Clothes make the man…

…Naked people have little or no influence on society.

~Mark Twain

From Beau Brummell

to

the tailors of Savile Row in London have stood for style with a capital S by always leading the trends, not following them.

It was in 1856 that James Poole’s son Henry inherited his father’s firm. He earned the title ‘Founder of Savile Row’ when he made the Savile Row-side of his father’s tailoring workshops Henry Poole & Company situated at No 4 Old Burlington Street into an all new grand classical style entrance.  The address became known as No 32 Savile Row.

The term “bespoke” is understood to have originated on Savile Row when cloth for a suit was said to “be spoken for by an individual customer". The talented ‘bespoke’ tailors who still survive today are much sought after, albeit by a much smaller but just as exclusive as always, clientele. They are and while they continue to survive changes in fashion, the expansion of well made ‘off the rack’ suits. An assault on their competitiveness and competency will always be associated with taste, fashion, elegance, sophistication and timeless attitudes.

They are currently calling coats and suits from Savile Row “Sherlock chic”, although there isn’t a deerstalker hat or pipe in sight.

It seems the 2010 show that placed Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective Sherlock Holmes firmly in the 21st century has turned him, and the actor who plays him, Benedict Cumberbatch, into a fashion icon.

Sherlock is definitely Shrewd, Sexy and New Age and turned heads again during the second season early in 2012. Top designers in London reported a flood of customers queuing to emulate his style, with gentlemen keen to copy his extra-long tailored Milford coat.

It is a modern reproduction of an Edwardian driving coat that is worn by Cumberbatch, who has also been seen around the town wearing impeccably tailored Savile Row suits.

And it is very hard to surpass Cary Grant wearing a Savile Row coat you will have to agree that he looked the picture of sartorial elegance.

The stylish Kilgour suit worn by Grant in Alfred Hitchock’s North by Northwest is considered one of the most famous suits of men clothing in movie history. Shot at, chased, and rolled around drunk, he still managed to stand on the side of a dusty road in Indiana (actually shot on Garces Highway (155) near the towns of Wasco and Delano, north of Bakersfield in Kern County, California)  about to be 'crop dusted', looking as cool as a cucumber.

At No 1 Savile Row the tailors have also recently established a Savile Row Archive, curated by James Sherwood. The Savile Row Bespoke Association founded in 2004, acknowledged the work of Mr Sherwood and his research. It has also resulted in a book about the brief history of the glamour, and sometime squalor of the Row, with the fine attention to detail that characterizes a well dressed man.

Dismayed at the word ‘bespoke’ being bandied about in the first decade of the 21st century the Savile Row Bespoke Association hit back laying down some laws about what can be considered bespoke.

‘A suit must start with an individual pattern created by a master cutter, who will also superintend all production; the tailors will be based in England; and all work will be done by hand and require a minimum of 50 hours. The garments resulting from this time-honored process—and only those—will be worthy of bearing the label Savile Row Bespoke’.

Its personal relationship that develops between a gentleman and his tailor is a time-honoured part of the service still offered at Savile Row, London.

While tradition may have kept its bespoke tailors a cut above the rest, it is the upholding of a standard in excellence in tailoring that makes the clothes fit the man so well that is at the heart of Savile Row and its continuing success.