Bespoke

{{italic title}} {{short description|Made to order, usually one-of-kind}} {{other uses|Bespoke (disambiguation)}} [[File:Bespoke_chalkstripe_suit_sven_krolczik.jpg|thumb|A bespoke tailoring "coat" (suit jacket) under construction]] [[File:Shoe lasts of Queen Victoria from 1898 at John Lobb, bespoke shoe and bootmaker, 88 Jermyn Street, London.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The bespoke shoe lasts of Queen Victoria from 1898 and Earl Mountbatten of Burma at John Lobb Bootmaker in London]]

'''''Bespoke''''' ({{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-Bespoke.ogg|b|i|ˈ|s|p|oʊ|k}}) describes any item commissioned to a particular specification, altered or tailored to the customs, tastes, or usage of an individual purchaser. In contemporary usage, "bespoke" has become a general marketing and branding concept implying exclusivity and limited runs.<ref name=NewsweekBespoke/><ref name=BBCBespoke/><ref name= BespokeThis/>

==Origin== Bespoke is derived from the verb "bespeak", meaning to "speak for something".<ref name=BBCBespoke/> The particular meaning of the verb form is first cited from 1583<ref name=BespokeThis/> and given in the ''Oxford English Dictionary'': "to speak for, to arrange for, engage beforehand: to 'order' (goods)". The adjective "bespoken" means "ordered, commissioned, arranged for" and is first cited from 1607.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bespeak |work=The Oxford English Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |edition= 1st |date=1909}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Bespoken |work=The Oxford English Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |edition=1st |date=1909}}</ref> Originally, the adjective "bespoke" described tailor-made suits and shoes.<ref name=NewsweekBespoke/><ref name=BBCBespoke/><ref name= BespokeThis/>

According to ''Collins English Dictionary'', the term was generally British English in 2008.<ref name=BBCBespoke/> American English more commonly uses the word "custom", instead,<ref name=SafireBespoke/> as in "custom-made", "custom car", or "custom motorcycle". Nevertheless, bespoke has increased in usage in American English during the 21st century.<ref name=BespokeThis/>

==History== The word "bespoke" is most known for its "centuries-old relationship" with tailor-made suits,<ref name=BBCBespoke/> but the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' also ties the word to shoemaking in the mid-1800s.<ref name=Offthewall/> Although it is now used as an adjective, it was originally used as the past participle of bespeak.<ref name=BBCBespoke>{{cite news |url= https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7463790.stm |date= 19 June 2008 |access-date= 24 April 2018 |work= BBC News Magazine |title= What does 'bespoke' mean? |archive-date= 15 July 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180715130844/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7463790.stm |url-status= live }}</ref> According to a spokesperson for ''Collins English Dictionary'', it later came to mean "to discuss", and then to the adjective describing something that was "discussed in advance", which is how it came to be associated with tailor-made apparel.<ref name=BBCBespoke/> The word was used as an adjective in ''A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke'', the 1755 autobiography of actress Charlotte Charke, which refers to ''The Beaux' Stratagem'' as "a bespoke play".<ref name=BBCBespoke/> After that, the adjective was generally associated with men's tailor-made suits.<ref name=BBCBespoke/>

Before about the 19th century, most clothing was made to measure, or bespoke, whether made by professional tailors or dressmakers, or as often, at home. The same applied to many other types of goods. With the advent of industrialised ready-to-wear clothing, bespoke became largely restricted to the top end of the market and is now normally considerably more expensive, at least in developed countries.

At some point after that, the word "bespoke" came to be applied to more than tailoring, although exactly when is unclear.<ref name=Offthewall/> Mark-Evan Blackman of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City told ''The Wall Street Journal'' in 2012 that the "bespoke proliferation may be tied to young Hollywood types becoming enamored with custom suits about a decade ago".<ref name=Offthewall>{{cite news |author= Ovide, Shira |title= Off the wall: To some, nothing speaks like 'Bespoke'—Term Once used for custom tailoring now suits many; London's original artisans aren't amused. |work= Wall Street Journal |date= 7 May 2012 |page= 31 }}</ref> ''The Wall Street Journal'' article said that "language purists" were not happy, while suitmakers said the word had been "bastardized".<ref name=Offthewall/>

==Contemporary usage== upright=1.1|thumb|Fitting of a bespoke jacket In 1990, American writer William Safire questioned in a ''New York Times'' article what had become of "custom, a word fading from our fashion vocabulary in a blizzard of British usage".<ref name=SafireBespoke>{{cite news |title= On Language; Bespokesman |work= The New York Times |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/09/magazine/on-language-bespokesman.html |date= 9 December 1990 |access-date= 24 April 2018 |author= Safire, William |archive-date= 25 April 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180425114442/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/09/magazine/on-language-bespokesman.html |url-status= live }}</ref> In a play on words, he wrote of the snob appeal<ref name=BespokeThis/> of the word: "To be suitably trendy, bespeak to me of bespoke tailoring."<ref name=SafireBespoke/> ''Gentlemen's Quarterly'' magazine wrote that the word was "gaining in popularity", meaning "the opposite of off-the-rack".<ref name= GQBespoke>{{cite news |url= https://www.gq.com/story/bespoke |work= Gentlemen's Quarterly |date= 14 March 2001 |access-date= 24 April 2018 |title= What 'bespoke' means |archive-date= 25 April 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180425114637/https://www.gq.com/story/bespoke |url-status= live }}</ref> In its contemporary usage, it implies exclusivity, and is used as an aid in marketing<ref name=NewsweekBespoke/> and branding.<ref name=Branding>{{cite news |title= A personal touch to branding |work= IndiaToday |date= 12 October 2014 |url= https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/branding-personalised-perfumes-cars-brands-222784-2014-10-12 |author= Ahmad, Ashwin |access-date= 25 April 2018 |archive-date= 25 April 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180425183303/https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/branding-personalised-perfumes-cars-brands-222784-2014-10-12 |url-status= live }}</ref> A 2014 ''India Today'' article described bespoke as an emerging branding trend that marketers would need to embrace.<ref name=Branding/>

A 2001 google search of "bespoke and software" produced 50,000 hits, many not in the UK or the US.<ref name=Empire>{{cite news |title= In software empire, the sun never sets on 'bespoke' |author= Race, Tim |work= The New York Times |edition= Late Edition (East Coast) |date= 27 August 2001 |page= C.4 }}</ref> ''The New York Times'' quoted an Indian technical director as saying the "global communications boom" contributed to a "superset of English vocabulary";<ref name=Empire/> another business writer explained that software companies in India were accustomed to adapting their language depending on the client, so that switching between "bespoke software" and "custom software" was the equivalent of switching between lift and elevator or queue and line.<ref name=Empire/> By 2008, the term was more often used to describe software, databases, and computer applications than suits, shirts, or shoes.<ref name=BBCBespoke/>

The ''BBC News Magazine'' wrote in 2008 that the word had increasingly been used to describe things other than websites, suits, and shoes, such as cars, and furniture.<ref name=BBCBespoke/> Some examples of usage of the word are: *bespoke medicine (a movement to improve appropriate treatment according to individual patients' requirements),<ref name=Offthewall/> *bespoke portfolio (an investment tool),<ref name=Offthewall/> *bespoke shoes (shoes that are made to fit the customer's specifications),<ref>{{cite news|author=Carl, Michael|title=Custom Cobbling|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2012/06/six-best-custom-bespoke-mens-shoes|work=Vanity Fair|access-date=16 November 2015|date=6 June 2012|archive-date=17 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117033709/http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2012/06/six-best-custom-bespoke-mens-shoes|url-status=live}}</ref> *bespoke software (software written to the specific requirement of a customer),<ref name=BBCBespoke/> and *bespoke tailoring (clothing made to the individual measurements of the customer).<ref name=BBCBespoke/>

Deborah Tannen, a Georgetown University linguistics professor, told ''The New York Times'' that "Americans associate it with the British upper class", adding that the word for Americans tapped into "our individualism. We want everything made specially for us. Even when it comes to salad bars."<ref name=BespokeThis/> {{as of|2012}}, 39 applications used the term "bespoke" at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, with half of those having been filed only in the previous 18 months.<ref name=Offthewall/> ''The Wall Street Journal'' said that the term had started to proliferate in corporations and among investors a few years before that.<ref name=Offthewall/> A writer in ''The Independent'' said that consumers no longer wanted to "keep up with the Joneses", but wanted to set themselves apart, saying that the bespoke drive was antitradition, and about a desire to be different rather than identify collectively with others.<ref name=Delusions>{{cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/bespoke-delusions-of-grandeur-2149825.html |title= Delusions of grandeur |author= Raven, Charlotte |work= The Independent |date= 3 December 2010 |access-date= 25 April 2018 |archive-date= 25 April 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180425114750/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/bespoke-delusions-of-grandeur-2149825.html |url-status= live }}</ref>

''Newsweek'' described the word as "monstrously distorted, abused, and otherwise mangled into near meaninglessness", saying that anything can now be labeled "bespoke".<ref name=NewsweekBespoke>{{cite news |url= http://www.newsweek.com/top-shelf-elusive-meaning-bespoke-77705 |work= Newsweek |title= Top shelf: The elusive meaning of 'bespoke' |author= Foulkes, Nick |date= 30 January 2009 |access-date= 24 April 2018 |archive-date= 25 April 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180425114534/http://www.newsweek.com/top-shelf-elusive-meaning-bespoke-77705 |url-status= live }}</ref> The same ''Newsweek'' writer used the word as a verb to describe ordering a custom-made pair of glasses ("bespeaking a pair of spectacles").<ref name=NewsweekBespoke/> One French bespoke shirtmaker was said to offer 400 shades of white, to satisfy vendor-customer relationships and desire for custom-made items.<ref name=NewsweekBespoke/> ''The New York Times'' devoted an article to bespoke cocktails, which they described as "something devised on the spot to a customer's precise and sometimes peculiar specifications".<ref name= PleasureNYT>{{cite news |author= Schaap, Rosie |title= What's Your Pleasure? |work= The New York Times |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/magazine/whats-your-pleasure.html |date= 25 March 2016 |access-date= 24 April 2018 |archive-date= 25 April 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180425123557/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/magazine/whats-your-pleasure.html |url-status= live }}</ref> In another article, ''The New York Times'' described bespoke perfumes' taking the "world of personalization to an entirely new level".<ref>{{cite news |author= Sullivan, Paul |title= A Bespoke Perfume Doesn't Come Cheap |work= The New York Times |date= 13 March 2015 |access-date= 24 April 2018 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/14/your-money/designing-personal-perfumes.html |archive-date= 25 April 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180425121947/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/14/your-money/designing-personal-perfumes.html |url-status= live }}</ref>

A 2016 article in ''The New York Times'' describes a satirical video about bespoke water and observed:<ref name=BespokeThis>{{cite news |title= Bespoke This, Bespoke That. Enough Already |work= The New York Times |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/12/fashion/mens-style/bespoke-word-meaning-usage-language.html |author= Farber, Jim |date= 8 August 2016 |access-date= 24 April 2018 |archive-date= 25 April 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180425035257/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/12/fashion/mens-style/bespoke-word-meaning-usage-language.html |url-status= live }}</ref><blockquote>"The B word has become an increasingly common branding lure employed by interior design companies, publishers, surgeons, and pornographers. There are bespoke wines, bespoke software, bespoke vacations, bespoke barber shops, bespoke insurance plans, bespoke yoga, bespoke tattoos, [and] even bespoke medical implants."<ref name=BespokeThis/></blockquote>

A 2022 ''Saveur Magazine'' article described the humble guacamole as "...bespoke: Diners could make their guac mild, medium, or hot".<ref>{{cite news |author= Emily Saladino |title= The Unlikely Origins of Tableside Guacamole |work= Saveur Magazine |date= 2 November 2022 |access-date= 20 March 2024 |url= https://www.saveur.com/culture/food-history-tableside-guacamole/ |archive-date= 20 March 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240320180147/https://www.saveur.com/culture/food-history-tableside-guacamole/ |url-status= live }}</ref>

==UK tailoring controversy== {{further|Bespoke tailoring}} The UK Savile Row Bespoke Association has requirements for a garment to use the term "bespoke", but those requirements are not followed by some manufacturers.<ref name=NewsweekBespoke/> In 2008, the British Advertising Standards Agency allowed a company, Sartoriani, to use "bespoke" to describe its suits, causing a controversy with the Savile Row tailors who use the word to describe custom handmade suits.<ref name=BBCBespoke/>

==Related terms== {{wiktionary|bespoke}} *Antonyms include "off-the-shelf" and "ready-to-wear" *Related term: "modding", a DIY slang term meaning personalization of an item after manufacture *Synonyms include "custom-made" and "made to order"

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:English words Category:Manufactured goods Category:Usability Category:Archaic English words and phrases