[blindLaw] Bespoke suit design features for blindies or court

[Sai]

Hi all.

I'm getting married soon, and having a bespoke three piece suit made for
me. I'd also like to wear it in court and other formal settings. In large
part the design is driven by gender presentation (I'm non-binary)… but
since I can get the tailors to design and sew more or less whatever I want
that's in the general ballpark of a suit, I'm also thinking about practical
or pleasure features, some of which are blindness related.

Do any of you have suggestions as to what features might be nice to have
(or avoid) in a jacket, waistcoat, or trousers/skirt?

Could be blindness related, practical, style, whatever. (I don't care if
it's "feminine" or "masculine" or neither.)


For context: for me, functionality or personal enjoyment almost always
trumps traditional normativity (e.g. I wear toeshoes because they give me
much better ground feel), but I'd still like this suit to come off as
formal overall, albeit rather unusual.

For example, two blindie things I almost always have on me are a Bluetooth
wireless earbuds string (for using screen reader on phone) and a pen "mini
cane" (a metal telescoping pointer/pen, pen size when collapsed and about
three feet long when extended, made for sighted people to point at things
in PowerPoint presentations — works well for conference rooms, restaurants,
familiar homes, etc. when my long cane is a bit cumbersome and I don't need
to clear obstacles below knee level).

My usual jacket is a Scott-E-Vest, which has tons of pockets. Relevant
here, it has pen pockets on the inside placket near the front zipper, and a
channel plus little bungie loops at the back collar for stowing and
securing earbuds nicely. I think I'll ask the tailors to add these to my
jacket.

The tailors suggested a sort of combination asymmetric skirt/hakama based
on Yohji Yamamoto's designs which I kinda like. Since I cane on my right,
and when I'm walking quickly I sometimes lever my cane against my extended
leg, I figure the skirt part should be on the right, so that it covers the
pleats underneath that might otherwise catch on the cane.

Fabric was an example of a tactile pleasure driven choice (and my level of
tactile sensitivity is probably a blindie thing) — bamboo fabric had a feel
to it almost like the sensation of soft fluffy cat fur. Of all the fabrics
the tailors (and their cloth merchant suppliers) had, it was way more
pleasant than the next best (a very fine wool — lovely stuff, but just not
the same "this is like dark chocolate for my fingertips" level reflex
reaction).

Another example of design motivated by blind life is that the jacket will
have "surgeon's cuffs", i.e. actually used cuff buttons, so that when
closed, the gap between wrist and cloth is smaller than the width of my
slimline cane handle. With looser jackets, when I run into something (like
on everyone's favourite, cobblestones), my cane handle would often catch
inside my sleeve and hurt my arm or just make it more of a sudden shock;
with cinched wrists, that's never been a problem.


I figured y'all might have some other ideas — things you've noticed that
you particularly liked or disliked, things you've gotten positive or
negative comments about from others, etc. I'd appreciate any suggestions
you may have.

Sincerely,
Sai
President, Fiat Fiendum, Inc., a 501(c)(3)

Sent from my mobile phone; please excuse the concision, typos, and
autocorrect errors.