Savile Row tailors: the GQ Guide
Everything you need to know about buying a bespoke suit from one of the storied Savile Row tailors on the world’s most famous suiting street
Women may have Milan and Paris but London is undeniably menswear’s global capital and the most important street in this world is Savile Row, a modest Mayfair row of the men’s tailors that quite simply make the best suits for men in the world – so much so that today, the Japanese for suit is "sabiro" (say it out loud).
Of course, what the street is best known for is being the undeniable home of hand-crafted British bespoke - so called because when customers used to choose their cloth it was said to "be spoken for". But over the past two decades, an influx of international designer labels have opened up the street's offering to also include ready-to-wear and made-to-measure suiting. Basically, it’s the go-to hub for any man who’s serious about formal dressing.
While purists sometimes eye these newcomers with caution, this means that if you can't stretch to buying bespoke there are now far more options open to every budget. The trick is knowing who is best tailored to you (pun intended). Though the street of options seems endless, we’re here to help you out.
Here is GQ's guide to everything you need to know about buying a men's suit on London's most stylish street, from the best tailors and their various house specialities to hints, tips and insider info about each outpost. And if you’re looking for further advice on specific suit styles, our edits of best double-breasted suits, best linen suits, best tweed suits, best wedding suits, best wool suits, best affordable suits, and best tuxedos are sure to suffice your seasonless needs.
Now, for a trip up the Row...
1/23With a rich history going back until 1771, Gieves & Hawkes officially opened in 1974, as the perfect marrying of tailors Hawkes and Gieves. At Number 1, it occupies the grand white building on the corner of Savile Row, so you can’t (and shouldn’t) miss it. Gieves & Hawkes’ tailoring history involves crafting military uniforms, and this is reflected in their penchant for high arm holes and roped shoulders, which of course, by virtue of bespoke tailoring, can be opted out of.
James Whitaker2/23Joseph? You’re wondering what they’re doing on Savile Row, if they got lost on the way to Regent Street and somehow found themselves in Number 2. February 2016 saw the brand launch their first menswear-only store right here, and what better place to do so. They don’t offer bespoke suits, or even made-to-measure, but what they do bring to the prestigious street is a slightly less intimidating option for younger clients, who are perhaps making their first venture into tailoring and by extension, the sartorial Row.
3/23Kilgour made a name for itself by providing many of the most recognisable suits on screen: notably, Fred Astaire’s tailcoat in Top Hat (1935) and dressing Daniel Craig in Layer Cake (2004). To distinguish it from the many other tailors sitting side-by-side, Kilgour resembles a high-fashion, designer store far more than a quintessential English men’s outfitters: sleek, minimalist, little on display. Like most others on the street, they offer bespoke, made-to-measure, and ready-to-wear, with their signature style involving a neat shoulder and shaping through the torso for extension.
4/23Sir Edwin Hardy Amies was Queen Elizabeth II’s dressmaker, so they know a thing or two about providing the best of British tailoring. The brand boasts a colourful and fast-paced history; beginning in womenswear, becoming one of the first tailors in Europe to sell ready-to-wear, and eventually declaring bankruptcy shortly after the founder’s resignation and death. Having been bought up by Fung Capital in 2009, Hardy Amies returns, and with it your opportunity to call their famous Heddon and Brinsley jackets your own.
5/23It seems difficult to think of a better suited (excuse the pun) occupant for Number 9 than one of the best British designers to date: Alexander McQueen on Savile Row was opened posthumously, three years after McQueen’s death. They only offer either bespoke tailoring or ready-to-wear, but McQueen’s signature ‘pagoda shoulder’ – sloping upwards towards the seam – is all you really need, with their suits typically contemporary in style and flatteringly slim. Famous wearers: Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Tom Hardy, and Benedict Cumberbatch.
6/23Dege & Skinner embodies Savile Row, from aesthetic allure to its history, being one of only two family-run businesses left on the street. The story of its origins is a sweet one – schoolboys Arthur Dege and William Skinner meeting at Merchant Taylor’s School in 1880 – specialising in military tailoring to start with, like other stores on the Row. Dege & Skinner offer bespoke services and ready-to-wear suits, but also tailor-made shirts to accompany these (which they were the first to introduce to the Row).
7/23Huntsman was founded in 1809, but only moved to its position at Number 11 a century later in 1919, just in time for its ‘golden age,’ as it were. The Roaring Twenties saw the brand’s upper-class reputation establish itself, as clientele such as The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Kent, and Lord Charles Cavendish all coveted a Huntsman suit. Offering bespoke, made-to-measure, and ready-to-wear, the tailor’s classic silhouette is distinct: rigid shoulder, high armhole, defined waist and a skirt flaring out from beneath that solo, Huntsman button.
8/23Scabal boasts a 75-year history and a place on Savile Row since 1971, but interestingly, they had a great deal to do with the street before this official move in date, in making and delivering the fabrics used by the tailors in residence. Scabal was the first to offer ‘bunches’ here – those books of fabrics that you flip through to decide – and as cloth-makers and weavers by trade, it makes sense that the experts in fabrics expanded into tailoring themselves. It has allowed them to establish a firm place on the prestigious Row in offering bespoke, made-to-measure, and ready-to-wear – even dressing Marlon Brando in The Godfather.
9/23Ray Stowers spent a quarter of a century as the head of bespoke at Gieves & Hawkes before leaving the company to create Stowers Bespoke with his son: an affordable take on personal tailoring to counter the mass-produced ready-to-wear found on high streets. Now, Stowers offers bespoke clothing far beyond just the suiting that the sartorial Row specialises in, but sticking to tradition, you could nab yourself a made-to-measure wool two-piece suit for around the £1000 mark. Their signature style is quintessentially British: high armholes and a slim-fitting waist.
10/23Richard Anderson’s eponymous outpost was founded by the tailor after he left Huntsman, where he was trained by head-cutter Colin Hammick, and was famously taught to measure within a sixteenth of an inch. His own establishment operates on an assembly line system – albeit a very expensive one – with each tailor responsible for an individual element: collar, lining, sleeves, etc. The costs are high (a two-piece, bespoke suit estimated at costing around the £5,400 mark) but at Richard Anderson’s, the tailors boast over 100 years of experience between them. Time truly is money.
11/23Cad & The Dandy is one of the youngest additions to the prestigious home of British tailoring, opened on Savile Row in 2013, having only been founded for five years by two bankers who had recently been made redundant in the Recession. Neither had experience in tailoring, but they were certainly veteran suit-wearers, and this prompted them to create the success-story that is Cad & The Dandy, now with three stores across the capital, as well as abroad. What they can give you – uniquely on Savile Row – is an affordable bespoke service, by offering both traditional, in-house tailored suits, as well as ‘semi-bespoke’: a half hand-stitched, half machine-made alternative, starting at only £800 and made in India.
12/23On the first floor of Number 13, you’ll find Savile Row’s first women’s only tailors on the street, founded by the entrepreneurial spirit that is Phoebe Gormley in 2015. With continued experience as an intern on the Row from the age of fifteen, Gormley’s ‘G&G’ finally provides made to last garments for the other half of the population, using only the finest fabrics from the UK and Italy. Cad & the Dandy agreed to shop share with Gormley, and her business continues to thrive as a made-to-measure service for timeless suiting and dresses.
13/23
14/23Norton & Sons were founded in 1821, originally on The Strand, but moving to their permanent fixture of Number 16 by the 1860s. Despite being a relatively small store compared to others – with only seven tailors, two cutters employed at a time, and producing around 300 bespoke suits annually – this has far from affected their success, having dressed international royalty, three US Presidents, and Winston Churchill himself. Their signature silhouette is simple and classic – a neatly cut shoulder paired with a shaped waist – and a two-piece suit starts at £4,200.
15/23
16/23Chester Barrie has an interesting backstory that has always – unlike almost all other stores on the Row – been built upon ready-to-wear tailoring. Simon Ackerman moved to New York at the turn of the 20th century, and here discovered a gap in the market for high-quality British suits, but of course, bespoke tailoring was never really an option here. In 1935 he founded the company, and suits were both sold locally and exported. The rights to the company have since been sold – meaning you can now buy the brand in various department stores – and in doing so have allowed it to live on, offering ready-to-wear and made-to-measure services at its Savile Road home.
17/23Welsh & Jefferies, like so many of the other tailors on the sartorial street, began its career by making military wear (possibly the best out there, as the official dressmakers of the Prince of Wales) and uniforms for Eton College. Since 2012 however, it has been spearheaded by head cutter James Cottrell and director Yingmei Quan: the first Chinese female master cutter on the Row, and winner of the Golden Shears Award in 2011. Now, it has drifted from its soldiery roots somewhat, and is becoming renowned for its growing female client base.
18/23A plethora of young tailors infiltrated the Savile Row scene in the early Nineties, and Richard James is no exception, setting up shop in 1992 and introducing contemporary, bespoke tailoring with slimming cuts and bolder fabrics. In our interview with Richard James, he reveals the animosity he was met with when they first opened – partially for keeping the shop open on weekends – but this has changed drastically now, with Richard James firmly established in the world of tailoring. They offer bespoke, made-to-measure, and ready-to-wear, with the house silhouette involving a longer jacket with a narrow waist, and high armholes.
Getty Images19/23Ozwald Boateng is renowned in the tailoring world for his bold reinterpretation of traditional British suit making, and his brand – moving to Savile Row for the first time in 2002, but boasting a much longer history than that – is built upon this mantra. He has since been awarded an OBE, and has previously collaborated with Virgin Atlantic, Coutts, and took on the role of Creative Director of Menswear at Givenchy for a while. At the Savile Row flagship store, you can choose from bespoke or made-to-measure suits.
Getty Images20/232008 saw the French fashion label, Lanvin, open its menswear store on Savile Row, bringing with it years of craftsmanship and tradition to rival the Mayfair veterans of Henry Poole or Gieves & Hawkes. Parisian chic is brought to the Row in their ready-to-wear collection, but the store will also offer made-to-measure services. With a name as established as theirs, there is little else to say.
No. 34-35: Gary Anderson
Established in 1958, the brand moved to the street in 1998 with an aim – like the other Nineties newcomers – to revamp tradition and bring a fashionable edge to a somewhat fossilised Row. They offer ready-to-wear and made-to-measure suits, but also offer a bespoke shirt service that is harder to find on Savile Row. Their house silhouette is simple, priding attention to detail over elaborate design, while also offering ready-to-wear tailoring for women, too.
No. 36: Jeff Banks
Jeff Banks didn’t make a name for himself at Savile Row – it was long before that. As co-founder of Warehouse and boutique store, Clobber, Banks has won Menswear Journalist of the Year, Womenswear Designer of the Year, and Retailer of the Year: all of these flattering accolades are reflected in his small store at Number 36. They offer both bespoke suiting and shirts, with a two-piece starting at around the £1,500 mark.
No. 37: Nick Tentis
Nick Tentis moved onto Savile Row in 2009: only four years after the brand established themselves. They offer bespoke and made-to-measure services, with seasonal fabrics to choose from in bolder, brighter shades than are usually found on the street, and their in-house style is clean, simple, and modern. The brand have progressed as the rest of us have, and unlike so many others on the Row, they have used Instagram and the digital age to advance, and show off all that is on offer (so be sure to check that out).
21/23Davies & Son claims to have the longest history of any independent tailor on Savile Row, dating back to 1803 and with the clientele list to match: kings, princes, knights, presidents – you name it. It is one of the three bespoke-only tailors on the Row, so if this is what you’re after, Davies & Son do it best. With only four cutters on the team, they offer an intimate, bespoke experience.
22/23So you’ve reached Number 39, and you’re likely to have found a suitable tailors by now. This is where Gaziano & Girling come in: bespoke shoemakers, established in 2006. If you aren’t feeling quite brave enough to design your own shoe yet, the store also offers ready-to-wear or made-to-measure. They claim to have never had a negative week since moving to the Row in 2014, and this is likely because the experience they offer feels well-established and professional, far beyond their twelve years.
23/23Primarily providing tailored shirts, The Savile Row Company enjoys a long history (1938) of exporting out of the Row, to department stores and individual retailers, and claim to have been one of the first menswear companies to go digital, with their online store opening in 2001 and still carrying a great deal of their business. They no longer manufacture in England, unlike most others on the Row, but this allows them to ship to over 80 countries and provide an online-based made-to-measure service. At Number 40, though, the company do still offer bespoke experiences that can’t be found on the Internet.
Now read:
Best suits for men: GQ's ultimate guide
