A Curvaceous lambskin Jacket, cut to hug curves!
A Shawl collared jacket is an eternal classic – no matter whether it’s made up in leather, like this one, or tweed or denim.
As such, it needs to fit right – poor fit is the enemy of classic & the enemy of Leather- frankly, it is the enemy, Period.
My client, who is from Japan, has a very non-standard body type – she is quite naturally curvaceous. She wanted a jacket along the lines of a piece she had seen on Scarlett Johansson – which it turned out was a big designer name piece that was cut to mass production fit standards.
Not in a million years would this client be able to find something off the rack to fit her properly.
First, Asian fit standards are a bit different than Western fit standards. Over the years I exported my original women’s line to Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. I learned that while actual measurements within size ranges are the same or very, very close, the way those measurements are distributed are quite different. The Asian woman’s body type tends to be slightly narrower, front to back, and slightly wider, side to side. It’s very subtle, but it does affect how things fit and lie on the body.
Then, my client’s body type was pretty far outside of either standard, Asian or Western. So she knew she had to go custom-made. She had a very clear idea of the style she wanted and how she wanted to wear it, which helps a lot to streamline the pattern-making process, which was done long distance after the initial fitting (measurements and consultation).
Once the initial muslin was finished, the main changes were the length of the lower jacket and where the pockets were to be placed. The jacket was shortened a bit from her original request- since proportionally it worked so much better on her. The level and tilt of the pockets were likewise adjusted to flatter her figure.
She chose the super glossy, ‘Mona Lisa’ skins that have become the # 1 choice of my clients looking for a lambskin leather jacket. And a rich scarlet silk charmeuse for the lining that pops! Red and Black is such a powerful combination and works in so many permutations that it is a classic on its own.
