Draper

For other uses, see Draper (disambiguation).

Draper is the now largely obsolete^{[citation needed]} term for a wholesaler, or especially retailer, of cloth, mainly for clothing, or one who works in a draper's shop. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. The drapers were an important trade guild. A number of prominent people were at one time or another drapers:

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

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

Current usage

In more modern usage, the term may indicate a highly-skilled position in a fashion design or costume design studio, specifically the one tasked with creating garments or patterns by draping fabric over a dress form. (Draping being a method in contrast with drafting, where the pattern for the garment is initially worked out from measurements on paper, though both sets of skills would normally be expected for the position.) This position may also be referred to as first hand - both because this person is often the most skilled in the workshop, and because theirs is literally the "first hand" 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