When Can We Get Nerdy About the Women’s Suit?
Courtesy of The Row
When Can We Get Nerdy About the Women’s Suit?
With Neelam Gill, Julie Pelipas and Daisy Knatchbull
By Akanksha Kamath
Tailoring is the art of perfection. The stitching, pattern-cutting, focus on seams, cuffs, shoulders, buttons and pockets are all part of what makes the suit-wearing experience a classical yet studious endeavor. It’s also a technical craft that has typically remained reserved for male wearers (you only have to look to London’s Savile Row for a rhetoric that perpetuates accomplished, elite men as suit connoisseurs). However, the recent staggering success of brands like The Row, Khaite and Phoebe Philo, and their minimal, refined and relaxed suit aesthetic, has brought suiting to women once again. Only this time, it looks different.
Far from its ‘50s silhouette that borrowed from the boys— quite literally with shapes that were not made keeping a woman in mind, to becoming laser-sharp focused on the feminine form in the ‘80s, to now, a time when suiting is made by women for women, the silhouette has firmly hoisted itself into a modern woman’s wardrobe and world.
From BETTTER by Julie Pelipas - an innovative system that upcyles tailoring and suiting waste from menswear into deeply thoughtful well-crafted suits for women, to Daisy Knatchbull of The Deck who decided Savile Row was where her one stop shop for a brand dedicated to suiting for women belonged, and Neelam Ahooja, an avid wearer of suits — got together to nerd-out over the cuts and collars of the perfect modern suit, in a conversation hosted by Akanksha Kamath.
From blazer constructions that adopt details from activewear and outerwear, to hidden vintage jewelry details — these women are looking at suiting with the same meticulous attention to detail as menswear looks at suiting, and in the process revolutionizing the category. Here’s how.
NEELAM GILL
Neelam Gill is a content creator in the fashion and beauty space specializing in minimalism. She is an avid collector of The Row and aims to inspire and educate through her channels.
JULIE PELIPAS
Julie Pelipas is the founder and Creative director of BETTTER. She is the former fashion director of Vogue Ukraine, with 15 years of experience in the fashion industry working with major magazines, including Vogue Paris, Vogue Poland, Harpers Bazaar Ukraine, L’Officiel Ukraine, InStyle US and various fashion brands all over the world. Having spent her entire career in the industry, Pelipas grew tired of the increasing levels of consumption and the impact it has on our planet. That was when she launched the upcycling system BETTTER.
DAISY KNATCHBULL
Daisy Knatchbull founded The Deck in April 2019, following five years working at Huntsman, one of Savile Row’s oldest and most prestigious bespoke tailors, as the brand’s Communications Director. It was there that she was first exposed to the deeply traditional world of men’s bespoke tailoring, and the lack of contemporary alternatives for women. The Deck is the first women’s-only tailoring house to have a shopfront in Savile Row’s 200 year history.
INTRODUCTIONS
THE REBIRTH OF WOMEN'S SUITING
UPCYCLING MEN'S SUITS FOR WOMEN
IT'S ALL IN THE DETAILS
ICONIC SUIT WEARERS
THE ART OF THE PERFECT SUIT
