TANN visits Jasmin Sermez of ROOKS & ROCKS

On tailoring, real bodies and the quiet value of routine.

For our latest TANN Visit, we spent an afternoon with Jasmin at Rooks & Rocks, talking about tailoring, old clothes, everyday routines and why the right suit has less to do with having the right body than finding the right suit.

Jasmin came to Rooks & Rocks around a year and a half ago, returning to something that had interested her since studying fashion design: tailoring.

“I think a suit is one of those garments that can work for absolutely everyone. You just have to find the right version of it.”

That distinction matters. Much of what she had learnt during her studies was based on constructing womenswear around standardised measurements. But bodies, of course, aren't standardised. It was the problem that kept bringing her back to tailoring: the possibility of starting with the person rather than asking the person to fit the clothes.

Today, her work begins with fabric and measurements, but quickly becomes something more personal. How will the suit be worn? Once, or every week? For a wedding, for work, or simply because someone wants to wear tailoring more often? Does the person actually want the narrow silhouette they walked in imagining, or might a straighter trouser feel and look better?

Jasmin's own references tend to come from further back.

The 1930s, 40s and 50s interest her more than the very narrow tailoring many people remember from the 1990s and 2010s. There is more room in those older silhouettes, literally and figuratively. Trousers can fall, jackets can follow a body without constraining it.

Some customers arrive knowing exactly what they want. Others need time.

A customer may begin a fitting overwhelmed by the number of decisions in front of them. Fabric. Buttons. Jacket. Trousers. Pockets. Proportions. Slowly, the vocabulary becomes familiar. By the end, they are making decisions themselves.

Good advice, Jasmin thinks, is not about imposing taste. If she disagrees with an idea, she explains what another choice might do for comfort, practicality or proportion. Then the customer decides.

It requires trust.

CLOTHES THAT ARE ACTUALLY WORN

We eventually arrive at one of our favourite subjects: what happens to good things when they are used.

For Jasmin, choosing cloth starts with understanding what will be asked of it.

An exceptionally fine wool can make sense for a suit worn on a particular occasion. For something worn constantly, it may be exactly the wrong choice. A more robust cloth, such as fresco, can withstand the rhythm of everyday life far better.

Longevity isn't simply a property of an expensive material. It comes from choosing the appropriate material for the job.

Her attitude towards ageing is similarly uncomplicated.

Most of her accessories are vintage. Silver can tarnish. Surfaces can become scratched. Clothes show evidence of being worn. None of this necessarily makes an object less desirable.

As long as it still does what it is supposed to do.

THE THINGS WE DO WITHOUT THINKING

Towards the end of our conversation, we talk about rituals.

Jasmin doesn't describe anything particularly ceremonial. Quite the opposite.

She talks about catching the same bus. Exercise. Tidying up. Putting shoe trees into her shoes as soon as she gets home. Hanging trousers properly so they need less attention the following morning.

Small systems built around things that have to happen anyway.

“If you have routines, you don't have to think about them anymore. They happen by themselves, and you have space for the things that aren't part of the routine.”

Perhaps that is as good a definition of an everyday ritual as any.

Making ordinary life more elaborate by making certain parts of it so considered that eventually they become effortless.