# Tailor/Dressmaker term **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 2, 2015, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tailor-dressmaker-term/736425 "2015-11-02T15:26:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tailor-dressmaker-term/736425/1 "2015-11-02T15:26:33Z")
When a garment has a long zipper, like a jacket or dress, it is often hidden behind two tiny collapsed tubes of fabric running the length of the zipper. Is there a simple term for this? ---
**Author:** ![JR\_Brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JR\_Brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JR_Brown)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tailor-dressmaker-term/736425/2 "2015-11-02T15:43:39Z")
“Invisible zipper”. If you’re asking because you’re about to sew something, they’re [not that hard to do](http://blog.sewserendipity.com/2009/08/dont-fear-invisible-zipper.html). ---
**Author:** ![Sandra\_Battye](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sandra_battye/32/552_2.png) [@Sandra\_Battye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandra_Battye)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tailor-dressmaker-term/736425/3 "2015-11-03T05:31:06Z")
I’ve always called it a placket, specifically a zipper placket. There are other types of plackets, too. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tailor-dressmaker-term/736425/4 "2015-11-03T05:37:42Z")
> [@Sandra\_Battye](#): > > I’ve always called it a placket, specifically a zipper placket. There are other types of plackets, too. The placket is the strip of fabric to which the zip fastener teeth are attached. A separate strip or fold of fabric which conceals the placket (and the zip teeth) is a fly front. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tailor-dressmaker-term/736425/5 "2015-11-05T09:27:32Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > The placket is the strip of fabric to which the zip fastener teeth are attached. A separate strip or fold of fabric which conceals the placket (and the zip teeth) is a fly front. On a guy’s trousers that makes perfect sense, but on the back of a dress? This is for a story; I have no sartorial skills what soever. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tailor-dressmaker-term/736425/6 "2015-11-05T10:06:24Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > On a guy’s trousers that makes perfect sense, but on the back of a dress? Yes. We mostly use the term “fly” to refer to the fly in a pair of men’s trousers, but a similar structure in any garment is a fly. > [@DesertDog](#): > > This is for a story; I have no sartorial skills what soever. Using “fly” in this sense is probably tailoring jargon. if you’re putting the word in the mouth of a character who would use tailoring jargon, go for it. In the mouth of another character, it wouldn’t sound right. In the authorial voice, it will just confuse readers who aren’t tailors. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tailor-dressmaker-term/736425/7 "2015-11-05T19:12:14Z")
If you’re referring to the construction of a garment, then either “placket” or “fly” would work fine (technically UDS is right, “placket” specifically refers to the back part of the zipper, but as a tailoring term, using placket to refer to the entire fabric half of the equation is more common where I am). Both are totally understandable. If you’re talking about describing an existing article of finished clothing, then calling the whole shebang an “invisible zipper” makes the most sense, and will be understandable to more readers. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tailor-dressmaker-term/736425/8 "2015-11-07T10:45:48Z")
Thank you all. “Invisible zipper” I guess it is, although the pedant in me would insist it’s a hidden zipper, not invisible. ---
**Author:** ![Sandra\_Battye](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sandra_battye/32/552_2.png) [@Sandra\_Battye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandra_Battye)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tailor-dressmaker-term/736425/9 "2015-11-07T20:08:39Z")
You keep using that term. I do not think it means what you think it means. “Invisible zipper” refers to a specific type of zipper. An[invisible zipper](https://www.google.com/search?q=invisible+zipper&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS504US504&espv=2&biw=1517&bih=734&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0CCIQsARqFQoTCKLXw9mH_8gCFQ7vYwodGtoB0g&dpr=0.9#imgrc=c5ayCBRgudJtLM%3A) is one that disappears into the seam, and there is no sign of it on the outside of the garment. There is no “[two tiny collapsed tubes of fabric running the length of the zipper](https://www.google.com/search?q=zipper&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS504US504&espv=2&biw=1517&bih=734&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAmoVChMItPmRtoj_yAIVwZaICh28bQh2&dpr=0.9#tbm=isch&q=zipper+installation&imgrc=7TwPuVlcXULnmM%3A).” It really doesn’t matter, but I would never use the term “invisible zipper” for a standard zipper and the standard installation of one. I agree with “[hidden zipper](https://www.google.com/search?q=zipper&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS504US504&espv=2&biw=1517&bih=734&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAmoVChMItPmRtoj_yAIVwZaICh28bQh2&dpr=0.9#tbm=isch&q=hidden+zipper&imgrc=eOZD2Wso59i2zM%3A)”.