Watching Men of the Cloth is like watching genius in action. The mastery of the art of tailoring is so ingrained to the three featured tailors that they literally live the art. The film is emotional as we realize the tremendous sacrifice each makes to become a master and how total dedication was required to achieve mastery. While we admire the results of the years it takes to acquire the knowledge and skills, we are reminded that there will be a growing loss of this as the masters retire and pass on. A young man who desires to become a tailor is given the opportunity to work with a master, and spends four years learning and watching, but eventually leaves to pursue a more commercial approach to tailoring because that allows him the freedom to attempt what he watched. A small handful of young men are enrolled in a tailoring school in Italy that brings them in while still teenagers, similar to the traditional model of beginning training while very young. The gap isn't being filled in educational institutions who are limited to offering programs from 2-4 years in length and that have to meet student and market demand. What will become of the art of tailoring?
Review of Men of the Cloth
