The London Lounge

Dear The London Lounge,
I am currently studying for a MA in the techniques of the tailored jacket. It is a requirement of this course to write a paper for my contextual studies module.

My question is 'what is the role of the Savile Row Jacket today?

Here are some question to get you started


Has the role of Savile row changed?
Has the relationship between the tailor and customer changed at all ?
Does that average man even know what quality is?
Do we still need the quality and skill of Savile Row? I hope you agree that we do, but would like your view on this subject.
What does Savile Row represent?
How much does the cost of a jacket come into the equation ?

I hope that your comments will contain more question than answers: i think this is a good position to be in.

If their are any other sections on the site that you would recommend that I read then please inform me

Regards Tim

Savile Row is the capital of English tailoring and English suits are the foundation of modern Western suits.

Along with economic and technological development, the rest of the World tends to adopt the Western suit for normal business wear and international meetings.

The average man is quite unsophisticated when it comes to the quality and special characteristics of Savile Row jackets. The single breasted jacket is the most popular kind of jacket. The average man does not know much about double breasted suits, dinner jackets and pants, etc., which Savile Row has great expertise in. The average man will not be aware of the contribution of Savile Row towards the design and the preservation of standards and technicques of jacket tailoring.

Also, the cost of a Savile Row jacket should deter the average man from patronising Savile Row, even though the cost of air fare has dropped all over the World.

SR was a part of class society. It was living by a close connection to the upper class and the upper middle class. Today things are not that clear. SR has become a brand that must appeal to a customer who has many choices, not only regarding garments (designer brands or bespoke), also regarding lifestyle products (clothes, car, house, kitchen, hollidays etc.). When the close connection to the upper clases diminishes, SR has to ask itself why it exists. The good thing is that the answer is straight forward: craft, craft, craft.

Interesting angle, Gruto; so more food for the aspiring Master's table and additional material for his thesis.

Whatever, or however, there is a growing connection of Savile Row with the rest of the World, partly because of falling air fare. These are the foreign customers who cannot be described in any way as the average man. Those foreign customers are those who can be considered super-sophisticated in sartorial matters, particularly when it comes to suits and related accessories.

Then there is the growing class of materially very well-off and the super rich in the developing countries like Russia, China and India, the rest of the British Commonwealth and other ex-British colonies which chosed not to join the British Commonwealth, e.g., Hongkong SAR, Afghanistan. More and more members of such classes will be calling on Savile Row establishments, if SR tailors have yet to see fit to fly to those places to make MTM suits.

Those superrich and the very well-off who own townhouses, condominium apartments and mansions, etc., in London itself will of course be the ones who will be having bespoked suits.