Draper

For other uses, see Draper (disambiguation).

Draper was originally a term for a retailer, and wholesaler, of cloth that was mainly for clothing.

A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period. The sellers of cloth operated out of draper's shops. However the original meaning of the term has now largely fallen out of use.

Historical drapers

A number of notable people who have at one time or another worked as drapers:

• William Barley
• Norman Birkett
• Margaret Bondfield
• Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
• Anthony Munday
• John Spedan Lewis
• H. G. Wells
• Edward Whalley, regicide, cousin of Oliver Cromwell
• George Williams, founder of the YMCA

In 1724 Jonathan Swift wrote a series of satirical pamphlets in the guise of a draper called the Drapier's Letters.

Current usage

In more modern times, 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.

See also

• Draper (surname)
• Drapery
• Haberdasher
• Millinery
• Sukiennice, or Drapers' Hall, Renaissance landmark of Krakow, Poland
• Worshipful Company of Drapers