Three weeks after his first meeting with the master tailor, the client will try on the toile of his jacket (at that point without collar or sleeves). During this fitting the tailor can check the jacket’s balance lines, meaning how the piece aligns with the body. At this point, the client may also try on the trousers, which will have already been cut in the final fabric.

The second fitting takes place a few weeks later. By then the master tailor will have assembled the entire jacket by hand, stitching its collar, sleeves, and such other details as the inside and outside pockets and lining. Some seams are still basted, or temporarily hemmed, so that they can be adjusted right down to the millimetre. All the necessary elements, from collar and shoulders to pockets, lining and interfacing are assembled. This is when dozens of details are tended to that will be sewn by hand, from Milanese lapel buttonholes and working buttonholes to hand-mounted linings with topstitched edges. Topstitching, such as the saddle stitch, is the signature of a tailor’s work.