The Secret of the “Gods” The Art of Tailoring and its Challenges under the Ancien Régime

The tailoring art of cutting by drafting from measures has a fuzzy origin. We argue that it appeared gradually driven by a struggle for recognition. As tailors started to assert that tailoring was a scientific activity, one of them, who was also a costumier, Pierre-Nicolas Sarrazin, invented a new method which can be depicted as an embryo of cutting by system. Even though he was “sans qualité”, he appears as a major player in the evolution of the craft and the trade of tailoring.