Tailor and Champion<

Before the arrival of ready-to-wear, we had the costume of a lifetime or a year made at the tailor. Meeting with one of them, who has put away his spools of thread but kept his shop.

Tailoring, briefs, waistcoat: a three-piece suit required three skills and sometimes as many people. The men took care of the jacket, the women of the trousers and the waistcoat. "Sitting cross-legged" directly on the cutting table, the tailor could sometimes be a handicapped person deprived of the use of his legs. This is not the case for Roger Mage: passionate about tennis, he is the number one French player over 80 years old. And to play, he wears the polo shirts of an international tennis and clothing ace: René Lacoste.

He made costumes

At the start of rue de la République, in Saint-Céré, Lot, the little shop hasn't moved since 1945. The brand of wrought iron in handwritten letters always indicates "Roger Mage" and it is he who opens the door to you in a royal blue jacket, black trousers and matching tie. At the age of 90, the Saint-Céré tailor still gives lessons in elegance, and can, for your pleasure, unroll the pieces of flannel or serge which he made costumes, officially until 1985. I had clients until the end, and even afterwards," he says.

Witnessing a time before ready-to-wear, Roger Mage, a tailor for men and women, made to measure the suit that men wore on Sundays, at Easter and on the feast of Saint-Céré, on the 3rd September weekend.

A suit required 35 hours of work, two fittings, fabrics that arrived from Paris in 48 hours flat (the train cut Rue de la République in two), and finally delivery. “Every Saturday, I delivered three”. The next day, hidden behind the shutter with Jeanne, his wife, Roger recognized his suits walking ceremoniously towards the Place de la République.

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"The client is in bad shape"

To buy a suit, you had to empty the woolen stocking: "it represented almost a month's salary, but it was the only expense in the year, people didn't go on vacation," recalls the tailor. He, however, at 18, will be entitled to a few days by the sea, in a friend's Simca 5.

Roger has been working since he was 12 years old. Certificate of studies in his pocket, this postman's son wants to learn a trade, he asks to be worked at the tailor, Mr. Lescure, precisely to be well dressed. His first job will be to hold the iron. This heavy iron that rusts today at the back of the workshop, it had to be kept warm by reloading it with coal embers.

Roger learns quickly: the fabrics, the cutting, the assembly, the fabrics that slip under the lining. Above all, he learns to hide faults: “You have to know that the client is badly shaped, we adapted to his conformation. For example, all the men had a lower right shoulder and a stronger left hip, but that was no longer visible when they put on a jacket. “The lower shoulder? "Don't ask me why, maybe because there was no left-hander," says Roger Mage, who goes back deeper into his memories: "Once at school, we had a left-hander, he came from Toulouse, we thought they were sending him to us because he wasn't normal! ".

He says no to Lurçat

Every morning at 6 o'clock, Roger is in his studio, he goes back to eat quickly at noon, and works again until 6 o'clock in the evening. The narrow house he rents at 12 rue de la République has become his: “The owner, a Bettencourt-style Parisian, gave it to us! We went up to Paris as a tenant, we came down as an owner… I've always been lucky,” he admits.

And a good clientele: the notables order two suits from him a year, including a fresh one for the summer (lighter trousers), and an overcoat for the winter, in woolen velvet. There are five tailors in town, each has a job. But it was at Roger's that the great upholsterer Jean Lurçat, descending from his towers which overlook the city, came to place an order for an artist's blouse. “I told him no, I don't know how to make shirts! “Same end of inadmissibility for Mrs. Lurçat, who she wants… pants! "The first woman who ordered one from me bothered me so much that I promised myself that I wouldn't make any more."

At the party in a shirt

So no pants for women, but skirts, "30 or 40 cm from the ground", with Chanel-style braided jackets, small pockets with buttons. Roger Mage does in the distinguished, the new collection of fabrics rotates in the window.

Last September, Roger went to the party, wearing a suit and tie, like every year. “But everyone looked at me with a surprised look, I went home. “To come out, a few minutes later, in a shirt.

The number: 35

hours > To make a costume. But it took a month of work to be able to afford one. The obligatory visit to the tailor was for many the expense of the year.

amazing > A lifetime without jeans. Having now become the globalized uniform of all generations, jeans, which have long been called "blue jeans", have never passed the door of the Saint-Céré tailor. “A man in a suit jacket with jeans, that looks like nothing! "says Roger Mage, "everyone wears it, but it's not warm in winter, and not cool at all in summer", he laments, rolling a fabric by Guy Dormeuil between his hands, " Superfresh” crease-resistant. The tailor's sons have not taken over, they are in optics and television. But they got married in a frock coat, signed dad!