Is Savile Row still the heart of men’s fashion in Britain?
Well, you see these programmes on TV about Savile Row, and they make me cringe. You have your Ozwald Boateng and your Richard James, but they are just stylists, they can’t make anything. I mean, in my day, when I was on Savile Row there were 50 tailors in a shop, now there are five. It’s hard to find a really good tailor on Savile Row today. But they are still there, if you know where to look. There are loads of great tailors who aren’t on Savile Row, or within 100 yards of it. Just because you aren’t on Fleet Street, it doesn’t mean you can’t write. So how did you make the transition from Savile Row tailoring to making your own suits? I knew the trade. I always say there are four ingredients to making a good suit: it has to be cut well, it has to fit well, it’s got to be good quality cloth, and it’s got to be finished well. If you haven’t got those ingredients, or one falls down, you are done for. I have seen some beautiful suits, the fit’s gorgeous, but they are badly made the button
