
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."