Huntsman
News on the wire this week in W1, Patrick Murphy is leaving Huntsman. Can anyone confirm this? I was on the Row last week having a fitting and a rather large bumbling cloth salesman came in and eagerly announced this information to several individuals present.
Ouch!...
He was one of the very last still surviving L'Roubi's "leadership".
Andrey
He was one of the very last still surviving L'Roubi's "leadership".
Andrey
I thought that was old news (as in weeks old).
In any event, I think we can expect Huntsman to survive as an RTW shell for at least a few more years until its existing reputation is thoroughly used up. Whether L'Roubi is successful as an RTW marketer and can keep the shine going on his own is another story, but I doubt the bespoke side will thrive and offer any support to the brand.
But I do note that his partner ended up as head of the SR Bespoke Association, which is certainly curious.
In any event, I think we can expect Huntsman to survive as an RTW shell for at least a few more years until its existing reputation is thoroughly used up. Whether L'Roubi is successful as an RTW marketer and can keep the shine going on his own is another story, but I doubt the bespoke side will thrive and offer any support to the brand.
But I do note that his partner ended up as head of the SR Bespoke Association, which is certainly curious.
dopey wrote:I thought that was old news (as in weeks old).
In any event, I think we can expect Huntsman to survive as an RTW shell for at least a few more years until its existing reputation is thoroughly used up. Whether L'Roubi is successful as an RTW marketer and can keep the shine going on his own is another story, but I doubt the bespoke side will thrive and offer any support to the brand.
But I do note that his partner ended up as head of the SR Bespoke Association, which is certainly curious.
I havent seen anything mention this in LL ? I agree, it doesn't look good. I still find it hard to use words that might denigrate this wonderful old firm, but it does appear that what made Huntsman, Huntsman has long gone.
Huntsman sent the following letter today:
AndreyMEET OUR NEW CUTTING TEAM
"Get ready to see far more of the historic house's work at award ceremonies and premieres from now onwards - two new tailors have arrived to shake things up." - British GQ
We are delighted to introduce two new high profile members to our team - Campbell Carey and Robert Bailey.
After seven successful years with Huntsman, our current head cutter, Patrick Murphy will leave the company in April.
The quality of workmanship, fabric provenance and the traditions handed down by generations of cutters, will be carried on by Campbell and Robert.
Campbell joins Huntsman as Head Cutter with over 20 year's experience on the Row, having previously held the role at Kilgour and Hayward. Robert Bailey who was Head Cutter at Davies and Sons - joins the team as Senior Cutter and will be tasked with growing Huntsman’s presence in the ever-expanding Asian markets.
Campbell said: “I’ve always admired Huntsman’s dedication to craftsmanship and I share the house’s passion for bespoke tailoring.”
Mr Bailey commented: “Joining Huntsman is the pinnacle of my career and I am particularly looking forward to growing the brand in Asia, where there is a strong appetite for British craftsmanship.”
Huntsman owner and Creative Director, Roubi L’Roubi, said: Campbell and Robert bring to Huntsman many years of craftsmanship acquired on the Row. We are already blessed with the performance of Dario, Annette and Gordon. We are creating, what I believe will be, the strongest pool of bespoke cutting talents ever seen at Huntsman.
It is interesting: does a client follow a house or a cutter?
Is a cutter interchangeable or irreplaceable?
With Patrick Murphy moving back to Davies, where he worked before joining Huntsman, he can be expected to now cut the Davies silhouette rather than the Huntsman.
And with Robert Bailey now leaving Davies, going to Huntsman, he will cut the Huntsman silhouette.
I suppose most any competent cutter can quickly adapt to a new house style. Cutters now often move freely among tailoring houses and need to be flexible in the silhouettes they cut. The good Hong Kong tailors have always been particularly adaptable, imitating any Savile Row house style you could want.
And there is no shortage of practicing Huntsman alumni just as there are Anderson & Sheppard alumni. Terry Haste and Richard Anderson come to mind.
So not all is lost.
I think that when we patronize the big Savile Row houses, we are buying a silhouette, rather than patronizing a cutter. Yes, each cutter within a particular house will cut slightly differently but all will hue to the house style.
As good as Patrick Murphy is, will his Huntsman clients follow him to Davies and abandon the Huntsman silhouette or will they stick with Huntsman - the house -whose silhouette is what that they are buying in the first instance...?
To me, while a bespoke tailor on SR will cut an individual pattern for a client, the cutter only does so within the parameters of the house style, rather than creating an individual, unique creation. Yes, it is bespoke but it is also based on a standard house pattern. Hence, a tailoring house like Huntsman can make a bespoke suit, an MTM suit and a RTW suit and they will all look similar and be identifiable as by-Huntsman.
Personally, I'm happy with the MTM and RTW options now available at some of the big SR houses. In my view, I can get a high quality suit in the style and in the material I choose without having to go the bespoke route. And that is an advantage.
I've tried the Huntsman MTM and it worked just fine for me. I also like the value proposition and not having to travel to London for fittings; travel was nice once upon a time but not so much anymore. With MTM for example, a pattern is still cut and can be adjusted for future commissions, but I have eliminated fittings, travel and the long waiting time of a bespoke suit. With MTM, I choose the cloth, phone in the order and 4 weeks later receive my finished suit. That works.
It almost eliminates the middle man - the cutter/tailor - if that does not sound too cynical.
But still I get a Huntsman. Without the fuss.
Is a cutter interchangeable or irreplaceable?
With Patrick Murphy moving back to Davies, where he worked before joining Huntsman, he can be expected to now cut the Davies silhouette rather than the Huntsman.
And with Robert Bailey now leaving Davies, going to Huntsman, he will cut the Huntsman silhouette.
I suppose most any competent cutter can quickly adapt to a new house style. Cutters now often move freely among tailoring houses and need to be flexible in the silhouettes they cut. The good Hong Kong tailors have always been particularly adaptable, imitating any Savile Row house style you could want.
And there is no shortage of practicing Huntsman alumni just as there are Anderson & Sheppard alumni. Terry Haste and Richard Anderson come to mind.
So not all is lost.
I think that when we patronize the big Savile Row houses, we are buying a silhouette, rather than patronizing a cutter. Yes, each cutter within a particular house will cut slightly differently but all will hue to the house style.
As good as Patrick Murphy is, will his Huntsman clients follow him to Davies and abandon the Huntsman silhouette or will they stick with Huntsman - the house -whose silhouette is what that they are buying in the first instance...?
To me, while a bespoke tailor on SR will cut an individual pattern for a client, the cutter only does so within the parameters of the house style, rather than creating an individual, unique creation. Yes, it is bespoke but it is also based on a standard house pattern. Hence, a tailoring house like Huntsman can make a bespoke suit, an MTM suit and a RTW suit and they will all look similar and be identifiable as by-Huntsman.
Personally, I'm happy with the MTM and RTW options now available at some of the big SR houses. In my view, I can get a high quality suit in the style and in the material I choose without having to go the bespoke route. And that is an advantage.
I've tried the Huntsman MTM and it worked just fine for me. I also like the value proposition and not having to travel to London for fittings; travel was nice once upon a time but not so much anymore. With MTM for example, a pattern is still cut and can be adjusted for future commissions, but I have eliminated fittings, travel and the long waiting time of a bespoke suit. With MTM, I choose the cloth, phone in the order and 4 weeks later receive my finished suit. That works.
It almost eliminates the middle man - the cutter/tailor - if that does not sound too cynical.
But still I get a Huntsman. Without the fuss.
Up to a point. The only cutter I've followed around is John McCabe, who made my first batch of good London suits back at Dege when they were on Clifford Street. When he left Dege, their quality slipped, at least as far as they were making stuff for me. I also felt that his work became less interesting at Kilgour-- the house style there put just a bit too much padding into the shoulders for my taste. (Coincidentally, the travelling tailors from Kilgour I saw in those years were Campbell Carey and Ritchie Charlton. They took over Hayward's together-- now that is a silhouette I would be interested to try if I were starting fresh.) Now that he's back in a smaller shop, I like his work more, which is not to say that the proprietors don't have some input into what direction he goes. But at least it's not a half-century of habit he has to conform to.uppercase wrote:
To me, while a bespoke tailor on SR will cut an individual pattern for a client, the cutter only does so within the parameters of the house style, rather than creating an individual, unique creation.
I doubt that silhouettes and aesthetic will change when cutters leave certain houses from my experience. My first outing on Savile Row was with David Ward during his time at Nortons. Since then, every suit he has cut for me has continued to maintain all of the sharp nuances that I have come to love from his cutting. I am aware that during my excursions into Huntsman where he continued as my cutter prior to Siegfried and Roy buying the company, the only thing that maintained a house style between the cutters present was the Huntsman one button detail.
From colleagues who have used the other cutters at Huntsman, when suits were compared and contrasted they were all very different in fit. I have been informed by additional cutters that I have used, including David, that cutters will differ from what they seek to create in the fitting room dependent on their eye and training. So what I generally get from David is something I would align with a very classical sharp Savile Row shape, a beautiful shape, with just enough suppression and very sharp shoulders. I have tried other houses/cutters to gain some understanding of the disparity between them during my early days on the Row and this has been difficult for others to recreate. So were they just less skilled or looking to create a differing silhouette from David?
From colleagues who have used the other cutters at Huntsman, when suits were compared and contrasted they were all very different in fit. I have been informed by additional cutters that I have used, including David, that cutters will differ from what they seek to create in the fitting room dependent on their eye and training. So what I generally get from David is something I would align with a very classical sharp Savile Row shape, a beautiful shape, with just enough suppression and very sharp shoulders. I have tried other houses/cutters to gain some understanding of the disparity between them during my early days on the Row and this has been difficult for others to recreate. So were they just less skilled or looking to create a differing silhouette from David?
Sometimes following a cutter is following the house. Especially when the house has left you.uppercase wrote:It is interesting: does a client follow a house or a cutter?
This past week I had the chance of visiting Richard Anderson´s shop. Meeting Peter Smith, Brian Lishak and Richard Anderson in one place (to my surprise, all in shirt sleeves, by the way) made me feel like I was following the house which has moved only a couple of doors up the street.
Any insight into what the word is on the street re the new Huntsman? That sort of thing hasn't really traveled across the Atlantic yet. Or at least not to me.
They've been moving the cutters and tailors to less desirable surroundings in the shop and stressing a new style of shorter--some say typically gay-- jackets. No idea how well the old clients are getting by, but at least one shop was disappointed to see the old Huntsman disappear.
Concordia wrote:They've been moving the cutters and tailors to less desirable surroundings in the shop and stressing a new style of shorter--some say typically gay-- jackets. No idea how well the old clients are getting by, but at least one shop was disappointed to see the old Huntsman disappear.
I think to associate that "new style of shorter--some say typically gay-- jackets." is quite appalling. I have gay friends who wear classic styles and a very few gay and 'heterosexual' people that wear these silly short coats. Indeed I am not really sure that to distinguish those who are gay as a singular group is appropriate in present society.
I was reporting street chatter, not endorsing. Probably a more useful distinction would be "fashion-runway" styling, which certainly doesn't encompass all of any demographic group. And, needless to say, silliness doesn't need to come from only one side of the plate.
I believe that Roubli L Roubi is trying to turn Huntsman into the vulgar realms of a brand.DFR wrote:Concordia wrote:They've been moving the cutters and tailors to less desirable surroundings in the shop and stressing a new style of shorter--some say typically gay-- jackets. No idea how well the old clients are getting by, but at least one shop was disappointed to see the old Huntsman disappear.
I think to associate that "new style of shorter--some say typically gay-- jackets." is quite appalling. I have gay friends who wear classic styles and a very few gay and 'heterosexual' people that wear these silly short coats. Indeed I am not really sure that to distinguish those who are gay as a singular group is appropriate in present society.
Huntsman announced an expansion into New York:
"Huntsman, the legendary Savile Row tailor, has embarked on an ambitious expansion plan in the USA, opening premises in New York in Autumn 2015. This is the company’s first Huntsman outpost beyond Savile Row. The firm is also pleased to announce the appointment of Dario Carnera as co-Head Cutter, joining newly appointed head cutter Campbell Carey who takes the additional role of Creative Director for Huntsman.
Huntsman’s decision to open in New York was announced on Wednesday evening by Pierre Lagrange, the company’s owner and Non-Executive Chairman. Lagrange was speaking at a dinner at the British Embassy in Washington DC to celebrate the opening of the Savile Row and America exhibition (a showcase of more than 200 garments and accessories from 17 leading Savile Row tailors and their relationships with the USA from 1850 to today).
Lagrange, who was speaking in his capacity as chairman of the Savile Row Bespoke Association, said: “We have spent the last two years improving the infrastructure within Huntsman, and are now determined to take the business onto the next level, both in London, America and Asia. As this show in Washington attests, America is very important to Savile Row in general, and Huntsman in particular. We have a phenomenal US heritage that includes legendary clients such as Gregory Peck and Katharine Hepburn, through to the present day elite of industry, banking, politics, sports and entertainment. It therefore makes total sense for the house to open in New York, in a space where we can privately host and provide an even better service to existing clients, as well as to attract new ones.”
The news was accompanied by the announcement of important senior appointments and recruitment, strengthening Huntsman’s pre-eminent position on the Row. These recent initiatives have been masterminded by General Manager Carol Pierce, who joined the company in 2014, following a successful career developing bespoke products at Alfred Dunhill.
Dario Carnera, scion of a family of bespoke makers, is promoted to co-Head Cutter, having mastered the Huntsman bespoke cutting heritage for a number of years. Dario shares the Head Cutter role with Campbell Carey, previously Head Cutter at Kilgour.
Carey is also appointed as Creative Director for Huntsman, ensuring the bespoke values of the brand are present in the company’s full range of products, from Ready-to-Wear to accessories. Carey combines a rare mix of bespoke cutting expertise with top level experience in Ready-to-Wear, honed first at Kilgour and subsequently at Hayward, prior to a return to Kilgour as Head Cutter.
“With this appointment we will see the Huntsman British bespoke signature present throughout all our tailoring and accessories”, says Carol Pierce.
Carey succeeds as Creative Director Roubi l’ Roubi, who retires from Huntsman to focus on womenswear, “My focus on menswear at Huntsman made me realise how much I missed creating for women, and I am glad to have the opportunity to fully devote myself to ladieswear again” says L’Roubi.
A final addition to the Huntsman team is Robert Bailey, formerly Head Cutter at Davies and Son. Bailey joined the firm last month to develop its bespoke clientele in Asia. Trunk shows are already scheduled for Japan and China, countries where Kingsman – the recent blockbuster film, partially filmed at Huntsman - has increased attention for Huntsman’s bespoke work.
Huntsman’s General manager Pierce comments “After 8 months in the role, I am now confident that we have the best cutting and tailoring teams around, and one that is able to better service our existing American client base, as well as ready to develop new markets, such as Asia where the demand for what we offer is significant”
"Huntsman, the legendary Savile Row tailor, has embarked on an ambitious expansion plan in the USA, opening premises in New York in Autumn 2015. This is the company’s first Huntsman outpost beyond Savile Row. The firm is also pleased to announce the appointment of Dario Carnera as co-Head Cutter, joining newly appointed head cutter Campbell Carey who takes the additional role of Creative Director for Huntsman.
Huntsman’s decision to open in New York was announced on Wednesday evening by Pierre Lagrange, the company’s owner and Non-Executive Chairman. Lagrange was speaking at a dinner at the British Embassy in Washington DC to celebrate the opening of the Savile Row and America exhibition (a showcase of more than 200 garments and accessories from 17 leading Savile Row tailors and their relationships with the USA from 1850 to today).
Lagrange, who was speaking in his capacity as chairman of the Savile Row Bespoke Association, said: “We have spent the last two years improving the infrastructure within Huntsman, and are now determined to take the business onto the next level, both in London, America and Asia. As this show in Washington attests, America is very important to Savile Row in general, and Huntsman in particular. We have a phenomenal US heritage that includes legendary clients such as Gregory Peck and Katharine Hepburn, through to the present day elite of industry, banking, politics, sports and entertainment. It therefore makes total sense for the house to open in New York, in a space where we can privately host and provide an even better service to existing clients, as well as to attract new ones.”
The news was accompanied by the announcement of important senior appointments and recruitment, strengthening Huntsman’s pre-eminent position on the Row. These recent initiatives have been masterminded by General Manager Carol Pierce, who joined the company in 2014, following a successful career developing bespoke products at Alfred Dunhill.
Dario Carnera, scion of a family of bespoke makers, is promoted to co-Head Cutter, having mastered the Huntsman bespoke cutting heritage for a number of years. Dario shares the Head Cutter role with Campbell Carey, previously Head Cutter at Kilgour.
Carey is also appointed as Creative Director for Huntsman, ensuring the bespoke values of the brand are present in the company’s full range of products, from Ready-to-Wear to accessories. Carey combines a rare mix of bespoke cutting expertise with top level experience in Ready-to-Wear, honed first at Kilgour and subsequently at Hayward, prior to a return to Kilgour as Head Cutter.
“With this appointment we will see the Huntsman British bespoke signature present throughout all our tailoring and accessories”, says Carol Pierce.
Carey succeeds as Creative Director Roubi l’ Roubi, who retires from Huntsman to focus on womenswear, “My focus on menswear at Huntsman made me realise how much I missed creating for women, and I am glad to have the opportunity to fully devote myself to ladieswear again” says L’Roubi.
A final addition to the Huntsman team is Robert Bailey, formerly Head Cutter at Davies and Son. Bailey joined the firm last month to develop its bespoke clientele in Asia. Trunk shows are already scheduled for Japan and China, countries where Kingsman – the recent blockbuster film, partially filmed at Huntsman - has increased attention for Huntsman’s bespoke work.
Huntsman’s General manager Pierce comments “After 8 months in the role, I am now confident that we have the best cutting and tailoring teams around, and one that is able to better service our existing American client base, as well as ready to develop new markets, such as Asia where the demand for what we offer is significant”
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