Double Vision

With a curated Fitzrovia space and off-beat suiting, an Aussie couple looks beyond Savile Row

- TF Chan

Savile Row may be the heart of men’s tailoring in London, but Australian tailor Patrick Johnson, who recently added a showroom in the English capital to his burgeoning business (including four stores Down Under and one in New York), made a conscious decision to open in Fitzrovia’s Rathbone Place instead. ‘I have a lot of respect for English tailoring, but I’m very different,’ he explains. ‘I like being slightly off the beaten track.’ Though not quite a fashion destination yet, the area brims with trendy eateries and galleries; Facebook will soon move its European HQ into a Make Architects-designed building down the road. ‘I think the area’s on a cusp,’ says Johnson. The choice of location befits the P Johnson brand, which is known for its relaxed approach – think lightweight fabrics, a fresh palette of beiges, creams and greys, and unstructured fits. Johnson’s suits are relevant to all contexts, seemingly designed to be casually thrown on in the morning, paired with light knitwear (today he is wearing a cream crewneck merino jumper of his own design) or perhaps a T-shirt, and lend themselves to mixing and matching. They are almost impossibly soft – ‘You should feel like you’re not wearing anything,’ he enthuses.