When I was researching for this story, one particular name kept coming up. As I was looking for tailors, particularly Italian tailors, the name GRANATO kept appearing. I searched everything and was at a loss to find a connection for this name. GRANATO.L, who was this person? I had no idea.
I reached out to several people with the same last name and to my surprise Granato. L. was Lucia Granato. I was curious to see a women in the directory with the tailors. I was then extremely fortunate to track down her daughters.
Lisetta, as she was known to everyone, arrived in Australia in 1954, June 4th. Traveling on the ship Toscana along with her husband Cosimo and their eight year old daughter Ombretta. Lisetta was also pregnant with her second child, Liana.
The Granato family went to Unanderra and lived at the migrant hostel. Cosimo was working as a boiler maker at EPT, and soon Lisetta got a job working for Paolo Scottelaro, in Crown Street, Wollongong. Paolo Scotellaro also lived at the Unanderra hostel and chances are that is where she met him. Lisetta was a tailoress. She did her studies in Italy and by the time she was 14, Lucia had made a man’s suit. Lisetta was an excellent and meticulous sewer.
The Granato`s stayed in Wollongong for a short time before moving to the Princes Highway, Corrimal, in 1955. They also had boarders at their house, up to four at any given time. Lisetta had finished working for Paolo Scotellaro by this stage and was doing some dressmaking and alterations from home. She also was in charge of the boarders, tending to their meals and the housekeeping duties, and even tailoring if they requested it.
The family stayed in Corrimal until 1959. They then went to live in Berkeley. Lisetta was still doing everything from tailoring to alterations. Her last two children, Rob and Kety were born and now they were a family of six.
In 1962, Lisetta began working for Alga Alfred Corso, at Corso`s Alterations. Alfred Corso had a tailor/alterations shop at 433 Crown Street, Wollongong and had been there since 1951. He was also a tailor, but by the time Lisetta began working for him, he barely did any more tailoring, and moved into the alteration side of things. Lisetta did a trial for Alfred and he noticed straight away how she held her needle and placed the garment on her knees. For him it was a sign of her knowledge of tailoring, and of her capability.
Corso`s alteration shop was situated across the road from Wollongong Hospital, but further up Crown Street, and many of their clients were hospital staff. Doctors and nurses would frequent the shop for their alterations and got to know Lisetta and the work she did. There was no need to go anywhere else, Lisetta could do anything, and she did. There was also another lady who worked along side Lisetta and Alfred called Nora Rollinson.
In 1967, Alfred Corso passed away and he was only 58 years old. Alfred’s wife was running the business for a short while and soon Lisetta and Nora went into partnership and purchased the business. Lisetta`s daughter Ombretta, also worked with them doing alterations and the shop was going well. They had up to four staff members and they were a also an agent for Ryan`s Dry Cleaning.
In 1980, daughter Liana began working with her mother and her sister in the shop, on a full time basis and now the shop belonged solely to Lisetta. The shop was open five and a half days per week, Monday to Friday 9 - 5 and half a day Saturday. As I spoke with Liana she told me how as a young girl, from age 12, she would come into the shop on a Saturday morning and her mother began to teach her sewing techniques and soon she would be doing small jobs such as hems, zippers, buttons and even cutting patterns.
For the next twenty five years the shop wass going strong with no shortage of customers. The building that they were leasing was sold and they had to find a new location, which they did, on the same side of the street, in fact closer to the hospital. Lisetta took this moment to retire from the business completely and now Liana and Ombretta were running the shop. Lisetta had been working at 433 Crown Street for almost 35 years. It was now 1996 and the shop was located at 407 Crown Street, Wollongong.
The shop had two industrial singer sewing machines and two overlockers. When it came to teaching her daughters how to sew, Lisetta was methodical. She also used old style techniques that were tried and true, and for Lisetta these methods were the best.
Liana commented on the iron that her mother used in the shop. It was made from cast iron and Liana stated how she needed two hands to pick it up, where as Lucia just used one hand and began ironing. It was a large iron with a timber handle. The iron sat on a metal plate that was electrically heated. The metal under-plate heated the iron and when it reach temperature it was ready to use. It was used to flatten seams, hems and pleats. What Lisetta would do was heat the iron, then iron, flattening out the seam or pleat. Once the seam was ironed, Lisetta immediately placed a small block of timber over the seam to keep it flat, and as soon the steam totally evaporated, she would release the timber and the seam pressing was complete. Another technique that Lisetta used was when putting buttons on jackets. The cotton that was used came from Germany, it was a much stronger grade than standard cotton. Then with that cotton, it was run through a block of honey wax, that coated the cotton making it even stronger and waterproof before it was used to sew the button on the jacket. This method of thread waxing was only used for jacket and coat buttons.
After a few years, the daughters left the Crown Street shop and purchased another established business in Wollongong called, Suiting You Men’s Formal Hire, that was situated in Market Street. They also took all their alteration work with them, with most of their customers following. At Suiting You, they were now hiring out and altering mens wedding and formal attire, adding to their ongoing alteration service as well.
Daughter Kety was now working with her sisters, Liana and Ombretta at Suiting You. The three Granato daughters were continuing from their mother Lisetta`s work. Kety was handling most of the customer service and when they had weddings or formal events to prepare for, it was all hands on deck. It could get hectic at times, especially with having the alteration service as well.
Liana explained how alterations for men`s suits were different than standard alterations for everyday clothing. The methods used were not the same, as the formal wear alterations only had to be temporary. Liana also told me how she received an interesting request from a Scottish customer. He wanted a kilt for his wedding and couldn’t find one anywhere. Liana had some plaid material and made him a kilt and he was delighted. Word got out and soon they had more requests for kilts, and they were the only ones in Wollongong to have them available. Ombretta found a local artisan who made them and Suiting You sub-hired them out, for the shop. Suiting You would then make and alter matching jackets and attire for the kilts. With the yearly Scottish celebration of Brigadoon, Suiting You became inundated, with requests for kilts for specific family clans. The only other place one could hire them was from Sydney. Year after year, their kilts would be hired out, and with the matching accessories, they had many a happy customer.
In the year 2000, Suiting You moved to Crown Street, Wollongong, upstairs in the IMB Arcade. Sister Ombretta had now left and Liana and Kety were running the business. They stayed at the IMB Arcade store for two years. After the two years Kety left and Liana moved the business to 108 Corrimal Street, Wollongong, opposite the golf course.
The business was called Illawarra Bridal Centre and had dramatically changed. Liana was still doing alterations and suit/formal hire for men, but now she sold wedding dresses, bridesmaids, mother of the bride and ladies formal gowns too. With the formal gowns, Liana often designed some to have them made. There really was nothing Liana couldn’t make.
Liana had a large floor space area and used it to her advantage. She hired it out and incorporated other `Wedding Services` that complemented. There were bridal accessories, a hair dresser and even a jewellery maker. It became a one stop shop for wedding attire. Liana even made Hijabs, catering to the Arabic community for weddings. There was a fancy dress stall in the space, in which Liana also made costumes for. The business was very successful. Liana`s business won an award for the Best Bridal Shop, South Coast.
After successfully operating for 11 years at 108 Corrimal Street, Liana made the decision to close the doors, officially retiring from the sewing/alterations business. Liana had been working in the business since a young girl from the age of 12. Under her mother’s tutelage, Liana excelled at her craft, as did her mother Lisetta.
After a much needed break, Liana commenced working in retail and found that many of her past customers were wanting her to continue doing their alterations. Liana began doing some alteration work from home and via word of mouth, more and more customers contacted her. Liana now works in sales for ladies fashion and does alteration work for the stores as well, a service that very few offer today. Also, I must mention that Liana still does alterations for a lady who was originally one of her mother Lisetta`s customers.
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VITTORIO GUIDA
The last tailor we feature is Vittorio Guida. Vittorio came to Australia and settled in Perth, after arriving in Freemantle and worked as a seamen for a few years. In the early 1970`s he came to Wollongong, NSW
He was working as a sand blaster, but was really wanting to open his own store, and at the time was unable to qualify for a loan. A friend came to his rescue and became guarantor and soon VG MODA was open. It was situated in the lower end of Crown Street, Wollongong, opening around 1974. VG MODA had an extensive range of menswear in the store. Vittorio also measuring for tailor made suits and would become well known for them in the area. He also made trousers, jackets and blazers for both men and women.
In the early 1980`s he moved further up Crown Street, near Globe Lane. The shop really stood out at this address and had a lot of foot traffic. He had also opened a second shop in Burelli Street, that sold ladies fashion while the Crown Street shop focused on the men’s wear and tailoring. Later on he sold some women’s wear at the back of the Crown Street store.
With soaring interest rates, things were not going well for the two shops and subsequently they soon closed down with Vittorio filing for bankruptcy. Vittorio left the area and was running a mens wear store that was situated in the Royale Arcade Sydney, that was on the lower level of the Hilton Hotel, at the Pitt Street entrance. He did this for a few years, but the daily drive to Sydney became too much, so Vittorio came back to Wollongong and worked for a while at Michael`s Menswear.
Sometime around the early 90`s, Vittorio moved into the IMB Arcade in Crown Street, Wollongong. Here he focused on his tailor made suits and he also sold shirts and accessories. He dressed many of Wollongong’s lawyers, solicitors, doctors and business men.
Around the early 2000`s Vittorio moved his business to the street level of the Novotel, North Wollongong, The Novotel being Wollongong’s premier hotel, is situated on Cliff Rd, following the beach front. He stayed at The Novotel for approximately five years before retiring in 2006. Vittorio was the last Italian tailor in Wollongong. The tailor is rarely seen anymore, and I don’t know of any in the area. All these tailors that have been mentioned from the 1950`s, all did their training in Italy. They were master craftsmen and women who created bespoke hand crafted clothing that one wore with tremendous pride. Truly, the end of an era!
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