“Learn something new every day, I guess. It’s like being a fashion student!”
This is what Savannah Yarborough of Atelier Savas, a maker of custom leather outerwear, says as she watches me slide a clothing pin through the sides of a canvas jacket lining, guiding me through our fitting. Only we’re not in the same room; rather, we’re chatting over FaceTime with Yarborough carefully looking on from her Nashville studio while I go to work on the canvas from my apartment in Washington, DC. During this particular time, it’s not unusual that most business—even custom tailoring—is conducted over video calls. However, it is surprising to learn that this isn’t Yarborough’s first or second rodeo: Savas was offering at-home, virtual made-to-measure fittings long before Covid-19 upended our day-to-day lives.