In article <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask]
says...

> Yes, that's true, if you're in North America. "Bespoke," although archaic,
> has the same meaning as "spoken for", as in "the girl I intend on marrying." But
> on the other side of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, "bespoke" has come to mean
> "customized" for some odd reason.
>

This quote below is from your side of the atlantic.  I'm pretty sure the
origins are from taylors in the UK too.

From http://www.abc.net.au/classic/breakfast/index/2003_02_full.htm
Bespoke  Tuesday 4

Kel Richards writes

This is now a word that has fallen almost completely out of use.
However, in old books you’ll come across the occasional reference to a
bespoke tailor – which is an odd looking locution, so what does it mean,
and where does it come from? Bespoke is still found in most dictionaries
in the sense of “goods made to order, to the customer’s specifications,
as opposed to ready-made goods (especially suits, jackets, etc.)”
Bespoke comes from the old verb “to bespeak” which came to mean “to
speak of, to tell of, to give outward expression of, to give evidence
of” – as in “his very countenance and expression bespeaks an unhappy
man”. The verb “to bespeak” could also mean “to ask, or to request, or
to engaged to do something”. From this, to say that something was
bespoken was to say that it was promised.

“May I borrow that book when you’ve finished reading it?”
“No, it’s already bespoken to someone else.”
(That is, promised to someone else.)

So “bespoke” and “promise” are virtually synonymous. And this is where
the tailor comes in. He takes your measurements and your order, and
promises to make up the suit according to your instructions. This is
what makes him a “bespoke tailor”.

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