There's quite a row on Savile Row over the UK Advertising Standards Authority's brand new ruling that suits which are not entirely handmade may now be sold as "bespoke." It has horrified some Savile Row stalwarts who've long fought to protect their trade from such encroachments; late last year tailor's guild the Savile Row Bespoke Association (SRBA) trademarked the term "Savile Row Bespoke" to prevent parvenus from taking unfair advantage. According to the SRBA's guidelines, to qualify as bespoke a suit must be crafted from a choice of at least 2,000 fabrics and its construction requires at least 50 hours of hand-stitching.

However, SRBA board member Anda Rowland, owner of storied 100-year-old Row house Anderson & Sheppard, tells Luxist she is taking the philosophical view. While lamenting the ruling's implied lack of respect for Britain's tailoring trade, to her way of thinking a fellow who would be content with a faux-Row suit merely made-to-measure was "never a true bespoke customer in the first place" she tells us, while any connoisseur "will ultimately be able to spot the difference between true bespoke tailoring and incorrectly labeled imitations." In the meantime, made-to-measure garments, no matter what they're sold as, can continue to serve their proper purpose: "providing a bridge from ready-to-wear to bespoke."

For those seeking sartorial enlightenment, Rowland notes the SRBA has launched a website, savilerowbespoke.com, to help them on their path to proper tailoring. In addition, when Anderson & Sheppard moved into its new premises at 32 Old Burlington Street, Rowland says, "we opened up our workrooms especially to confront the confusion that potential customers might have over the increasing number of terms being used to describe made-to-measure... Since moving, we have been welcoming more and more first time customers who have done research through word of mouth, reputable press and the Internet and therefore have a very good idea of why they have come to us." No mere ruling no matter how barmy will change that.

Pictured above is Savile Row maverick Ozwald Boateng. See the gallery for more.

British couturier Hardy Amies, whose Savile Row shop opened back in 1946, is launching its first line of women's handbags this month. The new line comprises four key styles "inspired by traditional English luggage and the secret lives of female spies in the second world war," British Vogue reports. The theme is fitting since the dashing Sir Hardy himself, who died in 2003, was something of a real-life James Bond, serving as an officer in the British secret service during World War II. The bags, which start at about $1,600, each come with their own code name (and, we suspect, several hidden compartments).

Amies had an illustrious career as a couturier, designing clothes for everyone from Stanley Kubrick to the Queen of England. A self-described snob, he was a world authority on men's fashion, and his house carries on in high style. Among his many stylish epigrams, he once declared that "Luxury lies not in riches, but in the absence of vulgarity." Though he didn't live to see them, we think he probably would have approved of these bags bearing his name.

As we mentioned in our Classicist column on Anderson & Sheppard last week, dapper Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter is a devoté of the bespoke British tailoring firm. He proved the worth of a well-made suit with the black three-piece Anderson & Sheppard number he wore to the Tribeca Film Festival fete that Carter co-hosted with Robert De Niro in Manhattan the other night.

Carter, pictured here with New York's billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg (one of the guests along with Sigourney Weaver, Harvey Keitel, David Bowie, Jerry Seinfeld and others) looked quite dashing and much more svelte than on some previous occasions -- a fact which we feel is attributable more to A&S' fine tailoring rather than any newfound abstemiousness on the editor's part. After all, he does own one of NYC's trendiest eateries, The Waverly Inn, and we highly doubt he's ever presented with a bill.

[via Kempt]

Welcome to The Classicist, our new column devoted to timeless style, enduring elegance, and true, built-to-last luxury as opposed to mere extravagance....

Savile Row stalwart Anderson & Sheppard, which recently celebrated its 100th anniversary, is steeped in tradition, to say the least. Yet while other old-fashioned bastions of upper-class masculine British taste have been sold off or hideously modernized, A&S has managed to adapt and survive -- thanks to a strong-willed woman.

Anda Rowland, daughter of the firm's longtime owner, natty British millionaire Roland "Tiny" Rowland, who took over the business a few years ago, has set about bringing it into the 21st century without sacrificing one whit in the way of elegance.

The firm not only outfitted the great Fred Astaire - perhaps the best dressed man the modern world has ever known - but also Rudolph Valentino, Charlie Chaplin, authors Evelyn Waugh and Somerset Maugham, Gary Cooper, Noel Coward, Sir Laurence Olivier, Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Duke Ellington.

I thought $20,000 was a lot to pay for a suit but that's nothing compared to the Ultimate Bespoke suit by William Westmancott. Westmancott, a young Savile Row tailor makes the suit from a one-off cloth woven in a traditional English Mill. Because the cloth is so expensive, Westmancott creates a complete sample suit in another fabric to make sure your pattern is perfect. He also flies to wherever you are for fittings and throws in a complimentary set of five bespoke shirts worth £2,475.

[via Daily Mail]

Italian designer Giorgio Armani is taking on the men's made-to-measure market and he's started by coming out swinging at the august tradition of Savile Row tailors. The designer believes that men will pay for the full couture experience. In an article in the Sunday Times he refers to Savile Row as a comedy and an outdated melodrama. The piece is full of Armani bombast, long quotes in which he congratulates himself on his innovations and basically trounces the entire concept of English bespoke tailoring.

His new Fatto A Mano Su Misura service which will first be launched in London and Milan will let men create the ultimate custom Armani suit. Each suit will be unique and the label will be signed by Armani and carry the customer's name. Customers can also order shirts, ties, cufflinks, watches and even aftershave custom made to their specifications. The whole package could cost up to  £75,000 (over $137,000). Admittedly the suit has a longer shelf life than couture gowns for women but this is still a luxury for the very few.