Historic Anecdotes from Savile Row



Posted: Wednesday, July 04, 2007

by
Patrick McMurray

Historic anecdotes from Savile Row the worlds' leading tailoring precinct. Savile Row is entering a new era of creativity and the rest of the world watch eagerly and follow suit.

1860

Bertie, the rakish Prince of Wales, ordered a short smoking jacket to wear at informal dinner parties at Sandringham from his friend, the tailor, Henry Poole. It was the first dinner jacket on record and was cut in midnight blue cloth. In 1886, a Mr James Potter of Tuxedo Park , New York , was a houseguest at Sandringham . He consequently ordered a similar dinner jacket to Bertie's from Henry Poole & Co. It was this dinner jacket that Mr Potter wore at the Tuxedo Park Club inspiring numerous copies that fellow members wore as informal uniform for stag dinners. Thus the Tuxedo was born at Henry Poole & Co. It took only eight years for an accidental style to cross the Atlantic Ocean and soon became an American institution. Its humble, royal beginnings were soon forgotten when labelled the Tuxedo.

1971

Maverick screen actress Katherine Hepburn, whose long-term lover Spencer Tracey was a customer of Huntsman, takes the extraordinary step of ordering bespoke denim jeans from her late lover's Savile Row tailor. Hepburn's commission foreshadows bespoke denim collections launched in 2006 by Timothy Everest and Evisu.

1973

Robert Redford stared in the definitive film of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald was a dedicated customer of Jermyn Street bespoke shirt maker Turnbull & Asser. The shirts that reduce The Great Gatsby's socialite heroine Daisy (Mia Farrow) to tears with their beauty in the film all bear the Turnbull & Asser bespoke label.

1991

Former Tommy Nutter apprentice Timothy Everest - who answered Nutter's newspaper advertisement for a 'Boy Wanted' - opened his first bespoke tailoring shop in an East End Georgian townhouse declaring 'opening a shop on Savile Row would be like moving in with my parents'. 2006 Timothy Everest eats his words as he moves in with his parents, not quite on Savile Row, but just around the corner in Burton Place, a long way from East End London. Perhaps living with the folks is not so bad after all.

1992

Richard James, the first of the 'New Generation' tailors, opened a shop on Savile Row. James introduced Saturday opening (a revolution on Savile Row) and a fashionable edge not seen since The House of Nutter's glory days. Tommy Nutter died that same year. As a fitting epitaph, one of Nutter's final commissions is the outlandish purple suit Jack Nicholson wore playing The Joker in Tim Burton's Batman.

Savile Row has played a major role in the evolution of style, styles that have remained true to original form for hundreds of years.

Historic anecdotes from Savile Row.

Patrick McMurray is an Australian designer who has spent many years in the United Kingdom studying and working in fashion. Now based in his home town Perth, he orchestrates the expertise of textile printers, silk weavers, jewellers and makers, working collaboratively the world over to produce a range of exceptional handmade silk ties, cufflinks and fashion accessories. Each piece is produced to specific design requirements; meticulously cut, made and trimmed by highly skilled artisans; they will endure the rigours of everyday uses, so value is retained for many years. From conceptual origins to technical specifications conclude all the essential elements of “true” designer silk ties, cufflinks and accessories.

Approach

Patrick’s vibrant approach to design reflects his boundless energies and immense creative imagination. His sincerity and purpose is evident in everything he accomplishes. “Knowledge is limiting, imagination encompasses the universe”-- Albert Einstein

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