Tag Archives: Savile Row Suits

Tailor Talk

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TAILOR TALK – A professional tailor might seem to speak a strange language at first –  the language bespoke. But most importantly he, or she, should make you feel at ease and to ask any question you wish. If you are not sure of something, just ask! Bespoke simply means made to your individual and specific pattern. The handmade tailored suit is therefore a one-of-a-kind garment that is created to make you look your very best. Understanding how best to convey your needs ensures that the tailor is able to translate your imagination into the perfect bespoke creation.

A bespoke suit speaks volumes about the wearer’s personality, character and style. Set your own trend by taking inspiration from style conscious leaders and influencers that you admire. Choose classic Saville Row style for a bespoke suit with timeless appeal or opt for contemporary simplicity with James Bond inspired elegance. Use visual references to ensure your tailor knows exactly what you want to achieve. Find a tailor who speaks your language to ensure he makes a bespoke suit that is made from a hand-drawn paper pattern to your exact body measurements.

Specialist tailors have mastered specific structuring techniques that create distinctive styles of tailoring. Whether your preference is traditional British or modern continental it is essential that you find a tailor with a complementary house style. You will feel more comfortable and relaxed with a tailor who specialises in your preferred garment style than one who has a long list of celebrity clients but doesn’t make the kind of suit you want to wear.

The tape measure never lies! No matter how you think you look the tailor will take multiple accurate measurements to capture your natural shape, size and posture. There is therefore no use in sucking in your belly when the tape measure winds around your waist. Allow the tailor to measure up so that the suit can be adjusted to compensate for specific features that you’re not comfortable with.

When visiting a tailor it is important to present the bigger picture. This means openly discussing your specific needs and requirements, along with suit purpose. When you’re being measured up you should therefore attend the appointment in suitable clothing that gives the tailor an opportunity to evaluate your unique shape and size. Wear a favourite suit and dress shoes to demonstrate how you naturally carry the garments.

When choosing a bespoke suit it is best to opt for a handmade suit that flatters your shape and size without being overly flamboyant in design. Save the quirky personal touches for the details. Add bold and luxurious silk lining to the jacket, elongate or widen the lapel and finish off with smart symmetrical buttons on the jacket sleeves. For a perfect silhouette choose a double vent.

A bespoke suit is made to your unique body shape and should therefore fit you perfectly. This means that you’ll have no need for belt loops on the trousers. Choose adjustable side tabs, with buttons, for added comfort and a streamlined look.

Take your time over any decision regarding fabric, colour, fit, style and cost. After all you want to be completely satisfied with your bespoke suit so use the multiple fittings as an opportunity to double check details. By the third fitting your suit should be practically ready to wear. Once your handmade suit is ready to wear your personal specifications will be stored in the tailor’s file, for your next appointment.

Wool: the Cloth of Kings

As part of “Throwback Thursday”, we thought it was timely to revive this piece, written by Henry Herbert founder Charlie Baker-Collingwood on Wool: the Cloth of Kings.

I felt extremely privileged to attend the Society of Dyers & Colourists conference at the magnificent Clothworkers’ Hall in London. We were treated to a fascinating group of speakers – including the Scottish weaver Malcolm Campbell who gave a truly gripping talk about wools. Wool is an extremely important textile in so many ways and indeed the cause has been taken up by HRH Prince of Wales with the Campaign for Wool. I  tried to scribble down as much of what he said as possible,

“In 1792, James MacArthur arrived in an inhabited Australia with eight yews and two rams. The Australian wool industry grew from that and today the country, as a result, has over one hundred million sheep. Indeed the global population of over six billion people live amongst a global sheep population of over one billion….56 million of those sheep living in Iran alone (the UK has a sheep population of about 25 million).

Wool can come from a variety of sources including camels, buffalos, sheep and many other animals and they can be spun to accommodate local preferences – buffalo wool for suits in America, cashmere wool for the Indian market and camel wool for the Sheiks of the Middle East. Indeed the tennis balls at Wimbledon are made from wool and the versatility of the fibre means it can be used from carpets to lingerie….and of course for suits.

Wool is a bacteria preventing, temperature cooling, water absorbing, and protecting fibre – all qualities that provide an excellent foundation for suiting. It keeps you warm when it is cold and cool when it is too hot. Master craftsmen and finishers today can add technical applications to wools including stain resisters, water resisters or a silver shield to give this fabric an even more hi-tech touch. Only wool can offer the variety of colours, provide the drape and guaranteed durability that every good suit needs. We must accept that wool is an expensive and valuable fibre, not only to preserve the quality of great looking suits but just as importantly to preserve the livelihoods of the wool farmers themselves. There have been reports of some wool farmers turning to growing grapes, or even marijuana plants (where it is legal for medicinal purposes) because the competitive pressures of producing wool have been too great. By purchasing a tailored suit with the finest wools, you are not only treating yourself to a glorious garment – you are supporting a precious industry.”

~ By Charlie Baker-Collingwood of Henry Herbert, October 2010

Roman holidays….Silvio & Babarella join the HH fleet…..

Silvio & Babarella…theyjoin the Henry Herbert fleet today to serve our Savile Row by Scooter Service. Serving up traditional and authentic English tailoring, our Vespa’s can meet you around the clock – wherever and whenever is good for you. Ciao bella!

Henry Herbert makes a suit for Lord Herbert!

Fabric:  Chalk stripe English flannel

Fabric source:  Huddersfield, England

Cut: Traditional, Double-breasted

Notes: The classic English double breasted suit, in a wonderful chalk stripe fabric from Huddersfield based mill, Dugdales Bros. This creation, by Henry Herbert Tailors, was made for Lord Herbert (pictured) – no relation to the firm, but, hopefully, a happy customer in his striking and well fitted suit. His choice of a navy chalk stripe cuts a dashing figure against the backdrop of Chelsea harbour in London.

A French wedding with an Ooh La La Suit!

Two photographs from the wedding of a young man who married in the south west of France. It was a summer wedding, so we decided upon a light weight and very fine Super 130’s wool from Thomas Fischer in Huddersfield for this young man’s wedding suit. Hopefully, the top photograph shows the elegance of the slim cut suit and the lower photograph the finesse of this excellent Huddersfield cloth. The three button suit was complemented by a brilliant white bespoke shirt and, all put together, made for a sharp looking wedding suit. The suit and cloth chosen also allow for the suit to be worn on future occasions too and will serve as a great suit for many years to come.

Henry Herbert rings the wedding bells

Bespoke Wedding Suit

We were privileged to be invited to make the shirt, waistcoat and trousers for this young gentleman for his wedding day. He selected a crisp white shirt, with the fabric from Acorn Fabrics in Lancashire, a double breasted waistcoat, using a luxurious Scottish cotton from Harrisons of Edinburgh and a pinstriped pair of trousers (with a subtle orange tinge to the stripes). The combination looks great and his bride seems happy with the result!

Autumn is approaching…make a getaway in a three-piece.

When you think of the three-piece suit, you think of the Thomas Crown Affair, or Al Pacino in The Godfather Part II, looking as fierce as any actor ever. You think of high-powered attorneys and CEOs roaming the courtrooms and boardrooms of the 1970s.

The question is: Do you ever think of yourself in one?You might want to start. The three-piece suit no longer suggests you have the corner office (or a tommy gun); it suggests you have style. Of course, it’s not as easy as one two three. You need to know how to wear it and where to wear it. The three piece offers a razor sharp suit. It even has other uses as recently reported by the New York Times. Whatever your use for a three-piece, every well dressed gentleman should have one.

Video: Time for a Three Piece Suit!

The three piece suit is a fabulous, but intricate creation. You may imagine a variety of people wearing them in a a vrierty of different environments – but can you imagine yourself in one? Perhaps you should start! A well cut three piece suit is as comfortable in the city today as it is in the country and every well dressed gentleman should have one. This short video by Henry Herbert Tailors shows you one of our carefully crafted three piece suits, using a Tweed fabric from an English mill.

Video: Bespoke Blue Suit by Henry Herbert Tailors

A short video by Henry Herbert Tailors to show the delights of a blue suit. Blue wool is an acquired taste, but it is a striking colour to choose, which can be worn professionally and socially, attracting equally strong compliments in both walks of life.  Henry Herbert makes each tailored suit using the finest English & Scottish wools…the wool in this video is from an English mill called Brook Taverner.

Time for a Three-Piece Suit

Three Piece Suit WaistcoatBespoke Wedding Waistcoat

An example of an excellent and very fine cloth from Taylor & Lodge of Huddersfield, England, in a recent Henry Herbert three-piece suit. The customer chose a simple and elegant style to the suit – a two button single breasted jacket, with a straight pocket either side. The suit is enhanced hugely by:

1. Excellent choice of cloth,

2. Savile Row tapering to the sides of the jacket, and

3. A very simple coat style complemented by a waistcoat.

James Bond Fabric Meets Henry Herbert Tailoring

Dormeuil Bespoke Suits Bespoke Suits on Savile Row

We make a variety of suits for a variety of different budgets and try to be as accommodating as possible. But this is one very special cloth – a Super 160’s from Dormeuil. We have made it for a customer who has worked hard and is in a position to indulge himself and it is the softest and most delicate fabric we have ever worked with. We can only hope the camera shot does the fabric some justice. In case you didn’t know, Dormeuil supply the cloth for the suits in the James Bond films!

Navy birdseye suit

 

Navy birdseye suit

Birdseye suit

Navy birdseye is perhaps the ultimate cloth for a timeless and all season suit. Don’t just take our word for it, ask James Bond. A navy birdseye suit was the clothing of choice for Pierce Brosnan in Goldeneye back in 1995, and just like James Bond the cloth and the suit proved timeless, indestructible, and stylish to the end.

Birds eye is an unusual and special pattern. From a distance it appears solid but up close it creates a subtle surface full of depth without being distracting. It has more depth and a far richer effect than a solid worsted especially when you choose a dark grey or a navy fabric.

It’s a mature, traditional fabric with a traditional but timeless pattern of small circles. Bird’s Eye has a tiny dot in the centre that’s hard to see from a distance. The pattern, like the name suggests, resembles a bird’s eye and is characterised by the small pupil-like centre dot. Many people confuse the birds eye pattern with nailhead, but there is a subtle difference that definitely adds texture to plain colours – birdseye cloth has distinctive round larger dots on a diagonal layout. A navy birdseye suit like the one that Pierce Brosnan wore – is unbelievably stylish, though you hardly every see it worn anywhere these days because it seems to have fallen out of fashion with the younger crowd. Recently though it seems to be making something of a welcome comeback as men search for something traditional but slightly and subtly different.

For me navy birdseye is the ultimate traditional cloth for a timeless, all-season suit that is definitely contemporary enough to be worn today and is also durable for regular office wear. When you see someone wearing a well-cut navy birdseye suit you know that he is seasoned. Personally I love the birdseye weave. To me it gives you a mature look that is both perfect for every day wear and durable enough for a hard day in the office. The navy birdseye is one of my favourite patterns for a suit because it creates a subtle surface interest that has a great depth to it without being too distracting. It’s also a very welcome variation from the usual plainer suit cloths helping you subtly stand out from the crowd without people quite knowing why.

Will a navy birdseye suit you and your style? Of course it will.