Gotstyle, Toronto’s style curators, announced they are liberating female body shapes from the fruit bowl with the launch of Canada’s most comprehensive made to measure suit department for women.
A far cry from comparing female silhouettes to apples, pears and bananas, Gotstyle reports a nine-pattern and thirty-measurement breakthrough to fit and flatter a diverse range of female bodies. After a two-year quest to perfect the patterns, Gotstyle’s made to measure suits feature more than 350 alteration points – not counting manual handmade adjustments – to cater to any woman’s unique body shape.
“There are a large number of Canadian women looking for high-quality suiting that is fitted to their individual body shapes,” said Konstantine Malishevski, Made to Measure Manager of Gotstyle. “Our female clients seek us out because they’re frustrated with off-the-rack choices that are scaled to a size zero fit model. Women simply aren’t being offered access to the same customization, luxury or fit that men’s suiting provides.”
Malishevski is referring to the standard practice of using a standard, smaller-sized ‘fit model’ to base all patterns and sizes of a women’s suit off of. This often leads to a lack of proper fit. “The largest international women’s brands created the notion of a size zero - this simply doesn’t reflect the body type of the average Canadian woman.”
Gotstyle has defined nine women’s body types (and counting) in their made to measure suiting patterns, illustrated by iconic female celebrities with diverse body shapes from Sophie Trudeau to Adele.
“We had so many requests for women’s made to measure that we decided we had to do something,” said Melissa Austria, Owner and Founder of Gotstyle. “Why shouldn’t every woman be able to tailor her clothing for a custom fit? The truth is that most high-end women’s designers only offer up to size 10, this does not serve a large number of Canadian women who are in the size range of 11-14.”
Malishevski confirms that there are completely different considerations in women’s made to measure tailoring. “Women have busts, curves and butts, which cannot be catered to by simply altering a menswear pattern,” he says. “Just as there are certain considerations to take into account when measuring a suit to male proportions, an equal amount of care needs to be taken to properly fit a female body. At Gotstyle, we’re trying to allow the client to express herself with custom fit, fabric and flare.”