Thursday, August 24th, 2006
Buying a suit on Savile Row
One of the pleasures of living in London is tapping into traditional British things. I’ve recently started the process of buying a suit on Savile Row, whose tailors have clothed the likes of Winston Churchill and the Queen.
I’ll keep you up to date on my progress.
Like everything worthwhile I made innumerable mistakes on my first foray.
For a start I was far too casually dressed with old boat shoes, jeans and a shirt with a rip under the arm.
I didn’t think that mattered as I was just planning to scout around a few stores.
I first went to Gieves & Hawkes, which was started in 1771, after reading they provide ‘made to measure’ suits, which is somewhere between an off-the-rack suit and a (hideously expensive) bespoke, or handmade, suit.
As soon as I walked in I realized I was poorly prepared.
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As one reviewer said, Gieves & Hawkes is “so rarefied” and “so stuffy” they get “a slight tremor every time I chain my bike to their railing.”
But amazingly for this day and age, the assistant was brilliant. In a forceful manner he told me to relax and let go of what he called my ‘military’ stiffness and took my measurements (asking me to raise my arms and revealing my ripped shirt!).
I then tried on a couple of suits and he gave me a diagnosis. Basically I have a ‘wrestler’s’ build from years of powerlifting. That means a lot of work will have to go into making a suit that makes my shoulders squarer.
There was no hard sell and he encouraged me to look around at other stores on the street and at more modern suits from the likes of Hugo Boss, which I plan to do.
But I’m determined not to be put off by what can be an intimidating process.
The benefit of nice fashion stores is that they are like shining a harsh light on yourself. After my visit to Savile Row I realised I needed to relax, lose some weight and improve my wardrobe!
Word Count: 333. This entry was posted on Thursday, August 24th, 2006 at 7:33 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
