APPRENTICES: CLAUDIA ALEU

CLAUDIA ALEU, 25, FROM BARCELONA.

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WHAT GOT YOU INTO TAILORING?

I came to it from a degree in Fashion Design. On my course I felt that I was good at making clothing, but I felt the focus was more about creativity than the garment itself, and how it was made. Quality and finishing were underplayed.

Then I got to London and they told me about Savile Row. It was a different world from fashion but it amazed me, so I decided to give it a try. 

CAN YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME YOU SAW SOMETHING THAT HAD BEEN MADE BY A TAILOR, AND IF SO, WHAT YOU THOUGHT?

It was when I decided to go to Savile Row to look for a job. 

I had never seen anything like it - it was the first time I saw what a jacket looked like inside. It felt challenging and interesting at the same time. I didn’t know anything about tailoring. In Barcelona, where I come from, there is not much tailoring culture.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY ABOUT MAKING THINGS?

It’s like a kind of therapy for me. It gives me a lot of satisfaction when a garment is well made. 

ARE THERE ANY PEOPLE OR THINGS, INSIDE OR OUTSIDE OF TAILORING, THAT HAVE HAD A PARTICULAR INFLUENCE ON HOW YOU GO ABOUT TAILORING?

I have only really just started tailoring, but I would say there are two different experiences which have influenced me.

The first was with Kathryn Sargent and Rachel Roberts, I went there with no idea how to build a tailored jacket. There I saw the classic English shape of tailoring. 

And then I discovered Speciale, where George taught me a very different approach to tailoring and to the English style. That opened my eyes and made me realise that so long as quality is preserved, tailoring can be shaped in so many different ways and styles. This is where I am: looking for my own shape. 

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR THOSE WANTING TO LEARN ABOUT TAILORING?

Patience and perhaps resilience… sew as much as you can and work towards building up your own shapes and ideas.

This is tough, a very beautiful job, but the more you gain more experience, the more you get hooked.