A WALK THROUGH SAVILE ROW LONDON

WHEN CENTURIES-OLD CRAFTSMANSHIP MEETS QUIET EVOLUTION IN THE HEART OF LONDON.

- BY MARK HENDERSON Chairman, Savile Row Bespoke

YOU COULD BE forgiven for thinking very little had changed on Savile Row in the past 50 years and perhaps even the past 200. The first tailoring houses moved onto the Row at the start of the 19th century, and some of them are still there—at No. 1 Gieves & Hawkes (Hawkes’ founded in 1771, Gieves in 1785), at No. 10 Dege & Skinner (1865), at No. 11 H. Huntsman (1849), at No. 15 Henry Poole (1806) and at No. 16 Nortons (1821).

All along the street, tailors can be seen working in much the same way as they have done for two centuries—some even seated on Clients are seen by appointment either on their benches, cross-legged. The work rooms filled with people working-with paper patterns annotated with client notes and with bundles of cloth ready for making up. Most Houses work with a single individual making up the garments [a coat-maker, a trouser maker and sometimes that rare specialist a vest (or waist-coat) maker]; they may have specialist finishers and all work under the supervision of the cutters who meet the client, discuss their needs and then draft and cut the pattern.