POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Boxes of buttons used by Ron and Maxwell Gillman

Object No. 2007/127/22

The craft of tailoring gradually developed in Europe from the twelfth century. In Australia, tailors were once a common sight in country towns and suburban main streets. Before the 1800s a suit 'made to order' was reserved for the wealthy. By the late 1800s increasing numbers of Australian working men had at least one good suit as a sign of respectability. Suits could be purchased ready-made, made to measure from a local tailor or the fabric and style could be chosen at a men's wear store and then sent to a manufacturing tailor in the city. Today independent tailors are a rarity, as evidence, the Master Tailors Association had to close down in 1965 due to insufficient members. It could be argued that clients of the few tailors left today are like those before the 1800s, wealthy and often famous. The decrease in the number of tailors was due to the availability of ready-made clothing as well as the cheap imports that have flooded the Australian market since the 1970s. The significance of this collection of tailoring equipment lies in its provenance and its documentation of a now rare craft that has diminished in the contemporary world. The provenance of this collection is from a country tailor shop in Wagga Wagga. It was owned by Ron Gillman a third generation master tailor. His family had run tailoring businesses in the Riverina since 1883. The tools of the tailoring trade from this collection date back to 1918 when Ron's father, Maxwell, opened a tailoring business in Wagga Wagga. Other tools date from the 1960s and 1970s highlighting the changes in tailoring over the twentieth century. For example, the introduction of electric irons meant that the old flat irons and gas stove no longer had to be used. However, some tools remained unchanged and were used by Ron until 2003 when he closed down his business. In addition, some of the objects illustrate retailing tools a tailor used such as fabric books from which customers could choose their material and a window dummy display that was used in the shop window to exhibit partially made and completed suits. As a whole, this collection shows the different tools and materials needed to make a suit, jacket or pants, from measuring the client to pressing the seams and the first fitting. How each object was used is well documented through an oral history with Ron Gillman. The objects are a reminder of a time when most men owned one good suit and service was personalised. This personalised service was illustrated in Ron's workroom where many paper patterns hung from a partition behind where he worked. They belonged to different clients who had their own pattern marked with their name on it, dimensions and the date.