French for a tailored suit, commonly a jacket worn with a matching skirt or trousers.
In French, tailleur has three working senses. It is a tailor: the artisan who cuts and makes made-to-measure men’s clothing, or who runs the workshop where it is made. It is a woman’s suit, short for costume tailleur: a strictly cut jacket and skirt in the same cloth, while a tailleur-pantalon pairs the jacket with trousers. And in a couture house it is a discipline and an atelier.
The French Ministry of Culture’s inventory of haute couture describes the tailleur atelier as making structured garments such as jackets, coats, trousers and some corsets. The cut is fixed precisely from the start, and the tailor holds many fittings on a live model to balance the shoulders, the waist and the fall of the lapels. Its counterpart, flou, makes soft dresses and blouses in fabrics such as mousseline, organza and crêpe. The same division exists in ready-to-wear.
In job listings
Tailleur appears in couture alterations roles, paired with flou to separate structured from soft garments. It signals work on jackets, coats and trousers rather than soft dresses. English listings more often say tailoring, in workshop, design and boutique tailor and fitter roles. See current tailoring roles.
