What is the Side body/part for?

[SO_tailor]

I've noticed this on several drafts, but why is it that some coat drafts have side parts and others just do "fishtails". What does the side part even do? Is it for waist suppression or something, or is it just a personal preference or "house style"? Thanks

[Schneiderfrei]

The side body is a major advance on the fishtail darts.

Waist suppression by dart alone gives a very baggy kind of silhouette, typical of the 1930's 40'sand 50's.  The side body allows for a much more complex suppression, a much more sophisticated or modern silhouette.

[SO_tailor]

Thanks for the reply! That's interesting, so I'm guessing it gives a more clean silhouette? I've been using the side part for a while on my practicing drafts, and got interested when I started watching Mr. Mahon's videos on his blog. Is there anything else i should know?

[Greger]

The side cut reduces some shaping with the iron. It has been around at least since the 1920. It can be made several different ways. There are narrow hip to wide hip and posture and other purposes. Some tailors will never use them and make superb coats. At one time there was no breast darts. A seam will hold its shape better than a pressed one. But, what is all of the goal?

[SO_tailor]

Thanks for that Gregor, that was pretty helpful. The goal I had in mind was to be able to understand what the side body was for. It's was something I had Ben wondering ever since I got the MTOC VOL 1, because only then I wondered what the side part was used for. Now I know so thanks

[Schneiderfrei]

Perhaps one of the more experienced members could tell what the historical developments were that lead to the adoption of the side body as opposed to the dart. 

As Greger mentioned, it must have been at least partly the changing ironwork requirements.  In that case changes in fabric would lead to a different approach for ironwork.  But I suspect that a lot of the reason is for a smoother silhouette.

G

[Gerry]

I've seen side panels used in mid-19th-century drafts for frock coats. They allow for a more fitted look. I've heard more than one modern tailor say that the material curves round the body better than with a dart. Theoretically, it also provides another seam to be adjusted for better fit (not that anyone seems to do this). Either way, you can see that it's easier to create better shaping (asymmetrical darts being tricky to sew) using that extra seam, which is why it's used in more formal coats (especially military/equestrian stuff).

The use of a dart is more associated with 3 seam, lounge/sack coats. They were/are informal jackets intended for wear around the house, or even for manual work in the days when everyone wore coats. They were/are cut for a looser fit, making them more comfortable to wear. That said, three seam coats have always been used for formal wear too.

[TSjursen]

The concept of a side body wasn't unknown to tailoring in the old days, as has already been mentioned, but it took a long time for it to be introduced to the lounge coat (i.e. the regular suit coat). Back in the 1800s when the lounge coat first took hold as a fashionable thing to wear, it was a very informal garment with an emphasis on comfort and a more loose, less dressy appearance. The name "lounge coat" suggests as much, as do other common names for the same type of garment such as "sack coat" and "three-seamer". Towards the end of the 19th century, the lounge coat was rapidly gaining ground as acceptable daytime wear in situations that would previously have required someting like a morning coat, and it became fashionable to have the lounge coat made to fit rather tightly and with a pronounced waist. The way this was acheived was to increase the suppression in the back and side seams, and to introduce a dart under the arm (also known as a "fish"). The suppression in this underarm dart could be as much as 1,5 inches (almost 4 cm), an insane amount by modern standards, but it worked back then because the fabrics were heavier and in general easier to give a lasting shape with the iron. To reduce the amount of "fluting" happening under the pocket mouth they would shrink the fabric well here, effectively extending the dart further down on the forepart. It is important to note, however, that the shape they were after was decidedly more hourglass-like that what is common today, so they didn't simply shrink away all the fullness that the large fish shaped dart creates over the hips.

As time went on fashions changed and eventually it became common to introduce another dart to the front of the forepart, in order to give even more shape to the waist and at the same time "throw fullness" to the chest area. This dart (the front dart) became a standard feature of more dressy lounge coats sometime in the 1920s. The earliest draft I have seen with a front dart is from the early 1900s, but that would have been a rarity at the time. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s the fashion in lounge coats tended towards a more waisted garment with a fuller chest and broader shoulders, and the hips tended to become narrower. Typically a mid to late 1920s draft will show a fair amount of spring in the hips/seat region and a moderately tight (and clean) fitting waist and chest with moderate padding in the shoulders. In the late 1940s the very fashionable would wear a coat that clipped tightly along the hips and seat, with an emphasized waist, a very full chest and well padded and wide shoulders. There were regional differences of course, but in general western fashions at the time favoured a narrow hip and wide chest. At the same time fabrics were becoming lighter in weight, and some tailoring journals I have read from the period also reference the fact that the fashionable fabrics were in general more difficult to work with the iron than those that were used in the past.

To make a long and techincal story short, the narrow hip and full chest fashion and the fact that you couldn't just fix everything with ironwork makes it difficult to cut a well fitting coat with only the side seams and two darts at your disposal. The fullness in the chest needs to come from somewhere (technically the excess has to be removed somewhere but you get the idea), and the narrowing of the hips cannot all come from the side seams. You can distribute the required fullness to a dart in the gorge or under the lapel, the front dart, and to some shrinking in the front of the armscye, but that is of course a lot of work and there is a limit to how much you can get from these points. Alternatively you can continue the front dart all the way to the hem, but that would be very visible and not acceptable to most customers. At some point some smart guy (probably several people independently) realized that if you cut the underarm dart through to the hem, you can solve the problem with the narrow hips and at the same time the fullness in the chest: By cutting through the pocket mouth to the front dart, you now have a way to open up a very large chest dart here without causing any disturbance to the lower part of the garment. No fooling around with the neck point is required and the stripes run vertical from top to bottom of the forepart, you save yourself some ironwork, there are two finnicky dart points less to press, and the fluting of fullness below the pocket mouth is avoided. As an added bonus it is now very easy to introduce a small belly cut through the pocket, which is very useful for almost all figures except the very fit and/or slender types.

The earliest comprehensive discussions of a separate side body I have seen is in German journals from the early 1930s. They all state something to the effect that while it is a very good plan from the tailor's perpective, many customers will object to the seam below the pocket. Authors writing in the 1950s and 1960s sometimes note how it took a long time for the general customer to accept this new seam, but by the 1950s it was all over German tailoring and making inroads in Britain too. There is a discussion of the separate side body in the 1949 edition of the MTOC if I am not mistaken.

I don't quite agree that the separate side body is a more sophisticated cut per se, but for some styles and some figures you really would be jumping through hoops trying to avoid it. It opens up a lot of possibilities and solves many of the problems with using double ended darts, but it is not like every figure needs it. It is perfectly possible to put a belly cut in the pocket without also introducing a front dart, for example.

[Gerry]

Very informative TSjursen, thank you!

[TTailor]

Very good description and history TSjursten!

[SO_tailor]

That was a very informative essay TSjursten! Interesting how the side body developed because of ironing problems with the newer and lighter fabrics. I wonder if it may was also developed to save space while laying the patterns on the fabric. Overall that was very interesting thanks for the information.

[SO_tailor]

Just to make sure I understand this correctly: the width of the darts in the forepart and side seam are used to give the chest a fullness or tightness?

[Greger]

The wider the dart the more bulge is somewhere else.

[Schneiderfrei]

That's well summarised greger.

[SO_tailor]

The wider the dart the more bulge is somewhere else.

Thanks for explaining Gregor, very helpful indeed