Zack Pinsent, a 25-year-old tailor from Brighton, in the UK, burned his last pair of jeans over a decade ago, and has been wearing elegant Regency-period costumes ever since.
Zack claims he never enjoyed wearing the modern clothes that most of us put on every day. Instead, he was always fascinated by the elegant fashion of Britain’s Regency Era and other historical styles going back to the 1600s. He taught himself how to make the clothes he dreamed of wearing and once he became good enough at it, he decided to cut modern clothes from his life forever. The talented tailor remembers ceremoniously burning his last pair of jeans at age 14 as a turning point that changed his life. Dressing as a Regency Era gentleman every day gave him a huge confidence boost, and he wouldn’t dream of going back to regular clothing.
Photo: Zack Pinsent/Facebook
“Wearing what I wear, it makes you feel 10-feet-high,” Pinsent told the BBC. “You know, it’s spectacular, it’s a huge confidence builder. You fight so hard, generally externally, because you’re always ready for it, it’s whether everyone else is. Once you get past that point and you can finally do it, you never dream of going back.”
Zack says that walking around his hometown of Brighton in his three-piece gentleman suits every day is the only way he feel comfortable in the 21st century. He admits people stop and stare at him all the time, and that some may make snarky comments, but says that most of the time the general reaction is positive. While they may not tell him to his face, the 25-year-old says that he feels an under-current of respect.
Pinsent’s passion for historical clothing began in his teenage years, when his family moved homes. One day, they found an old suitcase full of his great-grandfather’s old suits and after trying them on, he thought they fit him well so he wore them as often as he could. Nowadays, he makes his own attires, from riding jackets with long tails to complex suits and floral waistcoats.
As it often happens when people focus on the things they love, Zack Pinsent managed to turn his love for historical clothing into a lucrative business. He runs a tailoring workshop in Brighton called Pinsent Tailoring and creates bespoke historical garments from the 1660s to the 1920s, specializing in the style of the Georgian and Regency periods. He has clients all over the world and uses social media to showcase his work.
Zack has over 200,000 followers on Instagram alone, and claims that posting photos of himself wearing the clothes he wears every day has helped him generate business overseas. Making the clothes is a labour-intensive process, though, with some of the more complex outfits taking him around a year to perfect.
