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