Savile Row, London, centre of the fashionable men's tailoring world, circa 1960.POPPERFOTO/Getty Images
With a host of emerging tailoring houses on the rise in London, the options for contemporary takes on dapper dressing abound. Odessa Paloma Parker reports on the new names to know the next time you cross the pond to suit up
Can you imagine an Englishman without dressing him in svelte tweed trousers and a dapper wool gilet? Sartorial flair is synonymous with the U.K. and one street in London is responsible for much of that reputation: Savile Row. It's impossible to walk by its fabled storefronts – the polished showroom windows filled with sharply dressed bust forms and bolts of fine fabrics above; workrooms furnished with aisles of cutting tables topped with cones of thread and oversized scissors below – without sensing the pride, history and overt rakishness that makes the short strip a destination for suit shoppers from around the world.
Great Britain is also famous for putting punks on the map and tempering tradition with anarchy. Unsurprising then, that the new generation of London tailors is bringing an innovative spirit to the row, and transporting the craft of fine tailoring to other parts of the city.
"Savile Row got its groove back in the mid-2000s," says James Sherwood, author of Savile Row: The Master Tailors of British Bespoke and a new city guide, James Sherwood's Discriminating Guide to London. "There was a black hole in the trade for a couple of decades when a Row apprenticeship wasn't considered aspirational. Now we see young hipsters in London and around the world who are really into tailoring as a key component of their identity."
Guy Hills saw potential in Savile Row's appreciation for the past while photographing tailors for the Savile Row Bespoke Association. "I became fascinated with the history of men's wear," he says. Partnering with textile designer Kristy McDougall, the two set out to pay homage to Britain's great tradition of craftsmanship with the launch of Dashing Tweeds in 2006. "The textile industry of Great Britain had been in decline for many years, unable to compete on price with foreign imports or on the luxury softness of Italian fabrics," says Hills. "I felt we needed to produce what we are good at: heritage quality fabrics."
Now the brand is known for its vibrant cloth, which is incorporated into both bespoke and ready-to-wear pieces. Dashing Tweeds has also collaborated with Boxfresh and Converse on sneakers. "Our customers are individuals with a love of clothes, British style and modernity, who want unique luxury fabrics," says Hills. "Many are entrepreneurs who have started their own successful business and done things their way; others are writers, artists, musicians and creatives."
Indeed, the rise of a new creative class who do business outside the boardroom and often keep unconventional hours is introducing another style-conscious customer to the trade. Today's clients want to look polished-yet-unique as they travel from meetings to cocktail hour and beyond. Dashing Tweed's Lumatwill fabric is well aligned with this on-the-go gent. Made of Merino wool woven with reflective 3M yarns, the textile is currently on display splay at the Cycle Revolution exhibition at London's Design Museum. It was tailored into a suit by Davies & Son, a Savile Row institution since 1803.
Such a collaboration is evidence that the Row is modernizing, and in more ways than one. Kathryn Sargent, the first female head cutter at the venerable Gieves & Hawkes, opened her own shop in April and is the first female tailor to have a location on Savile Row. "Kathryn is that unique talent on Savile Row: a cutter who has the ability to make equally well for men and women," says Sherwood.
Thirty-one-year-old Joshua Kane launched his eponymous brand in 2014 and has since garnered the attention of the fashion set (he has screen time in the upcoming Absolutely Fabulous film). "We don't really have normal customers," Kane says. "And that's not to say we don't do normal tailoring. We attract weird and wonderful human beings."
Kane, whose shop is in Old Spitalfields Market in London's increasingly cool East End, combines eye-catching fabrics and exceedingly trim silhouettes. His Instagram account has an impressive 61,000 followers who tune in for behind-the-scenes snaps and footage from his runway shows. He can also be seen shredding the pavement on his skateboard (in a three-piece suit, of course). With a line of shoes, optical frames, bags and women's wear – in addition to his ready-to-wear collection and bespoke services – Kane takes a thoroughly modern approach to the trade.
"We're not a traditional bespoke house and we're not a traditional runway house, which is why I think we're working," Kane notes. It's gentleman's choice, indeed.