The next time a coffee cup or a hotel lobby is sold to you as bespoke, remember it started as a bolt of Savile Row cloth a customer had reserved, spoken for, so no one else could claim it. That is also the line between the real thing and made-to-measure: bespoke drafts a fresh pattern to your body, made-to-measure nudges an existing block toward it. One is a blank page, the other a decent edit.
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The post, as it ran
01'BESPOKE' MEANS THE CLOTH WAS, QUITE LITERALLY, SPOKEN
FOR. ON SAVILE ROW A CUSTOMER PICKED A LENGTH OF CLOTH
FOR ONE SUIT, AND THAT CLOTH WAS THEN 'SPOKEN FOR,' BESPOKE.
02IT COMES FROM THE OLD VERB 'BESPEAK,' TO SPEAK FOR
SOMETHING. THE TAILORING SENSE HAS BEEN RECORDED
IN ENGLISH SINCE 1755.
03TRUE BESPOKE IS CUT FROM A PATTERN DRAFTED FROM SCRATCH
FOR YOUR BODY. MADE-TO-MEASURE JUST ALTERS A STANDARD
BLOCK TOWARD IT.
04ONE IS A BLANK PAGE, THE OTHER A DECENT EDIT. SO WHEN A
COFFEE CUP IS SOLD TO YOU AS 'BESPOKE,' YOU KNOW
WHICH WORD YOU'RE ACTUALLY PAYING FOR.