The Classicist: The Ultimate Guide to Savile Row Style

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed)
Nov 1st 2010 at 9:01AM

When James Sherwood's brilliant book on bespoke tailoring called The London Cut came out in 2007, to accompany a Savile Row exhibition at Palazzo Pitti in Florence, we regretted only that it was in softcover and such a small format. Now Rizzoli has rectified that with a suitably statuesque volume by Sherwood expanding on the subject, lavishly illustrated and encyclopedic in scope. Bespoke: The Men's Style of Savile Row begins with the opening of Henry Poole & Co. in 1806 and follows the illustrious history of London's custom tailoring tradition. Famous adherents of 'The Row' through the years from Fred Astaire, Cary Grant, the Duke of Windsor and Winston Churchill to latter-day dandies like Prince Charles, Mick Jagger and David Beckham are also discussed.

From its rather humble beginnings Sherwood discusses Savile Row's role in tailoring for the sporting set, the military and Royalty, the phenomenal influence the houses have had in the sartorial style of the silver screen - where else would James Bond get his threads? - the Row's evolution as "bespoke" was challenged by the mod rock & roll fashion revolution, and its embrace of fashion-forward newcomers like Tommy Nutter, Richard James and Ozwald Boateng, leading a revival of an art form that looked at one time to be doomed to obsolescence, now flourishing in its 200th year.

The style of each of the street's premier tailors is presented in detail along with the immeasurable impact Savile Row style has had on the work of international designers like Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani, and Tom Ford, who contributed a foreword to the book. "English gentlemen's tailoring, and in particular the tailoring of Savile Row, really set the standard for the way the stylish 20th-century man dressed," Ford writes. "This English style, in fact, became the international style for well-dressed men all over the world, and this influence has not waned even in today's more casual world. I suppose that when it comes to men's clothes I am an Anglophile and if I did not design my own men's collection, I would have virtually my entire wardrobe made on Savile Row."

Gallery: Savile Row Bespoke

"The world of men's style is once again focusing on Savile Row," Sherwood notes. "All the values bespoke tailoring holds dear – craft, respect for the past, trust that quality will never be compromised – are the values that strike a resounding chord with society today. Savile Row bespoke tailoring is made in England, largely within a square mile of the street itself. It is carbon neutral, with a blank passport and few footprints when compared with designer imports. It respects the creativity of the customers, whom designers choose to overwhelm. There is no greater sartorial pleasure, and none more addictive, than commissioning a suit that you admire and aspire to own, and then displaying it to invite admiration and aspiration from others."

The must-have book also contains sections devoted to Gentlemen's Requisites – barbers, hatters, shirt, shoe, and umbrella-makers; Anatomy of a Suit – its many parts inside and out, and Making a Suit which details the steps involved in the painstaking, but deeply satisfying process of having clothes made to measure; a Cloth Directory; and guide to The Language of Savile Row – the essential tailoring terms, tools, fabric names, and slang one needs know in order to speak "bespoke"; and finally, each important house's address, phone number and website.

Tags: bespoke, books, Cary Grant, coffee table books, Duke of Windsor, England, Fred Astaire, Henry Poole Co., James Bond, James Sherwood, London, mens style, Ozwald Boateng, Prince Charles, Ralph Lauren, Rizzoli, Savile Row, Tom Ford, UK, Winston Churchill