From 'saucy' popes to 'simple' ones, this Rome tailor styles the pontiff

For more than 200 years, the Gammarelli family has been clothing men of the cloth.

Tucked away in an unsuspecting corner of central Rome, the bespoke tailoring shop has hand-stitched the robes worn by the last eight pontiffs, including Pope Francis.

"We always work to a bit higher standard and quality for them, whoever the pope is — if you like him or you don't like him," head tailor Massimiliano Gammarelli told the ABC.

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Gammarelli has been working as a tailor for 40 years.

He and his cousins are the sixth generation to run the family business.

When the store first opened in 1798, there was a lot of competition to dress the Vatican clergy, but over centuries Gammarelli has emerged as the Holy See's preferred supplier.

The Gammarelli family has dressed thousands of priests and hundreds of cardinals and bishops, but making the pope's official robes is their highest honour and all staff play a part.

"When we need to work for the Holy Father, everybody wants to work on his cassock, so everybody works on it — we don't put anybody to the side," Gammarelli said.

"We always work in the same way for all the popes, whether we've got a more saucy or a more simple one."

Francis' fashion choices were more austere than his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI — who resurrected the iconic red papal slippers — but Gammarelli said there was only a slight difference between the cassocks they donned.

Francis made small adjustments to the cuffs on his robes, but the fabric, colour and cut remained the same.

He did, however, choose to accessorise with simple black shoes and deviated from tradition by selecting a recycled gold-plated silver Fisherman's Ring.

Benedict opted for solid gold.

As the Catholic Church mourns the death of the 88-year-old pontiff, the Gammarelli family has been working hard to ensure Francis' replacement looks the part in his first public appearance.

There are 135 potential candidates for the role, so preparing a robe that will fit the successful cardinal ahead of time is no small feat.

The papal tailors at Gammarelli prepare white vestments, including a cassock, sash, and skullcap, in three sizes — small, medium, and large.

They will "roughly fit" all 135 cardinals, from the shortest to the tallest and all in between.

However, the pre-made robes haven't always been the perfect fit for all popes.

For example, Pope John XXIII, known for his larger build, had his robes slit up the back during his first public appearance because the small-size robes were mistakenly used.

Conversely, the athletic Pope John Paul II, being broad-shouldered, reportedly had a hard time fitting into the large-size robes.

For the papal tailors, it's a race against time to make those one-size-fits-most outfits.

"As soon as the Holy See tells us that we must make the robes, we start immediately," Gammarelli said.

"It becomes complicated because somebody makes the buttonholes, somebody works out the measurements, somebody else cuts it, somebody else sews it … to make the complete set we need about 15 days."

That may sound like a fast turnaround for some of the world's most famous frocks, but 15 days is cutting it fine.

The papal conclave — a centuries-old process to select a new pope — must begin between 15 and 20 days after a pontiff's death.

It could also be over in less than 24 hours.

The new pope typically emerges on the balcony overlooking St Peter's Square within an hour of his selection, so there isn't much time to take up hems or loosen belts to ensure the fit is perfect.

But Gammarelli said "more or less, they manage to fit in it".

But despite the two centuries of working with the church, there's no guarantee the next pontiff would select Gammarelli to fit out his full wardrobe.