New book on A&S

"The brute covers himself, the rich man and the fop adorn themselves, the elegant man dresses!"

-Honore de Balzac

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Concordia
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Thu Sep 29, 2011 4:34 pm

While I was away last week a very heavy packaged arrived for me. It turned out to be the longest, most expensive brochure a tailoring firm will likely ever produce. Titled Anderson & Sheppard: A Style is Born, it's a beautifully made book about the firm, its history, and with many photos of its more celebrated clients. And a few others who likely knew the editors. :)

One nice touch-- to divide sections, the editors used double-spread photos of A&S house fabrics. With an index in the back, in case you want to see about whether they have featured your favorite chalk stripe or 13oz herringbone.
Last edited by Concordia on Fri Sep 30, 2011 3:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
andreyb
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Thu Sep 29, 2011 9:51 pm

Concordia, what is your opinion? Is it worth the price (35GBP on Amazon) and time?

Andrey
Concordia
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Thu Sep 29, 2011 10:22 pm

My price was a bit lower, unless you count all of the invoices over the last 15 years.

As to whether it's worth it-- hard to say. It's extremely well done, and it has some great pics of the shop as well as of finished product. The text is also well-written, albeit completely biased. I'm glad to have it but if you've been trolling the internet for that kind of insight, you might have hit your limit already.
NJS

Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:46 pm

Concordia wrote:My price was a bit lower, unless you count all of the invoices over the last 15 years.

As to whether it's worth it-- hard to say. It's extremely well done, and it has some great pics of the shop as well as of finished product. The text is also well-written, albeit completely biased. I'm glad to have it but if you've been trolling the internet for that kind of insight, you might have hit your limit already.
It's a pity that they left the original shop.
NJS
m-lan
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Fri Sep 30, 2011 4:29 am

Thank you for sharing.

Amazon US and UK.
Last edited by m-lan on Mon Oct 17, 2011 3:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
davidhuh
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Fri Sep 30, 2011 12:07 pm

NJS wrote: It's a pity that they left the original shop.
NJS
Dear NJS,

the question is: can you operate a bespoke only business out of Savile Row while keeping your owners and banks happy? All the big sharks there survive on MTM and RTW. But I know you know :roll:

Best regards, David
NJS

Fri Sep 30, 2011 12:36 pm

davidhuh wrote:
NJS wrote: It's a pity that they left the original shop.
NJS
Dear NJS,

the question is: can you operate a bespoke only business out of Savile Row while keeping your owners and banks happy? All the big sharks there survive on MTM and RTW. But I know you know :roll:

Best regards, David
Dear David,
It's just a pity.
best,
NJS
Concordia
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Fri Sep 30, 2011 3:23 pm

I'm always reluctant to suffer change, but their new shop is really an upgrade to the previous one. Not that the dour old place, with no sign of employees inside and no hint in the window of their preferred style didn't also have its charm.
NJS

Fri Sep 30, 2011 7:03 pm

Concordia wrote:I'm always reluctant to suffer change, but their new shop is really an upgrade to the previous one. Not that the dour old place, with no sign of employees inside and no hint in the window of their preferred style didn't also have its charm.
No 32 Old Burlington Street is a fine place; it's just that so much of A&S's history was bound up with the old place - grim as you say that it was and, at the end of the day, I suppose, too big for them and just big enough for the new chap.
NJS
Scot
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Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:02 am

davidhuh wrote:
NJS wrote: It's a pity that they left the original shop.
NJS
Dear NJS,

the question is: can you operate a bespoke only business out of Savile Row while keeping your owners and banks happy? All the big sharks there survive on MTM and RTW. But I know you know :roll:

Best regards, David
There are still firms on the Row who are purely bespoke, nothing else; Welsh & Jefferies is one of them (not big shark though, thankfully).
andreyb
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Sat Oct 01, 2011 4:27 pm

So does Henry Poole and Norton & Sons (if you don't count their relation to E Tautz, which is not featured inside the shop).

Andrey
davidhuh
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Sat Oct 01, 2011 5:22 pm

Scot wrote:
There are still firms on the Row who are purely bespoke, nothing else; Welsh & Jefferies is one of them (not big shark though, thankfully).
andreyb wrote:So does Henry Poole and Norton & Sons (if you don't count their relation to E Tautz, which is not featured inside the shop).

Andrey
Dear Andrey, dear Scot,

indeed, you are right and I ask you to apologise my hasted judgement.

Best regards, David
Cufflink79
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Tue Oct 04, 2011 9:43 pm

Concordia wrote:While I was away last week a very heavy packaged arrived for me. It turned out to be the longest, most expensive brochure a tailoring firm will likely ever produce. Titled Anderson & Sheppard: A Style is Born, it's a beautifully made book about the firm, its history, and with many photos of its more celebrated clients. And a few others who likely knew the editors. :)

One nice touch-- to divide sections, the editors used double-spread photos of A&S house fabrics. With an index in the back, in case you want to see about whether they have featured your favorite chalk stripe or 13oz herringbone.

Dear Concordia:

Thanks for sharing this information, I'm looking forward to adding this book to my haberdashery library.

Best Regards,

Cufflink79
Concordia
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Sun Oct 16, 2011 6:07 pm

andreyb wrote:Concordia, what is your opinion? Is it worth the price (35GBP on Amazon) and time?

Andrey
This month's Vanity Fair features sort of a potted version of the book for anyone who wants a nibble.
mek
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Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:16 pm

I received two books about bespoke firms last week.
The A&S, A Style is Born and the Rubinacci book.
I must say that I enjoyed the A&S book very much and rate it highly.
But as an A&S customer I am biased.
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