Travel Report: London

[manton]

Thanks to the good graces of Michael Key (MK here), owner/editor of the Fedora Lounge and publisher of Classic Style magazine, I had occasion to travel to London earlier this week.

Much of the trip was devoted to interviewing Savile Row tailors for the upcoming issue of Classic Style. I'm not going to go into that at any length, lest I scoop the very magazine I was there to help. However, I will say that I believe we got some great stuff, including stuff that no one has ever gotten, and that members will be very interested. We interviewed the managing directors of Anderson & Sheppard, Henry Poole, and Maurice Sedwell -- all for attribution, and on camera. (That's right, even the formerly notoriously press averse A&S.) We toured their workrooms, watched them cut and sew, and listened to great Savile Row lore. Stay tuned as well.

I had a decent amount of my own time. Part of that was occupied doing research for another article, for a different magazine, about cloth. I spoke at length to senior people at H.Lesser, Smith Woolens, Hunt & Winterbotham, and Dormeuil. Stay tuned for that.

Some highlights of my wanderings:

It was my first time inside the new A&S shop, and it is a lovely place. Much nicer than the old shop. I know that Savile Row had 80 years of tradition behind it, but I can't help but think that they are better off at 32 Old Burlington. It is a Regency townhouse done up like a Pall Mall club. Inviting and cozy and wonderful.

I met the semi-legendary (on the forums, at least) Karl Matthews, and he is a charming guy. On two successive days, he was wearing suits that he cut for himself, and they were spectacular. DBs with conservative dark grounds, but very bold stripes. You could spot the A&S touch from a block away: super soft, sloping shoulders, and lapels with lots of belly and upswept peaks. However, his suits are quite a bit trimmer than the norm. Both he and Mr. Hitchcock indicated that A&S's legendary inflexibilty had eased somewhat -- but only somewhat. We also got an extensive tour of the premisis which will be related in the upcoming issue of Classic Style.

The owner, Anda Rowland, was kind enough to give me a copy of the new book The London Cut by James Sherwood. It is a gossipy little history of Savile Row, firm by firm (most of them anyway). Members here would learn a few things about the history, some good anecdotes, but not much about tailoring. The pics are not bad, but more Men's Vogue than Apparel Arts.

I was flattered to see that A&S had a copy of my book in the shop. John Hitchcock says he recommends it to any client who shows an interest in learning more about clothes. Anda Rowland asked me to inscribe it to the firm, which I did, and then she placed it on the coffee table by the large couch in the front parlor. Since every British publisher has so far turned down the book ("No self-respecting Englishman can stand being told what to wear by an American") this may well be the only copy in London.

We also spent a lot of time, as noted, at Poole and Sedwell; on my own I visited a few other places. I don't want to say much about this here, save for a few things. The atmosphere on the Row was the most upbeat I have ever encountered. All the tailors were in good spirits, and optimistic about their forseeable future. The workrooms were full of sewing tailors. Forget what you hear about everything being outsourced. Certainly some things still are, but a great deal -- the majority at A&S, the vast majority at Poole, and everything at Sedwell -- is made right there in the basements. And there are young people down there, sewing and learning.

I spent a long time with Mariano Rubinacci. That is certainly a lovely store. The suit Mariano was wearing was spectacular. More draped even than A&S -- a veritable fistfull of drape on either side. Yet it looked harmonious overall. His shoulders were exteded a good two centimeters on each side; the coat was 3 roll 2.5 and quite short. High gorge, upturned notch, high button: exactly what I think of as the classic Neapolitan silhouette. Interestingly, everyone on Savile Row was quite complimentary of my American-made clothes (I had expected them to be a bit dismissive). Only Rubinacci said anything negative. He criticized them (politely) for not living up to his ideal: shoulders too narrow, not enough drape, and then (grabbing the chest of my coat) he said that my canvas was too hard. Hard it's not, but it was certainly harder than the canvases in hjis shop.

The accessories were beatiful and beautifully made. However, I found the ties to be too narrow and too thin. They make a very small knot, and the width of some is less than 3". They also did not look very long to me, though I did not test one. He will, however, do bespoke to any specifcations you request. He has lots of unlined seven-folds, as well as lined ties.

Wandering through the Picadilly Arcade I noticed a lovely shoe sample and a handwritten sign that said "Bespoke shoes by Eric Cook; inquire inside." So I did. The shop was a new venture called Bond and Smiley. If you're going to have a fake British name, might as well make it both transparently false and cute. I was met by Rupert Choo, a Hong Kong transplant who loved clothes and is trying to make a go of his new venture.

I was most interested in Cook, as he has come up on the forums before, and no one seems to know anything about him. Cook will us the shop as a place to meet clients. The shoes were excellent, though they did not strike me as appreciably better than either Cleverley or G&G. G&G's make, in particular, is probably a click better. Lastwise, it's hard to tell based on one sample. Rupert compared Cook to Lobb Paris, and I can see that, but again, only based on one shoe. Cook wants to start coming to the U.S.; nothing firm yet, it appears.

Beyond this, B&S offers RTW shirts for around 70 GBP. The store was filled with them, and they looked good: traditional British dress shirts in British colors and patterns. Bespoke will be 140 GBP. They will also have a tailor making suits in the Kilgour/Gieves style with a defined shoulder and hard front. Rupert said they wanted to offer the shirts in the US, but not the suits.

I stopped by Edward Green and asked about "Top Drawer." There was one saleswoman working who really didn't know anything about it. I later asked Tony G and he said no one in the biz seemed to know, and EG was keeping quiet. In any event, no samples on display just yet. Tony, BTW, meets customers in the basement of 12 Savile Row, home of Scabal. Many of his RTW and bespoke samples are down there. Orders from the last US trip are expected to ship in March.

I went into most of the shops that still offered sale shoes. I was really disappointed in the quality at New & Lingwood. It was probably unreasonable to expect much, but still.

If I remember anything else that people might find interesting, I will post it here.

[manton]

Oh, Mariano Rubinacci also gave me some copies of the firm's magazine (in English and Italian). I haven't yet had time to go through them with any care, but they look great.

[Mark Seitelman]

Good show!

I saw your photos in Ask Andy. Excellent photos.

I look forward to reading the article, and I'm sending my subscription coupon today!

[Aristide]

Very interesting and informative. Thank you for taking the time to create and post. Forgive my ignorance, but would you kindly provide the title of your book?

[masterfred]

Not to steal Manton's thunder, but the title of the book is "The Suit."

Was Rubinacci critical of one of your Shattuck suits? I liked the chalk-striped one in the pictures.

[manton]

Yes, it was a solid gray Shattuck suit. Too English for him, I guess.

[zegnamtl]

It must have a great few days,
I just took a subscription, looking forwards to the piece.

[bengal-stripe]

Forgive my ignorance, but would you kindly provide the title of your book?

You can buy it here:
http://www.amazon.com/Suit-Machiavellia ... F8&s=books

[encooper]

I look forward to reading the article in Classic Style.

Two questions:

What forum are the pictures posted on Ask Andy? I looked and could not find them.

Is "London Cut" published and available? Amazon.uk says it comes out in April.

[manton]

I don't know if The London Cut has been published or not. Maybe I got the galleys. Though it looks a bit more "slick" than a galley copy.

[encooper]

Thanks manton.

[rjman]

I don't know if The London Cut has been published or not. Maybe I got the galleys. Though it looks a bit more "slick" than a galley copy.

I believe it's destined to come out in April. It's on Amazon UK but not US Amazon.

[encooper]

I found this on the web:

http://www.savilerowinflorence.com/Sito ... /book.html

It looks like it was produced in connection with an exhibit that ends tomorrow in Florence.

[iammatt]

Sounds like a great trip and a great report. I am jealous and cannot wait to get to London myself.

[Andre Yew]

What forum are the pictures posted on Ask Andy? I looked and could not find them.

The thread is called "Deckard in London" and is in the main clothes forum. There're more pictures on the Fedora Lounge forum as well.

And thanks for the report, Manton. I'm looking forward to the SR articles.

--Andre