered it in, but the force spilling out of this Trojan (or Victorian) Horse is a surprise attack of quality. It doesn’t matter what leak it flows from as long as it’s rushing our way. Quality seems to be the Toy Surprise Inside.

OTAKUFROMTHOROUGHNESSCOMESQUALITY
The western equivalent of an Otaku personality is the 40+ year old guy fussing nightly over the train set in his basement “hobby room” which has taken him 14 years and 28,000 dollars to build. It’s not an image that has any charm. Obviously. Think of the dangerous poindexter Terence Stamp in the horror film, The Collector. And shit, when the subject of Otaku obsession is fashion the picture painted is even scarier. Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs. Otaku about larva (gag). Otaku about fashion (of the flesh, yikes). Anthony Hopkins invokes Marcus Aurelius in his coaching Bill’s capture. “What does he DO this man you seek?”. The crystalline chill slicing through Jody Foster’s answer, “… He COVETS” is the tenor of pure fear. So no, Otaku’s covetous behavior in the West is not normally thought of being cool.

In Japan it is actually no cooler. But there are important exceptions. Jun Takahashi was Otaku in his admiration for Vivienne Westwood. Hiroshi Fujiwara is Utaku in his passion for street culture in general. Hiroki Nakamura is Otaku relative to authentic outdoor brands. Hidehiko Yamane was Otaku in his approach to vintage Levi’s. The crew at Buzz Rickson’s are Otaku in there commitment to reproduction military, and so on… Nigo famously admitted his hope was to be a “cool Otaku” indicating this combination would represent an unlikely achievement.

Otaku behavior in my mind is partly indicated by a completist’s desire to achieve 100% thoroughness. To complete the collection. To have a thorough knowledge. Of course the more the Otaku learns about his obsession, the more there is to possess in the form of material exemplars as well as knowledge.

The growth in Otaku behavior in the East and West seem to me to represent a second Trojan Horse of quality. That’s because quality is the result of being thorough. To examine every detail. To look closer and closer and closer. Is the garment authentic? Is its fabric authentic? Is its construction authentic? Is its detailing authentic?

From an Otaku perspective, all must be authentic. Where you can’t always treat authenticity and quality as synonyms, I’d posit that the one will often at least lead to the other. You can test it by replacing authentic with remarkable. Is the garment remarkable? Is the fabric remarkable? Is the construction remarkable? Is the detailing remarkable?

No that surely sounds like quality is again the Toy Surprise Inside.

FAITHASRITUALANDTHEEMERGINGCHURCHOFQUALITY
Meditation, Repetition, Practice and Suffering

What about all those rivets holding together 2007’s Steampunk Treehouse at Burning Man?

Pre-silicone science. When science meant industry, industry meant industrious, and industriousness required repetition. Hundreds of rivets holding together machines from the future. Wax On/Wax Off. Meditative repetition leading quality.

What about the steam era’s artisan himself? The clockwork inventor. Equal parts mechanical visionary and dexterous magician wielding manual precision earned over years of practice. Wax On/Wax Off. Repetition leading to an increase in skill and personal ascension. He lived through mistakes en route and suffered in his pursuit of personal ascension. The higher he ascends, the more quality he was able to conjure.

We’re talking about nothing less then the repetitive ritual and faith-based devotion. The ritual of meditation. The ritual of suffering toward personal ascension. But in this case the church is a church where progress and quality are forever entwined.

What about the hours of study in the life of the Otaku?

The studiousness of the zealot. Like a monk with his scripture. Closer and closer inspection, deeper and deeper understanding, more and more thorough invocations. The line between completing a collection and constructing a reliquary nearly completely erased.

We’re talking about nothing less than study as an act of worship with knowledge of quality as the outward indication of divine achievement.

WASTEASORIGINALSIN
I regret not being able to steam-rivet these impression together with the otaku thoroughness required for them to manifest the levels of quality they are attempting to describe.

I’m only moved to share these impressions because I’m not sure the transfer of faith at least in part to a new church of quality is such a bad thing. Surprising but what would be worse, infinitely deplorably worse, if the transfer to faith to pointless undisciplined and wanton consumerism. If quality is the virtuous byproduct of a next evolution, then waste is surely its damnable next original sin.

Time will tell. Maybe the pilgrims will continue to convene within this millennium’s new virtual catacombs. Maybe denominations will multiply. The steampunkists, the otakuists, the new rough-luxuryists and the artisanists. If their emergence can stem the tide of global wastefacturing then God bless them.

I myself am still a sinner. I still sometimes consume without discipline. I’m resolved to take a lesson from these events and invest in more better instead of much more.

Can I get a witness?

Amen.

[special blame goes to William Gibson and Buzz Rickson’s for superimposing the disparate worlds of steampunk and otaku for me. Thanks to them also for collaborating on the finest MA1 jacket ever made]

Nine Rural Tailors Made a Man

2007-02-25T01:17:00.000-08:00

When the conflict first began,
Benjamin Bobbletail,
When the wars first began
(Cast your shears, your needles and your threads away)
When the Militant Guild first began
Nine rural tailors made a man,
And these first proud guildsmen spread across the land.

Research Material Challenged

2007-02-22T13:25:00.000-08:00

The Research Group has been approached recently regarding the source-material with which it has begun to amass the tenuous initial indications of a lost history of the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors.

While much of the document archive is classified and the Research Group has been compelled to sign, and subsequently honor, a ream of confidentiality agreements, we have elected to offer a basic directory of sources for possible use by independent researchers interested in this same lost history.

It is important to understand that none of these documents make explicit reference to the existence of the Guild one way or the other. However, we have satisfied certain of our own inquiries into both origins and possible contemporary strains of Guild activity and Guild culture by following information and inspiration outlined in some of these tomes.

They have not served as more or less than modest portholes into our greater investigation, but within their various pages we have found reassurance that the spirit of the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors resonates strongly enough across both history and geography that its dimension can all but be mapped and measured. “All but…” and so, as quantifiable evidence continues to elude even us, these sources can only start to point the way for others.

Murky Guild Associations Suspected at Contemporary Haberdashers

2007-01-26T15:05:00.000-08:00

Research was recently posted dedicated to the group’s uncovering of facts concerning the first Guild Meeting (the inaugural occasion of a tradition of Annual Test Garment Testaments). With that posting the group postulated that the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors’ primary networking mechanism was originally a seemingly haphazard array of tailors’ establishments spanning counties and continents that actually functioned as means of organizing and communicating Guild activity. That research further suggested that this underground network may still be active.

The MGRT Research Group has never formally stipulated that the Guild is active in this millennium and there is far too little substantive evidence to justify such a claim. However, speculation as been rife and suspicions that the Guild may never have completely disappeared has been on the rise since the advent and escalation of certain events, trends and associations which hint of Militant Guild culture.

In the research outlining a possible schedule/agenda of the first Guild meeting the group entertained the possibility that, if the Guild were to exist today, they may still be using loosely networked independent haberdashers as a way of coordinating their action away from the scrutiny of the authorities and the public at large.

The group has assessed the criteria necessary for establishments to could serve in this capacity today. The group assumes that shops would require a combination of general adherence to the Rural Tailoring Standards & Ethics, an earned reputation for authenticity and integrity regarding garment quality, and a cultivated attitude toward clientele with a clear focus on the local community providing the ability to create and sustain ties to potential Militant Guild operatives within the immediate region.

The research group has no direct evidence of specific shop-level involvement in the Guild. Indeed the research group has no direct evidence that the Guild “exists” at all today. However, as an exercise the group has reviewed contemporary shops which seem to “fit the bill” with respect the qualifications outlined above.

THE FIRST GUILD MEETING

2006-10-15T16:54:00.000-07:00

The research group has recently unearthed compelling information regarding a secret ceremony that may have formed the core of the militant brotherhood’s annual guild meetings.

INSIGHT INTO INNOVATION
Interviews have now been obtained with Winifred Brown, granddaughter of a transplanted Welsh textile miller who immigrated to Ohio during the years of the Guild’s suspected formation. In the interview Winifred recounts a story told her when she was a girl by a male cousin who had overheard her father planning a guild meeting. The story supports the theory that guild meetings were originally held primarily for the purpose of sharing technical design innovations within the militant fraternity.

The function of the meeting as a means for sharing new tailoring techniques emerging from the rank-and-file of the guild’s membership is consistent with what we understand to be the MGRT’s basic charter. By sharing innovative new approaches to rural tailoring the guild could ensure that its membership was privy to the most important technical developments which would in turn help ensure that the guild continued to develop and maintain competitive advantages over the purveyors of mass produced goods from whom this knowledge (or gnosis) would be kept secret.

[Research indicates the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors was rarely violent and only ever acted in self-defense. Militant symbols like the brass-knuckle shears as well as the thimble-tipped-bullet worn as a charm around the neck by some guild members were intended to reflect a clear stance of creative self-defense and a pointed resistance to the taylorists forces threatening both artisan jobs and the value of quality and innovative design]

ANNUAL TEST GARMENT TESTAMENT
It is not known how often regional chapters of the guild convened. However, the Winifred interview indicates that one meeting was more important than all others. This was the annual TEST GARMENT TESTAMENT meeting during which these innovations were reviewed and rewarded by the brotherhood. This was the meeting which would bring militant rural tailors in from the greatest distances, some even making ocean voyages to take part and to share their innovations with others and to obtain greater tailoring gnosis which they could bring back to their own districts of activity.

THE FIRST MEETING
The story holds that a feature of the first ever meeting of the guild was a tailor-by-tailor review of new techniques. There were apparently eight founding tailors in the guild. During this first meeting certain events took place that would set the tone for all future gatherings.

TRADING-IN THE SCISSORS
Each would-be inductee was asked to justify his application and was given a fair chance to convince the others of the merit of his pledge. If his reasons were sound, his talent manifest and his character worthy, he was asked to trade-in his own scissors for a pair of brass-knuckle scissors, which would become a sign of his membership from that day forward.

THE MILITANT TAILOR’S CROWN
Having all handed-in their eight pairs of scissors during the first meeting, these were hammered and welded into a primitive MILITANT TAILOR’S CROWN which would serve an important ceremonial purpose for the second event of the meeting.

SHARING THE TAILOR’S GNOSIS
Each tailor was seated in a circle within the inner sanctum of the guild hall. One by one each tailor was asked to step forward and “give testimony” of his commitment to the Rural Tailors Standards & Ethics. They did this by drawing out their brass-knuckle scissors walking toward the wall of the hall and with a swift blow jabbing their scissors into a wooden wallboard or post.

NEW IDEAS HANGING IN THE GRIPS OF A TAILOR'S SCISSORS
The scissors were left potruding from a wall allowing the tailor to use them like a primitive coat hook to display a test garment of his own design that he felt represented worthy innovation in the rural tailoring arts. The tailor would stand next to his creation where it hung and give an accounting to his brothers in which he would testify to the origin of his innovation and explain how it expressed the spirit of the RTS&E.

A SECRET BALLOT
One by one each member did this originally resulting in eight standing tailors and eight hanging examples of rural innovation. After everyone had presented in this manner the group held a secret ballot in order to determine which of them had done the most to advance the gnosis of rural tailoring (heroic in its role in protecting and advancing the life of the guild and the spirit of its anti-industrial charter).

A NAME ON THE CROWN
The one recognized as having achieved the highest standard was awarded by having his name engraved inside the rim of the MILITANT TAILOR’S CROWN, indelibly recording his contribution to the honorable struggle of the guild on the artifact.

MEETINGS REMAIN UNDERGROUND 100+ YEARS ON
Reviewed elsewhere in this research is our postulation that the guild may never have completely disappeared. As we’ve outlined in a section on the RTS&E Today, certain contemporary men’s clothing makers appear to manifest a profound simpatico with the philosophy of the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors.

The research group has watched recent events very closely and has heard rumors of present day guild activity within makeshift guildhalls established temporarily at NAKED/181 Martel in Los Angeles as well as the “Gallery” of An Earnest Cut & Sew in New York City. Earnest Sewn in particular has mounted what it describes as “exhibitions” featuring many clothiers included in our RTS&E Today review such as Rogues Gallery, Cloak and a pending project with Young Meagher.

Although the Research Group has not been allowed access to these events we suspect that they may serve as an innocuous front for modern Guild Meetings including possibly the present-day equivalent of the Annual Test-Garment Testaments where new rural innovations are being reviewed and new tailorwise gnosis is likely being shared.

Newsweek

2006-10-11T14:12:00.000-07:00

Jacob W Davis: Rural Tailor

2006-09-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

JACOB DAVIS: HIS LIFE AND CONTRIBUTIONS

Grafted from Levi's Posting

Born Jacob Youphes in Riga, Latvia, 1831.

Came to America and in 1854, changed his name to Jacob Davis. Operated a tailor shop in New York City and Augusta, Maine.

Moved to San Francisco in 1856, then moved to the gold country town of Weaverville, working as a tailor. In 1858 he left California for western Canada (likely Cariboo and Victoria, British Columbia), where he lived for nine years.

He married Annie (Parksher/Packscher) from Germany, in 1865. They had six children.

Davis returned to San Francisco from Victoria, B.C. in January of 1867. Then he moved to Virginia City, Nevada where he opened a cigar store. Three months later, however, he was working again as a tailor.

In June of 1868 he settled in the little railroad town of Reno, Nevada. He invested his money in a brewery but lost it all. By 1869 he had opened a tailoring shop on Virginia Street. He began making wagon covers and tents from an off-white cotton duck cloth which he purchased from the wholesale house of Levi Strauss & Co. beginning in 1870.

In late 1870 a woman customer came to him for a pair of “cheap” pants for her “large” husband who had a habit of going through pants rather quickly. She paid him $3.00 in advance for the white duck pants, and told Davis she wanted them made as strong as possible.

Davis had some copper rivets in his shop, which he used to attach straps to the horse blankets he made for local teamsters. When he had finished making the pants, it occurred to him that it might be a good idea to fasten the pockets with the same rivets. The pants were an immediate success.

Within eighteen months he had made and sold two hundred pairs of the riveted pants, and he was beginning to be imitated by other tailors. By 1871 he was routinely using rivets
on the pants he made - first on duck pants, but soon thereafter denim, as well.

An old hand at applying for patents (previous applications had been for a steam powered canal boat and steam powered ore crusher), he wrote to Levi Strauss, describing his success with the riveted waist overalls and asking if he would like to jointly apply for a patent with him. His riveted overalls were selling for $3.00 a pair - a premium price.

Levi agreed and in addition invited Davis to San Francisco to oversee manufacture of the riveted pants for the company. Davis and family arrived on April 26, 1873 and the patent was approved on May 20, 1873.

Initially, the pants were sewn by women working in their homes, but demand necessitated the construction of a manufacturing facility in San Francisco, for which Davis was named supervisor.

In the 1874 City Directory of San Francisco Davis’ occupation was listed as “manufacturer.” In the 1903 City Directory, his occupation was listed as “capitalist.”

Around 1907 Davis sold his interest in the patent and the manufacturing to Levi Strauss & Co., but he continued to supervise the factory until his death.

Jacob Davis died in San Francisco in 1908. and he was beginning to be imitated by other tailors. By 187

Artifacts of Guild: Real & Reproduced

2006-03-18T03:02:00.000-08:00

Example of Brass-Knuckle "Guildsman's Shears" Presented to militant tailors upon acceptance into the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors. (circa 1888/origin unknown)

Late Period Example of Brass-Knuckle "Guildsman's Shears" (circa 1972: Prague/Czech Republic)

Smaller Late Period Example of Brass-Knuckle "Guildsman's Shears". Like the 12" example above, this more modern variation features black powder-coated grips instead of the original brass. (circa 1979: Birmingham, Alabama)

Exterior of Guildsman's Shears Presentation Box

Additional example of Brass Knuckle "Guildsman's Shears" in Presentation Box This example is courtesy of guitarist Joe Perry from Aerosmith, an avid collector of rare blades. (circa 1890-1905/Joe Perry Collection: Boston, Massachusetts)

Exterior of reproduction Guildsman's Shears Presentation Box

Handmade reproduction Brass Knuckle "Guildsman's Shears" in presentation Box From the collection of Niall Maher, Commercial Director of Rogan & Loomstate and creator of the Druthers Appointments concept. (circa 2005/origin Amsterdam, the Netherlands)

Thimble-Tipped Bullet Medallion/Talisman Thought to have been worn as an unofficial sign of fraternity within the guild to symbolize nonviolent resistance to the threat of mass-production whereby tailorwise invention and secret knowledge or gnosis were thought to be be most effective defense against trade obsolescence. The "bullet" was intended for the machines or automata threatening artisan jobs. (circa 1976/origin NYC, New York)

Tailors Crown Crafted from traditional scissor-parts taken from initiated tailors in exchange for the Brass Knuckle Guildsman's Shears shown above and presented in clandestine annual ceremonies to bestow honor on the single guild member from across the international network thought to have most advanced the art of rural tailoring. The crown would be displayed in secret in the winner's atelier for a year before it was then awarded to the next honoree (similar to the Stanley Cup). (circa 1891/Dublin, Ireland)

Detail from Tailor's Crown Above

Reproduction Silk Hanger Silk covered garment hanger used by guild members to display new designs for consideration during the ceremony described above. Hangers like this would be hung from scissors which had been "stabbed" into the wall of a guildhall to present garments by rural tailors competing for the Tailor's Crown. (circa 2006/Los Angles, California)

Reproduction Guildsman's Specimen Case Cases like this were thought to have been used to transport garments to guild meetings for review by members coming from long distances including epic journey overseas. This example was created on request of ISETAN in Tokyo for presentation in their International Creator's Floor. (circa 2007/Paris, France)

Tailor's Jockey or Dummy This is a slightly whimsical variation intended to symbolize the marriage of Artisan Craft (design) and Idea (inspiration or enlightenment). Courtesy of the working atelier of Young Meagher in Amsterdam. (circa 1968/London, UK)

Stabbing Shears Brackets At some stage the practice of stabbing scissors during the competition for the Tailor's Crown was replaced and welded brackets symbolizing the vitality of the original ceremony were created for the event. These were used for an event at the gallery of An Ernest Cut & Sew. (circa and origin unknown)

Guild Seal Correspondence between guild members was sealed with the symbol of the Guildsman's Shears. This is a modern example and ones like this are now in the collection of Shawn Stussy (Stussy), Maurizio Donadi (Polo Double-RL), Scott Morrison (Ernest Sewn) Barnzley Armitage (House of Zoltan), Ilan Bitton (Legion LA), Dr. Romanelli (181 Martel), David Gensler (The KDU), Noriyuki Hashizume (Isetan), Arman Hadida (L'Eclaireur), and others in the contemporary menswear industry sympathetic to the historic struggle between artisan craft and mass production. (circa 2007/Crafted by John Stoltz of Old World Seals in the USA)

Novice's Veil Masks like this (and those below) were required to be worn by candidates seeking initiation in order to prevent nepotism influencing selection. Would-be guild tailors were referred to as "Fresh Faces" by the inner guild which refered to the practice adopted by candidate of decorating their masks in order to show a little bit more of the tailorwise dexterity during their application regimine. This reproduction and those below were created for GenArt during New York Fashion Week. (circa 2007/Amsterdam, the Netherlands)

See Above

See Above

See Above

See Above

See Above

Paramilitary Branch

2006-03-18T03:01:00.003-08:00

As is the case with other socio-political organizations it is thought that the Rural Tailors Guild was associated with a paramilitary fraternity whose function was to provide defensive “muscle” during conflicts. Examples can be found in abundance throughout history including the relationship between Sinn Fein and the IRA or Bernard of Clairvaux (and the loose organization implied by the phrase "Christendom") and the Knights Templar.

Conflicts were likely to be restricted to cases where a rural tailoring proprietorship was under threat by unfair hikes in land and building taxes that sometimes involved bank officers and government officials in collusion with larger industrial business interest.

The folklore surrounding the RTG’s paramilitary branch is often recounted in romantic and swashbuckling terms. The operatives within the paramilitary sect were rumored to have been trained in Eastern martial arts. Although this seems far fetched (like an episode from the 70’s television program; Kung Fu) it is possible that Chinese tailors working in the West in proximity to their guild-cousins (non-Chinese tailors working in the West) would have shared defensive techniques. This may account for the speculation regarding the paramilitary’s fighting prowess.

It is also rumored that these men suited themselves in a hybrid of the “rural tailor look” (derived from the Standards and Ethics document) and a sharper more finely cut style of dressing. This is also possibly based on fact. It is likely that this group would have needed to present themselves as having style-and-stature to rival the politicians, bankers, and industrialist they were confronting in disputes.

At any rate, if there was a guild and if there was a paramilitary element, it seems likely that defending the atelier and protecting personal design know-how would have been paramount concerns as menswear became industrialized and cheapened. This attitude would be in some ways “Masonic” in nature and it would not be exceptional during the period.

Some evidence does exist of rural tailors being imprisoned. However it is not clear from the documents whether this was for violent confrontation with authorities (as would be expected from a paramilitary branch) or whether the incarceration was related to the non-payment of the land and building taxes.

Looking at photos from the dossiers of imprisoned rural tailors of the period one might find oneself hoping that they “went down fighting”.

Brass Knuckled Guild Shears

2006-03-18T03:01:00.002-08:00

History of the FRESH FACES

2006-03-18T03:01:00.001-08:00

Recent discoveries indicate that young artisan tailors wishing to join the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors became known as "Fresh Faces" due to an early practice relating to the pledge-and-trial phase of entering the brotherhood.

Tailors within the guild could recommend new members for consideration. If accepted these young men would become guild novices in a ceremony described elsewhere in this research.

What has now come to light in our research is that, during the pledge-and-trial period, hopeful candidates were required to conceal their identity from the guild's membership jury. It was believed that their long-term anonymity should begin early but moreover the hiding of a candidate's identity guaranteed that his merit for membership would be assessed purely by the level of his tailorwise invention and not be influenced by other factors.

If he had family in the guild or would possibly benefit from other non skill-based advantage this was prevented if the jury did not know any of his possible connections (the practice lives on today in the music world where selection to join an orchestra sometimes requires candidates to audition from behind a screen).

In order to shield the candidate's identity each was required to cover his face. Before long would-be members realized that this requirement was, in itself, an opportunity to demonstrate tailoring innovation and manual dexterity. Candidates began to customize their pledge-and-trial shrouds leading to senior members' ultimately referring to them as the "Fresh Faces" in a good natured tease which accused them of trying to make their "face" (shroud) more "fresh" (expressive of sewing craft) in an attempt to turn the anonymity rule in their favor.

The use of the term “Fresh Faces”, we believe, has no relationship to the use of the same phrase by the Gen Art organization in its effort to provide a platform for the most significant emerging talent in garment design.

First Indications of the Lost Guild

2006-03-18T03:01:00.000-08:00

The Problem of Documentation

Some of the documentation of the guild has already emerged into the semi-public domain. Unfortunately the material that has been made available only seems to draw loose connections between people and events. It is currently impossible to verify the authenticity of any of the material, as crucial information seems to have been lost or destroyed. We’re hopeful that more information will emerge if we can organize the research efforts and increase the standards being used to judge the legitimacy of documents and testimonial accounts.

Initial Discovery: Document Box

As will be familiar to anyone with the slightest awareness of the MGRT rumor, active interest in this secret guild-history began with the uncovering of a document box dated 1888. The box was discovered during the demolition of a stone cottage in the county Cork in Ireland in late 2004.

Property speculators who were preparing the land for the construction of a large corporate retreat did the demolition. The cottage in question had been an outbuilding of unknown history and unclear function. It had been decades since the building had been entered due to debris and overgrowth that had effectively sealed the entrance.

During the first phase of tear-down the crew working the site were surprised to come across a large engraved stone tablet which they took to be a headstone embedded in the earthen floor of the cottage's center chamber. The stone was carved with the phrase "Rural Tailor". The displacement of the earth which occured when the stone was removed revealed the partly buried document box.

The box contained a wide array of material (both documents and artifacts) which seemed to provide evidence of the existence of a militant group of rural tailors founded in Ireland at a time when the negative influence of Industrial Revolution was being felt in the trade classes in rural areas of England, Ireland, American and the then colonies of those nations.

Contents of the Document Box

1. Brass-Knuckle Shears: Similar to others subsequently discovered in other countries during our research, but missing the blade-engraving common on the other examples

2. Draft Statement of Rural Tailoring Standards & Ethics: A manifesto-like proclamation listing the mission and ethical standards of the guild- this document is important since it is the earliest to bare a draft-version of the insignia of the Guild of Militant Rural Tailors -it is also important because it seems to represent the initiating dogma which is reflected in later material found elsewhere in the world - this is the document some claim to have been signed with the name "Young Meagher" along with two other names, however the writing is unclear and none of the three names have been substantiated

3. Letter of Tendering Bid to Purchase Commercial Premises: A letter from R. Newbold industrial clothing company offering to buy the Irish rural-collaborative tailor shop of "T.F. Meagher" for the an undisclosed sum -this document is regarded as representing the action that tipped the scales toward militancy and the sharp anti-industrialization posture that would characterize the ongoing dogma of the MGRT

4. Response to Tendering Bid Above: The hostile response to the letter described above

5. Prospective Membership List: A list of both tailors and clients thought to reprsent likely allies and possible future initiates of the guild – interesting in that this list includes prospects both inside Ireland and the UK but also in remote rural areas of the America and the Colonies.

Tailors Against Taylorism

2006-03-18T03:00:00.001-08:00

Tailors against Taylorism was not so much a formal organization as it was a potent (if simplistic) political posture taken by rural tailors at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.

The massive change brought about by the Industrial Revolution has already been sited as central to the galvanization of the guild’s general attitudes and their specific socio-economic agenda.

Faced with mechanization of the many of the tradecrafts associated with garment production (harvesting, spinning, weaving, and ultimately the sewing itself), tailors were faced with a significant threat to their own economic value.

“Scientific Management” during the Industrial Revolution had started with the development of steam power and the creation of large factories in the late Eighteenth Century and lead to great changes in the production of textiles.

Organizing production in these large factories created challenges to standard approaches to administration and management the likes of which that had not been confronted before. Managing these new factories with the requirement of managing large flows of material, people, and information over large distances created the need for new methods for dealing with the new management issues.

Frederic Winslow Taylor, (1856-1915) was one of the first to systematically analyze human behavior at work. His model was the machine with its cheap, interchangeable parts, each of which does one specific repetitive function. Taylor attempted to do groups of trade laborers what engineers had done to machines reducing individuals down to the equivalent of dumb machine parts. Just as machine parts were easily interchangeable, cheap, and passive, Taylor felt human parts should be the same in the Machine model of organizations.

This involved breaking down each task to its smallest unit and to figure out the one best way to do each job. Then the engineer, after analyzing the job should teach it to the worker and make sure the worker does only those motions essential to the task. Taylor attempted to make a science for each element of work and restrict behavioral alternatives facing worker. Taylor looked at interaction of human characteristics, social environment, task, and physical environment, capacity, speed, durability, and cost. The overall goal was to remove human variability.

But, for the rural tailor, a holistic involvement in the complete garment's conception and its artisan production was part and parcel of his primary vocation. Human variability expressed in both the unique garment for the unique client as well as in the unique techniques and assembly “signatures” specific to the individual tailor himself.

Although productivity under Taylorism went up dramatically it did not come about without resistance. Many workers resisted what some considered the dehumanization of work. The industrial engineer with his stop watch and clip-board, standing over the worker measuring each little part of the job and each of the worker’s tiny movements became a hated figure and lead to much sabotage and group resistance.

The “Tailors against Taylorism” campaign was the sloganeering component of the rural tailors’ resistance.

The threat they faced related to the stability and value of artisan craft (the “Tailoring”) but moreover it represented the wholesale destruction of the culture within which they were tailoring (the “Rural”)

Because cost of the new machines also required larger amounts of capital in order to start a business. Thereby, these machines were only accessible to people with large amounts of money. As a result, those who had money to invest became the owners of the production while most of society became the workers. These new factories allowed the deskilling (reduction in the skill needed) of work because relatively untrained workers were able to use the new machines--they replaced skilled workers from the craft-based industries. These new factories, in turn, were accompanied by the growth of large and complex industries; these new industries required more workers; thereby causing a movement of people from rural communities into the big cities.

This resulted in a double-threat to rural tailors that was going to require more than clever alliteration and sloganeering to combat.

This is understood to be the reason for the growing militancy of these tailors and ultimately the instigation for the formation of the Cross-Countries Guild of Militant Rural Tailors.

Seen in this light the phenomenon seems inevitable and the (possibly true) stories of a paramilitary branch can be understood in a natural context as well.

Who Uses the MGRT Research Archive?

2006-03-18T03:00:00.000-08:00

The MGRT Research Group often receives inquiries regarding how its archives are used. The efforts of the group could be described immodestly as "noble" insofar as they are intended only to satisfy our intellectual curiosity, the demands of historic preservation and a relentless pursuit of the truth about the guild. However we are pleased our work has been used by other and we are encouraged by the traffic this online library receives from visitors who are in a position to use this research to challenge the standards of quality within their own industrial production. While no formal library-cards are required to access this material and we have chosen Blogspot purposefully to share our project with as wide an audience as possible, we're gratified to see professionals from such institutions as Polo Ralph Lauren, Diesel, Nike, Levis, LVMH, and others sifting searching the virtual aisles of our library. The group does not require visitors to identify themselves but those who have volunteered to do so include some of the examples listed below:

Standards & Ethics

2006-03-18T02:59:00.000-08:00

The discovery of the draft document of the "Rural Tailor's Standards and Ethics" is by far the piece of evidence which provides the most insight into the guild's belief system and is the most instructive in terms of outlining the very particular balance of creative (artisan), political, cultural, philosophical and romantic notions of the guild's founding members.

The draft was discovered in very poor condition and there is still some debate of the signatures that appear on it. It is clearly signed by three hands but none of the three are fully legible and there has been conflicting opinion about who these three early tailors might have been.

What seems more important than the (albeit “seductive”) mystery shrouding the identity of the guild’s architects is the picture painted of the times in which they toiled by the list of Standards & Ethics they authored.

The following text is from the original draft document:

Herewith We Set Forth the Standards and Ethics of the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors

1. Passions of the Heart

Respect for History - Traditional Garments Carry Roots

Knowledge of the Enemy - We Choose

• Meritocracy over Aristocracy
• Producers over Poseurs
• Damnation over Dandyism
• Artisanry over Automation
• Manuality over Management
• Natural Sweep over Fretting & Flattery

The Tailor's Spirit is Not for Sale. The Client Earns his Own Reputation.

• If the spirit of the maker is INSIDE the garment,
• Then the name of the maker is also INSIDE the garment
• The name of the wearer is NOT NEEDED if men will recognize his FACE
• So never is there ANY NAME on the OUTSIDE of a garment.

2. Wisdom of the Head

Future Invention is born from Human History – The Science of “Humodernity”

Cuffs Must be Forever Frontward

• Thumbs are Opposable
• Tailorwise Dexterity is the Gain
• Backward Cuffs are For Backward Men (or worse, managers!)

Attend the Art of Soft Joinery

• Embrace the Cloven Collar and exclude them from all Kosher Prohibition
• Traveling Boyos Require Traveling Buttons – A Button Shouldn’t Bust!
• Carriage, Portage & Storage – Close Possessions should be Closely Held
• New Designs when New Designs Ferment: For "Fashion" to Dictate Change is Abomination!

3. Facility of the Hand

God’s Plan is that Cloth Changes Character

• Greasing, Aging, Tearing, Wearing & Sweating is the Patina of a Man’s Garb
• The Touch of Cloth is Sixty-Four Thousand and Eight-Hundred Degrees! (360 Degree x 180 Degree) –
Such is the Mystic Math of a Garment’s True Embrace
• For a Thing to Appear "Worn" - It Must be Rightly WORN - By Men and Not Foul Automata!
• Error that Impedes No Function is a Maker's Signature

R.T.S. & E. Standards Today

2006-03-14T12:04:00.000-08:00

The covert nature of the Rural Tailors’ Guild, it’s suspected militancy, clandestine network, shadowy history and elusive organizational and hierarchal structure all make it very difficult to claim for sure when and where it was active and, indeed, if it ever existed at all.

Even so, the fossil-history of our research is rooted in the analysis of those few items which seem to present the most convincing evidence of the guild. Paramount among those is the; draft proclamation of the “Rural Tailor's Standards and Ethics".

It is not a passing interest on the part of this Research Group that specific dogmas articulated in this document can still be seen in some menswear products today albeit in a contemporary context.

The labels, brands, and designers whose work sometimes manifests some of these features can be regarded at least at the spiritual heirs of the Rural Tailors garment design ethic.

The group is primarily concerned with historical inquiry and we do not believe that issues related to the current popular culture will serve any real and significant value to our project. Nevertheless we do feel specific instances of contemporary menswear design to represent an important lens through which to view the context of the guild.

In this spirit a few of us have reviewed a range of contemporary menswear makers and their products and have identified a few which seem to indicate that the tenets of the Rural Tailors’ Guild still informs certain areas of the industry today. The entities responsible for these collections may even have some explicit connection to the guild. We’re sure if they did they would not say. Regardless however we see their connection as at least implicit and we’re convinced that the spirit of the guilds’ ethics makes itself felt by certain present-day practitioners even if only by the force of specific internal morality.

Rag & Bone, United States (English Émigrés)

The collection reflects many of the R.T.S.&E.’s

//Passion of the Heart//TRADTION - Inside pant tape finishing, heel cuff reinforcements and so on.

//Wisdom of the Head//INVENTION – Subtle leg articulation, fused Nehru influences, self-tightening systems combined with belt-loops and so on.

//Facility of the Hand//CHARACTER – Sanded finishes, flat oxford weaves and twills, moleskin entry linings, plain unbleached cotton full jacket linings, riveted engineer buttons on non-denim items, “plain” natural interior labeling, etc.

Paul Harnden Shoemakers, England

The collection powerfully dramatizes many of the R.T.S.&E.’s

//Passion of the Heart//TRADTION – Fully tailored with a rugged hand. Traditional garment classifications; sportscast, trousers, shirtsleeves, greatcoats, vests, etc.

//Wisdom of the Head//INVENTION – Updated natural shapes

//Facility of the Hand//CHARACTER – Highly tactile and rugged fabrics and finishes. Particularly robust and patina’ed leather grades in the footwear as the garment detailing.

Corpe Nova, Italy

Corpe Nova's name is derived from the 3x3 (body of nine) form used as a basis for newspaper typography.

The label's assertion that; "...in fashion, the tendency toward cultural contamination will increase...", and their interest in exploring a combination of technical research, styling, meaning and historical influences combined with the dramatic expression of these values in their collections make them worth serious review by anyone interested in the modern day militant rural tailoring tradition.

//Passion of the Heart//TRADTION – Fully tailored with a Italian attitude. Traditional garment classifications; double-breasted blazers, sportscast, trousers, shirtsleeves, etc.

//Wisdom of the Head//INVENTION – Updated natural shapes flirting dangerously close to Poseur influences but can be forgiven since the Southern European rural clients would have demanded a bit of shape in the shoulder and so forth.

//Facility of the Hand//CHARACTER – Incredible. Extremely committed to this aspect of the Standards & Ethics. Soiled, urine-stained, burned and twisted. Although strictly speaking cloth should not be aged by "Foul Automata" according to the RTS&E.

Peachoo and Krejberg, Scandinavian and Tibetan

//Passion of the Heart//TRADTION – Traditional garment classifications; double-breasted, trousers, shirtsleeves, undergarments, etc.

//Wisdom of the Head//INVENTION – Updated twisted shapes

//Facility of the Hand//CHARACTER – Authentic countrified fabrics and finishes.

Cloak, New York (Russian Émigré Alexandre Plokhov)

//Passion of the Heart//TRADTION – In this case steeped with romance. Too much romance by far to be considered within the Standards & Ethics but loyalty to traditions such as military design (albeit the officer-class) is clear.

//Wisdom of the Head//INVENTION – Updated shapes which slimmed down considerably from FW05 to FW06 landing the look closer to Hedi Slimane than any self-respecting rural tailor. However the intentions have a bravery and sincerity that a Guildsman might admire.

//Facility of the Hand//CHARACTER – If Plokhov had been a tailor in the Czar's time, he may have been drummed out of town by The Party for contributing to pre-revolution cultural decadence. The Guild would probably have frowned on the work as well particularly since Facility of the Hand manifests itself mostly in the thin world of "Luxury" (not a legitimate concern for a Rural Tailor). -But the presence of the scissors in the logo crest make us wonder if there may have been a more Rural artisan further up Blohov's family tree (as is the case with Dries van Noten and was for Emilio Pucci).

Rogues Gallery, Maine

//Passion of the Heart//TRADTION – Rogues Gallery has us in the Research Group nearly completely convinced that the Militant Guild is alive and well with active members working in Maine. The Tradition in this case extends beyond garment types and into the narrative of the label's deepest DNA. Bravo.

//Wisdom of the Head//INVENTION – Everywhere from closures to printing techniques (although strictly speaking the Standards & Ethics preclude extensive use of external graphics) and extending to metalwork and accessories.

//Facility of the Hand//CHARACTER – Although Rogue's role as a "Graphic Tee Shirt Resource" runs against Guild standards, the hand-screened artwork and the texture and tone of the etchings themselves can be understood as expressing Facility of the Hand.

Barking Irons, New York City

//Passion of the Heart//TRADTION –Like Rogues, Barking Irons own promotional material imply a nearly direct connection to the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors. Elsewhere in this research we explore the connection between New York's Shirt Tails Gang and the (lost) history of the Guild. Irons' passions clearly lie with tradition and we even suspect descendent of the Shirt Tails maybe involved in the label.

//Wisdom of the Head//INVENTION – Irons' collection is narrow and devoid of much beyond "Tees and Sweats". However, having said this, the level of invention in the knit category also supports a Guild connection. Pistol shaped woven pocket, twisted river-driver closures, heavy-thread blanket-stitching, and so on.

//Facility of the Hand//CHARACTER – Again like Rogues, Iron's role as a "Graphic Tee Shirt Resource" runs against Guild standards, but the hand-screened artwork and the texture and tone of the etchings themselves can also be understood as expressing Facility of the Hand.

Engineered Garments, New York (Japanese Émigré, Daiki Suzuki)

//Passion of the Heart//TRADTION –Engineered Garments embraces tradition with a clear focus on pioneer utility/trade class designs.

//Wisdom of the Head//INVENTION – The pioneer spirit of Yankee Ingenuity in E.G. is its most vivid feature. The archetypal styles referenced in their designs evoke the garments of the Gold Rush and the updated invention follows that strain of creative problem-solving all the way up to the present day. Elsewhere in this research we investigate the case of Geronimo and speculate about whether his tailor may have been a Guildsman. Geronimo would have like Suzuki's work as well.

//Facility of the Hand//CHARACTER – E.G. follows the dogma of refraining from too much artificial aging and this attribute is one of the rarest since the demand for this practice has increased exponentially with the rise of the denim category. E.G.'s resistance of the trend give it a Guild-like quality.

Soph., Japan

Soph. from Tokyo very often manifests more understated dandyism and leans to the opposing values of Saville Row finery and aristocratic finish. However the label's employment of functionally innovative concepts in traditional shapes such as Harris Tweed linings with modern seam-taping or rural decorative motifs used as pocket flap linings does create an atmosphere of a Rural Tailor hybrid.

Holland & Holland, England

Like "Soph.", Holland & Holland expresses understated and finer values of Saville Row with its anti-rural-tailoring aristocratic posture. However the label's authentic position in providing functional traditional solutions for country activities combined with the steady updating of shape and detail make it an interesting study for those concerned with Rural Tailoring standards today.

Earnest Sewn, New York

As mentioned in the entry regarding the Levis/Visionaire project, the Research Group is resolved to refrain from deep inquiry into the history and culture of denim design and production. This will only be entertained wherein there is a direct relevance to the Rural Tailors Guild. We expect certain avenues of study will lead in this direction in those instances when specific militant rural tailors may have migrated to the denim side of the industry or when specific rules from in the Rural Tailors Standards and Ethics are evident in the work of denim makers (this may of course indicate a explicit connection but certainly indicates an implicit one).

One such avenue involves the New York label, Ernest Sewn. There is even a soft connection between the label’s name and the guild. “Ernest” can be seen to relate to “Rural” and “Sewn” can be seen to relate to “Tailor”.

On a recent research trip to New York’s Meat Packing District members of our group toured the Ernest Sewn Store. Out of respect we resisted the temptation to attempt to take clandestine photographs of garments on the premises. However we did see very exciting indications of the Rural Tailoring Standards.

Specifically the label has launched a sportswear line which ties back to the commitment to tradition as the starting-point for innovation. Also, the label refers to wabi-sabi as it defines its own design ethic and this also relates to the R.T.S. & E.’s reference to non-compromising tailoring mistakes serving as a “sign of the maker”.

Finally the shop features a gallery that was used to present contemporary quilt craft at the time of research expedition. This (impressive) exhibit reminded some of our researchers of the suspected involvement in the Guild of the Welsh writer Daniel Owen whose tailoring shop also created quilts from traditional menswear fabrics [see entry regarding Owen elsewhere in this research porthole: http://rural-tailor.blogspot.com/2006/03/preacher-writer-rural-tailor.html]

Muji, Japan

The inherent anonymity of the MUJI concept combined with the "rumpled traditional" basic wardrobe elements provide a strong impression of some of the values of Rural Tailoring. The source is unexpected however since the contrived anonymity of the MUJI non-label is different in intention than the anonymity of Rural Tailoring which is the result of the obviously limited scope of truly provincial celebrity. A Rural Tailor is only anonymous by global media standards but would hardly be anonymous in his natural rural context.

Martin Margiela [Collection Zero/Artisan Group], Antwerp via Paris

Margiela's collection straddles a world inbetween high fashion and conceptual clothing. The hauteur's interest in clothing history, tactile meaning, and icons of tradition result in garments which can often meet the standard of Rural Tailoring despite the probability that this is not the primary aim.

Nevertheless, when these items (mostly from the "Artisan" series in the men's group) hit the mark they hit it with a resounding wallop.

The People's Wardrobe, UK

The People’s Wardrobe was a collection from founding Stussy-Tribe member and London stylist, Simon “Barnzley” Armitage. Despite the unfortunate branding concept the piece offered here demonstrates a virtuoso act of Rural Tailoring.

Barnzley has taken the classic country 3-button sport-coat style and rendered it in with materiality taken from a modern USAF MA-1 Flight Jacket. The style features near ballistic nylon with safety SOS orange lining. Fully lined in natural goose down and was built in the United Kingdom.

Keednim, France

Articulated sleeves with internal blind zippered forearm "portage". Cotton/silk/hemp fabric blend and full tailor-taping on the unlined interior. While our research is not broad enough to inquire into the seemingly limitless world of denim (and the subject gets more than enough historical attention these days anyway), this is example avoids degenerating into the jean category.

Basement Goad, Japan

Basement Goad's name even sounds like it might refer to an underground rural tailoring studio. And the example combines luggage-grade heavy denier twill weave nylon with a narrow-shouldered wide-swept silhouette and riveted work buttons. Goad's subsequent collections have sadly meandered down the road to hip-hop and "phat-ness" but the series this came from in their 2001 line bore the traits of the R.T.S. & E.

Visionaire Magazine, Edition Levi's, New York x San Fransisco

Having asserted that the Research Group would avoid getting into denim inquiries, this style is offered-up as an example of materiality (raw denim), construction (cotter-pinned work buttons), and traditional shape (narrow shoulder, wide sweep, and a banded collar) that relate to the standards on important levels. It is also offered up to give credit where credit is due. Both Levi's and Visionaire can be rightly accused of many anti-rural-tailor postures but here the product speaks for itself.

Peckers Strokeplay, Sydney Austrailia

Stan Wan is one of the partners in Peckers and members of the Research Group have had the great pleasure of spending time with him during events in Berlin and Barcelona. Having been born out of the idea of the style and attitude of mid-century golf lifestyle the concept could have gone more "dandy" than "damnation". But recent inspiration has come from Cuban tailoring and the R.T.S. & E.'s can be seen insidiously infiltrating several the garments in the line but here the product speaks for itself.

Riley & Costello, Boston

There is suspense and mystery surrounding this concept, The label's role in the launch of a decidedly "un-rural-tailor" program of sneaker-culture inspired graphic tee shirts (under the label SURETHING) would indicate that the true R.T.S. & E. promise indicated by the evocative insignia may take more time to fulfill. Members of the Research Group have had occasion to spend time with the "Riley" of Riley and Costello and we suspect they have more than tee-shirts under their shirt tails.

Dr. Romanelli, Los Angeles

Much of Romanelli's work ignores what the Research Group would describe as the Rural Tailor "look" in that he doesn't focus on traditional shapes as such. However, the concept of "remaking" (taking apart garments and reworking them into new ideas with new functionality) has the sense of country ingenuity that is at the heart of Rural Tailoring. His work with Dunhill and Soph. (mentioned above) in particular has resulted in design worth our research consideration.

Filson, Seattle

Filson, in truth, is no where near rural tailoring. The Research Group has included the label out of a shared hope that its current creators might become inspired to review their approach to design and begin to experiment with innovative approaches to the engineering of its traditional garment types.

Emerging Young British Labels: Various

Often veering toward the dandy (or more recently its younger cousin the metrosexual) it is nevertheless worth monitoring the activity of new practitioners especially those hailing from the UK.

Preacher, Writer, Rural Tailor.

2006-03-14T11:23:00.000-08:00

Was the writer Daniel Owen in the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors?

It is well known of course that Daniel Owen (October 20, 1836 - October 22, 1895), the Welsh novelist apprenticed to a tailor and returned to tailoring after failing in the ministry.

What is less well known is the cause of his failure. It is thought that prior to turning the expression of his world-view to the written word as a tailor-cum-novelist, his attitudes toward the power of the industrialization and mass production were unpopular in the Methodist church that was closely tied with the other traditional power sources in the hegemony.

What is also cloaked in mystery is the real cause of the "accidental" pit flood which took the lives of his father and two brothers at the mine in which they worked in Argoed Colliery, Mold.

The Research Group is currently seeking the assistance of a Welsh language scholar to review his novels; l Y Dreflan (1881), Rhys Lewis (1885), Enoc Huws (1891) and Gwen Tomos (1894), in order to determine if there are any coded references to be found in them.

Owen did start as an apprentice to the outspoken and innovative tailor to Angell Jones on Castell Street, Mold. It is known that Jones was to have a big influence on his apprentice as he was a member of the Welsh Methodist Church where Owen also was to try his hand at preaching.

He is thought have been actively associated with a loose network of Scotch, Irish and rural English tailors and it is suspected that some of these lower-profile figures were introduced via Angell Jones who was believed to have had ongoing access to the Militant Guild.

Refer to the figures marked A, B, C, D, & X, showing what some have described as “out of town” tailors photographed with Owen under the pretense of visiting Mold for the sole purpose of taking part in a theatrical production dramatizing the dehumanizing effect of the mining industry on its laborers.

Beuys

2006-03-14T11:22:00.000-08:00

Beuys: Primitive Cloth & Rural Construction

Joseph Beuys was born in Krefeld but grew up mainly in two nearby villages of Kleve and Rindern. He had early some contact with "fine" art, visiting the studio of Achilles Moortgat (1881-1957) on a number of occasions but did not follow this course himself as a young man.

Duing the war he was shot down while flying over the Crimea on May 16, 1944. Later Beuys told various stories about how he subsequently was rescued by rural Tatars, which supposedly kept him warm using a secret act of emergency rural tailoring charged with medicinal and spiritual force whereby Beuys was covered in animal fat and clothed felt.

Though the story (as related by Beuys) was later disproved, because he hallucinated in hospital, his maybe imagined time with Tatars would prove pivotal in his life, and would influence much of his later creative production.

This included the hand-tailoring of a series of felt suits. The suits are primarily considered in a conceptual art context relating to the participation of man in a larger creative exchange (social sculpture). Seen in its most complete form this amounts to a view of society functioning as a full and holistic organism engaged in group art-making to which each contributor owes truthful engagement and dynamism. The provision of this dynamism and energy Beuys was relating to electric batteries (human energy sources) for which power and longevity could be enhanced through effective insulation (felt).

The fact remains that this point-of-view could be propelling a concept into the cultural ghetto of "modern art" when, in fact, the message is no more esoteric than the issues addressed by rural tailoring everyday. Namely the working of cloth into from which protect, insulate, project, and refine the wearer-participant's identity.

Beuys is also know for his use of chalkboards in group "performances". These boards were used to make dynamic notations during dynamic creative exchanges. The Research Group is reminded of how this relates to a view of the creative process which is at once individually ignited (or “charged” to stick with the metaphor of energy) but ultimately collaborative as it is between rural tailor and his active clients. The discussion of product concepts and the modifying and adapting of ideas (patterns) is also a practice not bound only to realm of "modern art". The chalkboards of Beuys might be a simple reference to the nature of speaking-into a creative process or signs of a sort of socio-creative "BESPOKE-NESS".

Beuys' role in the formation of the Green Party and his active anti-war and anti-nuclear-warhead positions are well known. Maker, Be-Spoker, Activist, Iconoclast... Rural Tailor.

Geronimo

2006-03-14T11:19:00.000-08:00

Geronimo: Resisting Hegemony, Fighting Industrial Sweep

Geronimo was born near Turkey Creek, a tributary of the Gila River in what is now the state of New Mexico, then part of Mexico, but which his family considered Bedonkohe Apache hell(tori) land. Geronimo himself was a Bedonkohe Apache. He grew up to be a respected medicine man and, later, an accomplished warrior who fought with Mexican troops who had murdered his first wife and three children during a supposedly peaceful trading session in 1858. The reasons for this name are not known. Some believe that his Spanish enemies called out to Saint Jerome for assistance while attacking or in the midst of violent defeat.

Geronimo fought against ever-increasing numbers of both Mexican and United States troops and became famous for his daring exploits and numerous escapes from capture. His forces became the last major force of independent Indian warriors who refused to acknowledge the United States Government, a situation that came to end in 1886, when he finally surrendered to the government.

Despite being freed after a term in prison and becoming a living celebrity. he was not allowed to return to the land of his birth.

Geronimo’s style can be seen to manifest an early fusion of ingenious (Apache) cultural qualities that weave together with traditional tailoring elements originating in Europe and the United Kingdom where the Rural Tailor’s Guild is thought to have originated.

His garments represent an amazing amalgamation of attitudes most of which tie-back to the Rural Tailors Standards and Ethics.

His function as essentially a military figure demonstrates the critical relationship between those standards and ethics and the strains of military tailoring in the new European and English traditions…. Functionality, innovation, ruggedness & durability, storage & portage, etc.

His role as a defender of indigenous (albeit more exotic) rural country values, identity, heritage and culture in the face of the Industrial Revolution’s march westward shows results in a stylistic fusion of these “new traditional” functional design characteristics together with his own mystical and spiritual elements.

The Shirt Tails Gang: Rural Tailors?

2006-03-13T11:43:00.000-08:00

Did the Shirt Tails Gang of the Five Points in pre-civil war New York start out as a secret order of the Paramilitary Wing of the Rural Tailor’s Guild?

On one hand it is a wild claim and the temptation to associate the Shirt Tails with the Rural Tailors and, indeed, this research effort itself, on the back of the wave of interest in the subject generated by Martin Scorsese’s blockbuster GANGS OF NEW YORK in hard to resist.

Although the depiction of this period in history as rendered by Scorsese’ film is so highly dramatized as to hardly merit reference it does provide an entertaining starting-point for our inquiry.

There are a number of intriguing aspects to the actual history of the Shirt Tails which make this avenue of investigation even more enticing. Namely:

All the gangs operating in New York prior to the Draft Riots were in fact social-clubs focusing much of their activity on acts of political “persuasion”. In addition to the usual Dickensonian exploits in street-crime the Shirt Tails motivation came at least in part from a concern to make sure that politicians whose priorities were sympathetic to their own were placed in office.

The Kerry Bothers Connection

Legislation effecting the off-loading of textile raw goods by New York dock-workers, the taxation of both raw goods and finished goods, dictation of approved hours of operation for garment retailers, enforcement of restrictions on the qualifications (skill and immigration status) of garment workers and tailors…. –all of these were of fundamental importance to certain elements of the New York underground.

Historian Tyler Asbinder reports on the subject; “In fact, gangs like the Dead Rabbits and Bowery Boys were political clubs that met at nights and on weekends to promote their candidates. They would fight at the polls and sometimes beat up their opponents, but not just for fun or plunder,”

“So why fight? Nearly every scuffle was designed to help a gang's chosen candidate into public office. Once there, the candidate would reciprocate, bestowing good, steady-paying patronage jobs and municipal funds on his constituency,”

It is known that the brothers John and Richard Kerry who emigrated from Ireland to New York in the early to mid 1850’s were active in the city in their efforts to bring political pressure to bear in some of these areas of legislation. The Kerry brothers are also widely accepted as having been central to the Rural Tailor’s Guild in Cork, Ireland before fleeing to the Americas. It is even thought that they may have been founding members along with the enigmatic figure, “Young Meagher”.

The Shirts of the Shirt Tails

History records the way that the Shirt Tails gangs styled their clothing as follows:

“The Shirt Tails were a mid-19th century street gang based in the Five Points slum in Manhattan, who wore their shirts on the outside of their pants as a form of insignia and as a sign of group affiliation. Although the Shirt Tails were one of the more violent gangs of the era, they kept their weapons—as many as three or four at a time—concealed beneath their shirts; this discreet measure stands in contrast to competing gangs who flaunted and brandished their weapons in order to intimidate,"

"Never numbering more than a few hundred members, the Shirt Tails, like many other gangs, disappeared shortly before the American Civil War (although they did participate in joining a coalition of gangs under the Dead Rabbits during the New York Draft Riots), with its remaining members dissipating or joining one of the other various gangs.”

There is some speculation that this “insignia” and “discreet measure” served a second function less widely accepted by historians. Namely it served as a not-too-subtle reminder of the gang’s primary source of patronage, the Rural Tailors.

To wear one’s shirt un-tucked was certainly not a style of which the signification was inert. The social, cultural, and esthetic difference between Rural Tailors and their above-ground cousins on Saville Row and other old European city centers would have been dramatically expressed by such a nose-thumbing of “accepted” styles of dress among the aristocracy, the power-elite and even the less sinister but certainly compliant “dandies” of the time.

The Connection to the Welsh Author-Tailor, Daniel Owen

As the Research Group has already reported, there is an additional connection between Owen and murky “out-of-town” tailors who came to meet with Owen under the pretense of performing in a theatrical production in Mold.

Photographs taken of these visiting tailors show a few of them to bear striking resemblance to mug-shots taken of convicted member of New York’s Shirt Tails Gang. This maybe because they are in fact the same men. It may also be because they are close relatives of the New York convicts. At this stage is impossible to determine.

Owen’s expulsion from the Methodist ministry also hints at some affiliation. The “Official” position of the Methodists toward the working of the New York street culture of the day was widely damning and helped to pain a picture that was so extreme and simplistic as to amount to lies and anti-tailoring propaganda.

“The Five Points," wrote one Methodist reformer, had become "the synonym for ignorance the most entire, for misery the most abject, for crime of the darkest dye, for degradation so deep that human nature cannot sink below it."

The fact this official church proclamation uses the metaphor of “DYE” to cast aspersion on the community of the Five Points and the operations of political activists like the Shirt Tails Gang amounts to a direct assault on the ethics, culture and values of the Rural Tailors Guild in New York, the Americas, and throughout the world.

In addition it reported by the historian Rebecca Yamin (who provided historical background information to Scorsese for Gangs of New York) that, “… Much of what was written in newspapers, tracts, and books, says archaeologist Rebecca Yamin, was colored by religious zeal, a desire to sell papers, or plain-old fear. Middle-class outsiders looked at this neighborhood that was teeming with activity,”

This additional motivation is also the type of thing that the Rural Tailors would have seen as insidiously promoting the new middle-class hegemony being ushered in the Industrial Revolution and ensuring that the world order would marginalize Rural Tailors and sentence them to virtual extinction in the long run.

Who Carried the Brass Knuckle Shears?

This leads to the obvious question:

Just what weapon was being concealed under the shirts worn by the Shirt Tail Gang? It’s not out of the question, we think, to suggest that their arsenal may have included a few pairs of the Guild’s own distinctive “Brass Knuckle Shears”.

The Young Meagher Project

2006-03-13T11:41:00.000-08:00

Young Meagher is a project inspired directly by the Standard & Ethics proclomation of the original Militant Guild of Rural Tailors (a document presented elsewhere in this research). A conceptual collaboration, the project sheds light on the heretofore-lost history of the MGRT's secret society, which is thought to have been founded during the early Industrial Revolution. Even during its heyday details about the Guild had been shrouded in mystery but knowledge of its existence had all but completely disappeared over the decades since its formation. During the very early stages of project research was unearthed about the Guild and the designers used the dogmas of the secret society's 126 year-old manifesto as a guideline to develop a contemporary men’s clothing concept. In this regard Young Meagher is itself a research project with its documentation taking the form of prototype "test garments".

Each Young Meagher test garment has also been developed to reflect personal attitudes about men’s style with direct allusions to shape and detailing found in clothing from the motorsport, travel , tradecraft and military design traditions. In this respect Young Meagher can be seen as an act of provocation and criticism within the current menswear scene. - Rejecting many characteristics commonly celebrated in menswear fashion (metrosexuality, built-in-obsolescence, overt branding, artificial aging, futurism, class pretense, artificial seasonality, etc).

The impact this approach will have on the contemporary rural tailoring movement remains to be seen. At this stage the concept operates not on a commercial premise but rather in the context of an art project and has been featured at NAKED/181 MARTEL and the D&A ANNEX in LA, the gallery of AN EARNEST CUT & SEWN and GENART NEW YORK FASHION WEEK in NYC and in a special exhibition on the International Creator's Floor of ISETAN in Tokyo.

Comparable in one way to tangible/plastic research on the fringes of fashion design underaken by artists such as Lucy Orta, Vanessa Beecroft or E.V. Day and alternatively to living-history projects like the building and sailing of the Kon-Tiki, Young Meagher undertakes this exercise partly in order to assess the impact of the R,T,S & E dogma on contemporary design. For more on this concept refer to other entries on Young Meagher in this web log or visit their webiste. www.youngmeagher.com

Historical Parallel to the Rosicrucians

2006-03-12T15:58:00.000-08:00

Is it even possible for knowledge of a fraternal order to fully die away after a substantial period during which is has been known? Is this fading-away of public awareness possible even in cases where the organization itself may not have died away?

Although it sounds unbelievable, there is ample historical precedent for this phenomenon. One of the losing and subsequent regaining of awareness of a secret society which itself continues to exist uninterrupted through a period of initial exposure, then through period of complete obscurity (reclaimed secrecy) and finally into a third phase wherein awareness of its existence is somehow rekindled in the public forum.

Temple of the Rosy Cross, Teophilus Schweighardt Constantiens, 1618

This basic sequence colors the history of the Christian Rosenkreuz’s Rosicrucian Order. During his lifetime, the Order was active consisting of nearly a dozen inner members working directly within society and dedicated to a far-reaching agenda of bringing about a universal reformation of mankind . When Rosenkreuz died in the 15th century public knowledge of the Order disappeared. This awareness was later reborn in the early 17th century following the discovery and publication of the group's three Manifestos; Fama Fraternitatis in 1614, Confessio Fraternitatis in 1615 and the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz in 1616.

The effect on public awareness and above-ground debate regarding the idealogogy and practices of the Guild of Militant Rural Tailors brought on by the discovery of the archive box in Cork and the Rural Tailor Standards and Ethics document can be seen as similar to the effect of the discovery of the three Rosicrucian manifestos.

Members of the Research Group initially struggled with the issue of this “lost history” of a society which itself may never have been “lost” as this online archive was first being populated. While the Group has not succeed in substantiating the existence of the MGRT in absolute terms, its more skeptical members have taken solace in the fact that there seems to be a historical model which can begin to shed light on the academic amnesia we now face.

Tailors Version of Masonic Ritual

2006-03-12T15:48:00.000-08:00

The Handing Down of Tailors Shears

The secret possession a pair of the militant guild’s distinctive brass knuckle shears has not been proven to signify membership in the clandestine society.

However, there is evidence of more than one case of scissors matching this unique paramilitary design showing up in rural tailors’ ateliers in several countries. Descriptions have been discovered in documents dating back over five generations to the early-to-mid 1800’s which would indicate the scissors were being handed down from master to apprentice in certain rural proprietorships.

Although this is not confirmed it does follow the above ground tradition of Saville Row tailors handing their shears down from master to apprentice within the conventional tailor community.

The contemporary tailor Thomas Mahon offers a very concise account of this practice as it relates to a pair of standard tailoring shears currently in his possession.

According to Mahon Mr. Sheppard of the Saville Row proprietorship of Anderson & Sheppard originally used the shears in question. They were subsequently handed down to Mr. Cameron, a senior cutter in the same establishment. From there they were handed to the Swedish cutter, Mr. Hallbery who served as Mahon’s own mentor and from whom Mahon received them after Hallbery’s retirement.

Mahon’s account demonstrates the way a traditional practice can symbolize spiritual and creative heritage between tailors that spans generations.

Our research group suspects that this tradition was co-opted by the CCG-MRT guild but, in their case, it was done in secrecy in a way perhaps inspired by the passing on of Masonic swords between members of Masonic fraternities symbolizing clandestine membership.

Influence of the Guild on WW1 Trench Weapons

2006-03-12T14:12:00.000-08:00

Some time ago the Research Group was forwarded a link a website dedicated to the history of the brass knuckles.

It may seem odd that the group would be interested in this subject since our primary focus is research pertaining to the possible existence of a group of militant rural mens clothing tailors who may have formed an underground guild at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Their history is very sketchy at this stage and we have not even concluded for certain that they existed at all.

One important clue in our investigation involves a pair of very unusual tailor's scissors. We've called these the Militant Tailor's Brass Knuckle Tailor's Shears.

They were discovered fairly recently but are suspected to date back sometime prior to 1888 (placing them much earlier than the Clements Knuckle Knife or the Robbin's & Dudley Death's Head WW1 outlned in the history forwarded to the group).

Until reviewing this new historical data the group had assumed that the Militant Tailor's Guild (if it existed) had commissioned their iconic Brass Knuckle Tailor's Shears based on designs evolved naturally from medieval sword and dagger pommels.

The group assumed that the concept related to swords (Including the complex basket-pommels) of the 1500's. This would account for the possibility that the Militant Tailor's Brass Knuckle Tailor's Shears pre-dated the WW1 trench daggers by a decade or two.

The research group hadn't considered the possibility that the design derived from either Japanese (Okinawan, actually) and/or Indian influences.

The Militant Guild of Rural Tailors (again, if it existed at all) is thought to have had subterranean associations with a paramilitary branch. These more militant tailors may have had membership with connection to immigrant workers from Asia who were essentially slave-labor to westward expansion of industry (railroads, etc) throughout the commonwealth and the americas.

Also noteworthy in this new history was details about the "Death's Head" motif and this relates to some of the insignias associated with this paramilitary branch.

Having been provided this new material we now suspect that some of these "associates" may have had exposure to either the Tekko or the Hora weapons and this, not the Saxon and Norman sword-pommels, may have been the inspiration for their modified tailor's shears. The fact the Okinawan reference reflects that culture's fame for creating weapons out of the tools of Rural Trades (threshers into nunchaku, etc) is very interesting to since the notion of Rural Resistance and the merging of tradecraft and militant defense skills ties directly to our theories about the Militant Guild of Rural Tailors.

The group is currently considering whether a member of the Guild might have been conscripted into military service and possibly brought the scissor design with them. Perhaps the Rural Tailor's Shears is really the source for the WW1 trench weapons and not the other way around? Could the militant tailor movement have given rise the modern history of the brass knuckles? We do believe that New York's Shirt Tails Gang (who were active in the draft riots, although this was for a different conflict it did pre-date WW1) was connected to the tailors’ movement. This could be the link between the Rural Tailors and WW1 military design.

This forwarded history also offered a review of how standards scissors without modification can be deployed in the function of brass-knuckles which was relevant to our inquiry as well. We found the concept ironic. Brass-Kuckle-Shears from our 1888 archive being converted back into standard scissors but maintaining their "fighting spirit". We suspect the Militant Rural Tailors of the late 1800's would be proud.

The Tailor and the Hare

The hare was a symbol of evil in many country areas. This may be attributed to its pagan significance; it was the symbol of the Celtic moon-goddess and was closely allied with the witchcraft and wonder-working which was traditionally carried out by moonlight. The memory of that tradition may well have lingered on in the minds of rural people. As early as the twelfth century, Giraldus Cambrensis wrote about certain old Irish women who could transform themselves into the guise of hares for the purposes of working evil.

The following tale uses the hare motif to symbolise evil, with the figure of the tailor representing good.

Tailors, like blacksmiths, were important individuals in any rural community, and were often credited with special powers against evil. Although this version of the story comes from County Sligo, the tale is well-known in many parts of Ireland.

There was a tailor one time, travelled all over Ireland as tailors used to do in the days long ago. He would come into a place and would set up in a local house and the people all around would bring him things to mend. That was always the way of it in country areas.

Now, this tailor was coming through County Sligo and he had always taken lodgings with a farmer and his wife that lived near Coole. He slept in a small back room at the gable end of thehouse, just above the kitchen, and used a back scullery to do his tailoring, paying the couple a little bit of rent for the space. The farmer was a very old man but the wife was young and wicked looking and the tailor was wary of her. However, she was always very civil to him and he thought that he was wrong to doubt her.

One day, he arrived at the house to find that the farmer had died a good number of months before but that the wife was still living there. She made him very welcome and told him that he could continue to lodge there for as long as he wanted and at the same rent. The tailor was now very sure that he had misjudged the woman and that she was decent enough. Indeed, she was so good to him that she told him to lie as long as he wanted in the morning and that she would bring him his breakfast. He thought that this was very fair and thanked the woman kindly. All the same, he noticed that, when she spoke, her tone was gentle but her eyes were as hard as metal. Still, he had been travelling for some time and resolved to take her at her word and have a lie-in for the first few days of his lodging there.

The next morning, however, he was awake with the first sun of the day. So as not to disturb the woman of the house he lay in bed for a while. He could hear her moving about in the kitchen below and, for a moment, he thought that he heard water splashing but he couldn't be sure. After a long while she came up and brought him his breakfast and told him to lie a little while longer. So he did, and got up feeling very refreshed.

The following morning he was awake at the same time and, this time, he was sure that he heard movement and the sound of water in the kitchen below him. Wondering what was going on, he got up and crept quietly down the stairs so as not to disturb the woman. Looking round the kitchen door, he saw her filling a big wooden tub with water. She looked like she might be going to take a bath, so the tailor made to turn on his heel and creep back to bed. Suddenly, she peeled off all her clothes and leapt into the water. There was a flash and a puff of smoke and a great big hare jumped out of the tub and through the open kitchen door, out into the morning.

The tailor was dumbstruck and very frightened for he knew what had happened and what his hostess was about so early in the morning. The woman was a witch and she had turned herself into a hare in order to go out into the morning and do mischief to her neighbours. In some places, witches went about in the guise of small animals, sucking milk from the teats of grazing cattle so that they were dry and would give nothing when they came to be milked. Sometimes the witch in her animal form would jump into a baby's cradle when it was sleeping and smother the infant. Witches were always getting up to terrible evil like that in the countryside.

Tailor & The Hare-Woman
Well, the tailor was greatly frightened and would have left the place then and there but he had a good number of sewing jobs that day and, anyway, he was possessed of a great curiosity and wanted to see exactly what the woman was up to. He went back to bed and, after a long time, she came back again and brought him up his breakfast, wishing him a 'Good morning' as she did so, as if she had just risen herself.

The next morning, he was wide awake from well before light and was determined to creep down and see what he could see. As soon as the sun was coming up, he could hear the noises again in the kitchen below him and, listening hard, the sound of water being carried into the kitchen. Getting up, he crept down and peered around the door. The woman had now the wooden tub filled and was peeling off her clothes. Not knowing that she was being watched, she leapt into the bath. In her place, out jumped the large hare. Without looking around, it was out through the kitchen door and away across the fields.

Quick as a flash and without thinking of the possible danger, the tailor undressed himself, ran into the kitchen and jumped into the water. As I said, he was cursed with a great curiosity and he wanted to see what the hare-woman was doing and where she was going. As soon as he touched the water, there was a flash and a puff of smoke and he was transformed into a hare himself. Then he leapt out of the bath and followed the witch out through the kitchen door and over the fields.

On and on they ran, across wide fields and across sheughs, hedges and ditches. All the while the witch-woman kept well ahead of the tailor, but he was still able to see her and follow her wherever she went. At length they came to a small, grassy hill in the middle of the townland of Ballylee, and there a good number of other hares had gathered. There were big hares and small hares, black hares and brown hares, hares with only one ear and hares that had strangely marked coats. They had formed themselves into a circle on top of the little hill. The tailor knew instantly that these were the witches of the locality and that they had gathered here so that they could work their evil in the district together. Quietly and without fuss he joined their company.

A big, grey buck-hare with a dark patch on its back stood up in the centre of the circle and spoke to all the witches that were gathered about him.

'Go home!' says he to them, 'For we'll do no bad work here today. There is a stranger amongst us!' And all the other hares turned around and looked in the direction of the tailor. He knew then that he had been found out! The hare that was the witch woman with whom he was lodging opened her mouth and issued a long and terrible shriek and with that the tailor knew that he had to get home and transformed back or something awful would befall him. He took to his heels and fled across the fields towards Coole and the bath of magic water. But the witch woman was not far behind him.

Tailor & The Hare-Woman

Faster and faster he ran but she stayed on his tail and indeed she seemed to be gaining on him. Back through the sheughs and hedges he ran and down along loanings and boreens, back towards the farmhouse. As he neared the gate of her yard he chanced a look behind him and saw that she was indeed very close. He ran across the yard and in through the still-open kitchen door. With a flying jump, he sprang into the water and it closed over him. In an instant, he was transformed again and was back into his own true shape. However, even as he changed back, the witch-woman came through the door and made a leap herself for the enchanted water in the tub.

Grabbing his clothes, which lay in a heap beside the tub, the tailor made a run across the kitchen and up the stairs. He looked back as he did so and saw that the witch-woman had also changed back into her own shape and was coming after him, letting out terrible yells. There was a knife Iying on the kitchen table and she grabbed that and came on, waving it threateningly.

The tailor got to his bedroom and managed to shut and secure the door after him. He held it closed while the witch-woman hammered on it and screamed awful threats and oaths against him. Gathering together his bits and pieces, he opened the small window in the gable-end of the room and let himself through it, dropping down into the yard below as quick as he could. And all the while, he could hear the witch-woman beating and breaking at the door.

He ran and ran across the countryside and never stopped until he was on the outskirts of Sligo town itself. He had left his thimble and several pieces of stuff behind him, but nothing in God's own creation would make him go back for them. He took up tailoring again but he never struck out on the road towards Coole. He never knew what became of the witch-woman, nor did he want to find out, for those that traffic in the dark sciences are best left alone.

However, some time after, he was working in a country house, doing some sewing by the light of a lamp, and he had to bend over the cloth that he was mending so that he could see it better. One of the children who was playing about the floor looked queerly at him and, climbing up beside him, said: 'What is that on the back of your neck, sir?'

The tailor put up his hand and felt along the back of his neck. To his great horror, there was a ring of coarse fur, the same as you would find around the neck of a hare! It was a part of him that the enchanted water hadn't touched when he was in his hare form and which hadn't been transformed back. That ring of fur stayed with him until the day that he died and he had to wear a scarf, even on a warm day, to keep curious folk from staring at it or asking him about it.

So if you ever see a woman taking a bath in a wooden tub before the first light of morning or a tailor with a scarf about his shoulders on a hot summer's day, then you'll know for certain that my story is true."