When three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis announced last week that he is retiring from acting, his publicist issued a concise statement and offered no details other than to say it was a private decision, as we reported previously. But now The New York Post’s Page Six cites friends of the actor and other sources who suggest the move was part of a longtime plan by the actor to become a dressmaker.

The report notes that Day-Lewis “took a five-year break in the ’90s to work as a cobbler in a fancy Italian shoe factory.”

The Post adds: “A source told Page Six that Day-Lewis did such intense research and learned so much about couture fashion for his final film playing ‘an uncompromising dressmaker commissioned by royalty and high society’ that he will stick with the profession off-screen and become a dressmaker.”

Day-Lewis’ final film, set in the fashion world of 1950s London, remains untitled, although it has been referred to by the working title “Phantom Thread.” Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the film has a Dec. 25 release date.