{{short description|Cloth merchant}} {{Other uses}} {{Redirect|Drapers|the magazine|Drapers (magazine)}} {{More citations needed|date=December 2019}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} [[File:Adriaen Bloem - In the Draper´s Shop - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''In the Draper's Shop'' by Adriaen van Bloemen]] '''Draper''' was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher.
==History== Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period, when the sellers of cloth operated out of drapers' shops.<ref name=toplis/> However the original meaning of the term has now largely fallen out of use.
In 1724, Jonathan Swift wrote a series of satirical pamphlets in the guise of a draper called the ''Drapier's Letters''.
==Historical drapers== [[File:Museum of Lincolnshire Life, Lincoln, England - DSCF1759.JPG|thumb|A replica draper's shop at the Museum of Lincolnshire Life, Lincoln, England]] A number of notable people who have at one time or another worked as drapers include: * Sir Thomas Adams, 1st Baronet (1586–1667/1668), Lord Mayor of the City of London * William Barley (1565?–1614), bookseller and publisher * Norman Birkett * Margaret Bondfield (1873–1953), Britain's first female cabinet minister who, at the age of 14, began an apprenticeship at a draper's shop in Hove, near Brighton<ref>{{cite web|title= Hove blue plaque call for 1920s MP Margaret Bondfield|url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-27654880|publisher= BBC News Sussex|date= June 1, 2014|access-date= September 5, 2014|archive-date= June 22, 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220622093153/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-27654880|url-status= live}}</ref> * Thomas Burberry, founder of fashion brand "Burberry" * Eleanor Coade (1733–1821), successful businesswoman with Coade stone, who ran her own business as a linen draper in the City of London<ref>{{cite web |last1=Phillips |first1=Nicola |title=Eleanor Coade |url=http://www2.addidi.com/awards/2009/profile_ec.asp |website=Addidi Inspiration Award |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425124239/http://www2.addidi.com/awards/2009/profile_ec.asp |archive-date=April 25, 2012 |date=May 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> * John Graunt (1620–1674), founder of the science of demography, became a freeman of the Drapers' Company at the age of 21 and worked in his father's drapery shop until his father died in 1662 * Antonie van Leeuwenhoek * John Spedan Lewis (1885–1963), founder of the John Lewis Partnership * William McGregor (1846–1911), chairman of Aston Villa Football Club and founder of the Football League * Anthony Munday (1560?–1633), playwright * Hector MacDonald, was a draper's apprentice until at 18 he joined the army. * Harry S. Truman, haberdasher before he became a Senator, Vice President and President of the United States * H. G. Wells and his fictional characters Kipps and Mr Polly were draper's assistants<ref name="wynne"/> * Edward Whalley, regicide, cousin of Oliver Cromwell * George Williams, founder of the YMCA<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/360/ |title=My Dear Home, I Love You, You're a House for Each of Us and Home for All of Us |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029201308/http://www.wdl.org/en/item/360/ |archive-date=October 29, 2013 |url-status=dead |website=World Digital Library |date=1918 |access-date=October 26, 2013 }}</ref> * John Woodward (1665–1728), geologist and physician to King Charles II. At the age of 16 he went to London to be apprenticed to a linen draper.
==Current usage== A draper is now defined as a highly skilled role within the fashion industry. The term is used within a fashion design or costume design studio for people tasked with creating garments or patterns by draping fabric over a dress form; draping uses a human form to physically position the cloth into a desired pattern. This is an alternative method to drafting, when the garment is initially worked out from measurements on paper.
A fashion draper may also be known as a "first hand" because they are often the most skilled creator in the workshop and the "first" to work with the cloth for a garment. However a first hand in a costume studio is often an assistant to the draper. They are responsible for cutting the fabric with the patterns and assisting in costume fittings.
==See also== *Draper – a surname taken from the occupation *Don Draper, fictional star of the series ''Mad Men'' *Drapery *Kraków Cloth Hall – Renaissance landmark of Kraków, Poland *Millinery *Worshipful Company of Drapers, the London guild
==References== {{Reflist|1=|refs=
<ref name=toplis>{{cite book | last=Toplis | first=Alison | title=The Clothing Trade in Provincial England, 1800-1850 | publisher=Routledge | date=2015 | isbn=978-1-317-32305-1 | page=85}}</ref>
<ref name="wynne">{{cite journal |last1=Wynne |first1=Deborah |title=The ‘Despised Trade’ in Textiles: H. G. Wells, William Paine, Charles Cavers and the Male Draper’s Life, 1870–1914 |journal=Textile History |date=May 2015 |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=99–113 |doi=10.1179/0040496915Z.00000000059 |doi-access=free}}</ref> }}
==Further reading== *{{cite web |last1=Hansen |first1=Viveka |title=The Clothing and Fabric Trade in London from 1780 to 1914 |url=https://www.ikfoundation.org/itextilis/the-clothing-and-fabric-trade.html |website=The IK Foundation |date=December 12, 2017}}
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Category:Drapers Category:Sales occupations Category:Clothing industry