TAILORS

 

See Also: THE BUDDHA OF MOUNT STREET; CARNABY STREET; CLOTHES DESIGNERS; CLOTHES SHOPS, SPECIALIST; FOOTWEAR; GARMENT, TYPE OF Suits; GROOMING; HEADGEAR; THE HONOURABLE RIGHT HONOURABLE

 

Anderson & Sheppard

Per Anderson, a Swede, and Sidney Sheppard, a trouser cutter, established the firm of Anderson & Sheppard in 1906. Frederick Scholte was a Dutch tailor who traded from No. 7 Savile Row. He developed the English drape as an alternative to the prevailing constrained, stiff styles. The Duke of Windsor embraced it and encouraged the tailor to develop it further. Scholte was a mentor to Anderson. As a result, his mantle was passed on to Anderson & Shepphard. Whereas the Dutchman had kept his distance from the world of show business, his successors embraced it. The likes of Fred Astaire, No l Coward, Cole Porter, and Marlene Dietrich became clients.

Roland Tiny Rowland (n Fuhrhop) (1917-1998), the head of the business conglomerate Lonrho, was a customer of Anderson & Sheppard. He acquired an 80% holding of the business. In 2005 the firm moved to Old Burlington Street.

Location: 32 Old Burlington Street, W1S 3AT (orange, red)

Website: www.anderson-sheppard.co.uk

 

Sir Tom Baker

Tom Baker trained at Hardy Amies (Savile Row). He left the firm in 1996 to set up Sir Tom Baker. He works within the traditional British bespoke manner. The London Cut is the core of his house style although he has avant-garde work.

Location: 74 Wells Street, W1T 3QQ

Website: https://tombakerlondon.com

 

Blades

Blades was opened in 1963 by Charley Hornby and Rupert Lycett Green. It took its name from a casino at which James Bond gambles. It extended the boundaries of tailoring. Its slogan was For today rather than a memory of yesterday.

Location: 8 Burlington Gardens W1S 3 ET (purple, blue)

 

Ozwald Boateng

Ozwald Boateng started his working life in I.T.. He found it more rewarding to design clothes. For a while he had a stall in Portobello Market. In 1990 he started to tailor bespoke suits. Tommy Nutter acted as a mentor to him. In 1994 Mr Boateng acquired premises in Vigo Street. In 2002 he moved his business into Savile Row proper.

Location: 30 Savile Row, W1S 3PT (blue, turquoise)

Website: www.ozwaldboateng.co.uk

 

'Beau' Brummell

The dandy Beau Brummell gave particular emphasis to the cut of a garment, avoided unnecessary trims, and preferred trousers to knee breaches. He did more than any other individual to create what became the modern business suit.

In 1811 the White s bow window was installed. Brummel and his associates took to disporting themselves behind it so that they could be seen from the street. Thereby, they turned the gentlemen s club into the shrine of fashion.

Location: 37-38 St James s Street, SW1A 1JG (blue, purple)

See Also: CLUBLAND White s

 

The Deck

The Deck is a Savile Row tailoring firm that specialises in creating custom-made suits for women. The business was founded by Daisy Knatchbull in 2019.

Location: 32 Savile Row, W1S 3PT

Website: https://thedecklondon.com

 

Dege & Skinner

Dege & Skinner was founded in 1865. The firm developed expertise in making military and ceremonial uniforms.

Location: 10 Savile Row, W1S 3PF (blue, brown)

Website: https://dege-skinner.co.uk

 

Gieves & Hawkes

The Hawkes side of the business was founded in 1771 as a hat-making firm. Its original premises were in Brewer Street. The business made uniforms for Army officers. Gieves, Matthews & Seagrove was founded in Portsmouth fourteen years later. It manufactured uniforms for naval officers.

In 1809 Hawkes was granted a royal warrant by King George III.

Gieves and Hawkes merged in 1974. The combined business opted to trade from the Hawkes site on Savile Row.

Location: 1 Savile Row, W1S 3JR

See Also: THE NAVY Uniforms

Website: www.gievesandhawkes.com

 

Tom Gilbey

Tom Gilbey (1938-2017) was born into a working-class family in New Cross. After national service, he trained as a pattern cutter. In the early 1960s he opened his own premises. He became renowned for the waistcoats that he created. He concentrated his work on a young clientele, who looked best in his clothes if they were slim, the pockets of his tweed suits were for decoration. He created the capes that The Beatles wore in the movie Help! (1965) and styled The Kinks in high-collared jackets and frilly fronted shirts.

Location: 36 Sackville Street, W1S 3EQ (blue, yellow)

Huntsman

Lucien Freud wore suits that were made by Huntsman.

Location: 11 Savile Row, W1S 3PS (blue, orange)

See Also: CLOTHES SHOPS, SPECIALIST Dennys Brands

Website: www.huntsmansavilerow.com

 

Kilgour

The soccer player George Best was a director. Tommy Nutter (1943-1992) worked for the firm for a couple of years.

Website: https://kilgour.com

 

Mason & Sons

In the mid-2010s David Mason was the principal mover with Mason & Son.

Website: https://masonsandsons.com

Mr Fish

In 2016 David Mason revived the Mr Fish brand.

Anthony Sinclair

The tailor Anthony Sinclair created the conduit cut suits that were worn by the actor Sean Connery to play James Bond.

Location: 34 Montagu Square, W1H 2LJ (red, blue)

See Also: JAMES BOND MOVIES Actors, Sir Sean Connery

Website: https://anthonysinclair.com

 

Dougie Millings

At the end of 1958 Tito Burns (n Nathan Bernstein) (1921-2010) became Cliff Richard s manager. He arranged for Dougie Millings (1913-2001) to create a distinctive off-white suit for the singer. This led to commissions from the Kinks, the Rolling Stones, and The Who. Millings designed the shiny round-necked stage suits that the Beatles wore.

Location: 63 Old Compton Street, W1D 6HT (orange, red)

 

Tommy Nutter

Tommy Nutter (1943-1992) was born the son of a seating upholsterer. He entered Savile Row and in 1969 set up his own establishment - Butter of Savile Row - with the aid of his then lover Peter Brown, who had been Brian Epstein s second-in-command. While not a designer of the first rank, relying on the skills of his master cutter Edward Sexton, but was a gifted self-publicist. The business created suits that had tighter waists and chests and very broad lapels; at the time men s high fashion was a novelty. It made the suit that John Lennon wore for the cover of the Abbey Road L.P. (1969) and the one that Mick Jagger wore for his wedding in 1971. Timothy Everest who worked as an assistant to Nutter concluded that Nutter was not doing anything different from other tailors but that he was doing it differently. In 1976 Nutter was forced out of his own business and left virtually penniless.

In 1982 Nutter established a business on Savile Row again and ran it until his death a decade later.

Website: www.tommy-nutter.co.uk

 

Piccadilly Hall

The Hall was built by Robert Baker, a retired tailor, who had made his fortune through selling piccad an>Piccadilly Hall was the nickname giillies , a form of ruff or collar, hence the house s nickname.

Location: Great Windmill Street, W1D 7DH (purple, red)

 

Henry Poole

Henry Poole was founded in 1806 as military uniform tailoring business. The firm s customers included Charles Dickens, Benjamin Disraeli, Napoleon III, Tsar Alexander III, and Winston Churchill.

Henry Poole created what became known as the tuxedo.

Location: 15 Savile Row, W1S 3PJ (blue, purple)

Website: https://henrypoole.com

 

The Roman Cut

The composer Francesco Paolo Tosti had a suit made by a Saville Row. This was taken apart by the Rome-based tailor Domenico Caraceni, who founded the Abruzzi school of tailoring that created the Roman Cut. This had less internal stitching and a more complex structure. English language actors who appeared in Cine Citta-made films popularised Italian tailoring abroad.

 

Savile Row

In the 18thC it was nearby Cork Street that was famed for its tailors.

When James Poole joined the Volunteers Corps he made his own uniform. This led to him being commissioned by some of his fellow Corps members to make theirs. In 1806 he opened a drapery shop. In 1823 he moved it into premises on Old Burlington Street. When Henry Poole, James s son, took over the business he altered it in a number of ways. One of his changes was to make the shop s back door in Savile Row its entrance. Thereby, Henry Poole & Company became the original Savile Row tailors.

The 1920s were an era during which Savile Row was invigorated, the stimulus stemming from an in-flow of European tailors, notably the brothers Fred and Louis Stanbury at Kilgour & French.

In the 1960s and 1970s Savile Row lost many of its natural customers. In part, this was because it was an era in which people took to dressing more casually than had been the case previously, and in part because the quality of off-the-peg tailoring had reached a higher standard than it had had formerly.

Location: Savile Row, W1S 3PQ (blue, red)

See Also: STREETS, SPECIALISED

 

The Savile Row Bespoke Association

Savile Row Bespoke Association is a composed of a group of Savile Row tailors. The organisation was set up in 2005.

Website: www.savilerowbespoke.com

 

Teddy Boys

In the late 1940s a group of Savile Row tailors created a look that sought to revive an Edwardian style that had involved narrow trousers and long single-breasted jackets. The take up by the intended market of affluent young men proved to be moderate. However, the style was adopted and adapted by young working-class Londoners who termed themselves Teddy Boys. The fashion was taken up nationally by many socially marginal young men.

See Also: CLASS; POP & ROCK Punk, Sex Pistols

David Backhouse 2024