Hand and Lock Embroidery

On the street where we live

Savile Row is celebrating GQ’s 20th birthday with a collection of window displays that pay homage to over 200 years of sartorial style.

Few things evoke ‘England’ in just a word or two. Right at the top of the list, alongside the Queen, cricket and afternoon tea sits Savile Row. Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill, Haile Selassie, Ralph Fiennes, they’ve all had their inside leg measured on this street. Why? Because the day you are outfitted on the Row, you have arrived. A Savile Row bespoke suit doesn’t clothe you, it announces you. Savile Row has even made its way into other languages - the Japanese word for suit is ’saburo’, a straight phonetic copy.

Like Cork Street galleries, Jermyn Street shirts and Bond street jewellers, it has its own energy, its own senseof heritage. There is so much more to Savile Row than just a street address. It is a reference point for fashion around the world. Look at Alexander McQueen or Stella McCartney, who both trained here, or Tom Ford and Ralph Lauren, who have both leant on it for inspiration.

One of the best things about having a true bespoke piece is that, as a one-off made solely for one person with the very highest production values, each one represents British craftsmanship at its finest. And because they are not covered in logos or awash with branding, the suits show that their wearers have a thorough appreciation for what really constitutes style and GQ quality.

England equals men’s elegance. It is a laboratory for men’s design. And now Savile Row suits are appealing to an ever-younger audience: savvy, stylish men who are after something different, who aren’t content to just wander up and around Picadilly and Oxford Street like everyone else. Because  of that, standards are higher than ever and the suit - a resurgent garment if ever there were one - is a cause worth championing. Suits you? But of course! Visit GQ.com to see pictures of the GQ Anniversary windows.

GQ December 2008, Twenty Golden Years of Style and Success

Posted on Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 at 10:36 pm. Read on: Events, In the press, News.
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