Coronation Tailors: Fit for a King
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001llnv
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001llnv/coronation-tailors-fit-for-a-king
The Great
British Sewing Bee’s Patrick Grant goes behind the scenes at the family firm
making ceremonial uniforms for King Charles’s coronation.
Tasked with
creating thousands of bespoke uniforms for the big day, the Kashket family have
been making spectacular ceremonial wear for four generations. As well as
discovering the skill and craftmanship required to create these unique
garments, Patrick also meets some of the men and women of the armed forces who
will wear them.
What’s on TV tonight: Sewing Bee judge Patrick Grant
meets the tailors behind the Coronation uniforms
Major
Lauren Petritz-Watts, Major Scott Fitzgerald, Patrick Grant, Cpl Major Chris
Liburd, Major Robbie Wilmont and Seamus the Wolfhound (Photo: BBC/Waddell Media
Ltd/Jonathan Stow)
By Gerard
Gilbert
May 3, 2023
6:00 am(Updated 10:08 am)
Pick of the
day: Coronation Tailors: Fit for a King
9pm, BBC
Two
Coronation
week programming continues with Sewing Bee judge Patrick Grant taking viewers
behind the scenes at uniform manufacturers Kashket and Partners as they prepare
thousands of parade uniforms for King Charles’s big day. The film reveals the
rich heritage and history behind Britain’s military uniforms and the stories of
the men and women of the Armed Forces who will wear them with pride. BBC One is
meanwhile showing a repeat of 2021’s The Repair Shop: A Royal Visit (8pm), in
which Jay Blades met King Charles III, who was then the Prince of Wales, to
explore their shared passion for heritage crafts.
Great British Sewing Bee’s Patrick Grant: ‘The King is
a lover of beautiful things’
The designer fronts new documentary, Coronation
Tailors: Fit For A King. By Prudence Wade.
Prudence
Wade
1 day ago
Patrick
Grant hosts a new BBC documentary called Coronation Tailors: Fit For A King
(Guy Levy/Waddell Media/PA)
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Tailor
Patrick Grant has said the King is a lover of “beautiful things”, and revealed
that they’ve bonded over a shared dedication to traditional craftsmanship.
The Great
British Sewing Bee judge has lent his fashion expertise to a new BBC
documentary, Coronation Tailors: Fit For A King, looking into how military
uniforms were made for May 6.
“I work a
little bit for His Majesty, and I’ve met him on many occasions – he is a lover
of beautiful things, he is a lover of clothes, he’s a lover of craftsmanship,”
Grant, 50, told the PA news agency in the historic setting of the Royal
Military Chapel, Wellington Barracks, London.
“He’s the
patron of the Heritage Craft Association, which I’m also an ambassador for –
all this stuff is really dear to his heart and it’s also really dear to my
heart. I love beautiful, traditional craftsmanship in any way shape or form.”
For Grant,
the King’s love of beautiful craftsmanship links back to his passion for
sustainability and the environment.
“I was
talking [to him] about his dress shoes – the dress pumps that have that flat
grosgrain bow on the front. I don’t know how long he’d had the dress pumps he
was wearing, but I would have thought 30 years or something.
“He’s
having a new pair made by Tricker’s in Northampton, and they have to take the
old bow off and reuse it on the new shoes. Partly I think he loves the link.
But also, these things are so good, they should be kept.
“Why buy
new when something already exists?
“I think
that is something deeply ingrained in him from his father and possibly from
others – that things have value, and we do a disservice to the people who make
things if we don’t attempt to keep them for as long as possible.”
This makes
Charles feel like a “very modern monarch”, Grant said, particularly as “we know
his views on nature, wildlife, farming, agriculture, organic farming,
sustainability, making things last and preserving old crafts and doing things
in a way that doesn’t harm the planet”.
This is in
contrast to the late Queen Elizabeth II, who didn’t voice her opinions on these
topics.
For the
documentary, Grant toured three different businesses: uniform manufacturers
Kashket & Partners, metalwork specialists Firmin & Sons – who are
responsible for the buttons on uniforms – and textile company Hainsworth.
One of the
major undertakings for the coronation is changing all the buttons on uniforms
from EIIR to CIIIR – Charles’ new royal cypher.
“Firmins
are absolutely unique – there is nobody else in the world that does what
Firmins does,” Grant said, adding: “I think King Charles has asked that they
just do the really visible [buttons], rather than go through and replace
literally tens of thousands of buttons.”
He said
“over time they will be replaced” as new uniforms are manufactured. In keeping
with the King’s commitment to sustainability, “All the old buttons do get
reused because Firmins have a smelting plant where they reprocess all the
scrap, but they also reprocess any buttons and badges that come off”, Grant
explained.
“He would
be appalled to think that at any point in this process, people were wasting
things,” he added.
As just one
example of the level of detail required at a ceremonial occasion like the
coronation, Grant mentioned “the precision with which Hainsworth get that red
on every single piece of cloth they make”.
He said:
“Because if you’re making red for the normal world, if [one] red is kind of
red, and [another] is sort of the same red, it doesn’t really matter. But when
you’ve got 150 people standing in a line, all wearing that red, that red needs
to be absolutely the same colour across every one.
“Some of
those uniforms are 25 years old and some of them are 25 days old – and they all
need to look the same. There is a degree of know-how behind doing that, that
most people do not have.”
When
touring Kashket’s factory, there were elements that were “very similar”, to the
tailoring Grant is used to, as someone who first started working on Savile Row
in 2005 and founded fashion brand Community Clothing in 2016.
And yet
there was also plenty that was unfamiliar to Grant, who splits his time between
Lancashire and London.
“Their
coats have to look different in a different set of circumstances. So if you are
mounted personnel, your coat has to look perfect when you’re sitting in a
riding position – which is not the way you would normally stand.
“And if
you’re standing at attention, your arms are much further back than they would
be normally – normally you stand there with your arm hanging naturally, and the
pitch of everybody’s arm is normally slightly forward… But a soldier at
attention, the arm is straight down, with the thumb down the braid in the
middle of his trouser.
“So you’re
making a uniform fit in the position it needs to look its best in, which is not
the position you would normally stand in.”
Other
differences to more conventional tailoring include embellishments – there’s a
lot more required in ceremonial garments – the fit is closer, and the fabrics
tend to be heavier (“The poor sods are standing out there in pretty warm
stuff”).
The
coronation will be steeped in history. “I don’t imagine there will be very much
that feels particularly modern,” Grant said.
But with
Charles’ overall commitment to sustainability and craftsmanship, the designer
sees a more modern reign ahead of us.
He said: “I
think he’s a fantastic role model for people, that we can live in a way which
is much quieter, but is better in tune with the natural world.”
Coronation
Tailors: Fit For A King is on BBC Two on May 3 at 9pm.
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