Gieves & Hawkes, No1 Savile Row, the best address
After reading the Times newspaper, it is sad to say that the Royal Tailor with the best address on No1. Savile Row; Gieves & Hawkes freehold flagship store has been sold to the parent Chinese group Wing Tai Properties for a whopping £8.5 million
According to Companies House reports Gieves & Hawkes made a loss £2.4 million at the year ending December 2010. Their turn-over was 15.6million as compared to the previous year of £16.6 million. This just basically means that they have made losses for at least two years in a row.
In addition this has led Gieves & Hawkes to close a further 8 concession stores 7 of which are in House of Fraser. Never-less the company still has 4 concessions in Harvey Nichol and Selfridges and there are still 10 stores dotted around.
The original founders were Gieves founded in 1785, and Hawkes founded in 1771. Gieves and Hawkes merged in the late 19th Century. The tailors started as suppliers to the British Army and Royal Navy. It makes bespoke suits for the Royal family such as Prince William and Prince Harry. Gieves & Hawkes are tailors that are not afraid to re-invent it-self. It was the first on Savile Row to make ready to wear suits. To this day 20% of its turnover is from making bespoke suits and the rest from ready to wear but that still has not saved it from the recession that started in 2008 as its brands continue to slowly diminish and fade in the ever challenging UK market.
Peak Lapel Dinner Suit
The dinner suit also know as Tuxedos is one of the most interesting kinds of formal evening wear; it isn’t as stiff and rigid as the white tie events and it isn’t as comfortable as the morning or day suit. It was at its peak of ingenuity between the years of 1930 and 1940. This is wear the crafting of what we call Black Tie wear comes from. They took all the etiquette rules they had at the time and took comfort and class to a whole new level.
Lets look at all the components that go into a Dinner suit or as some people would call it a Black Tie event. This event could be anything from a cocktail party to a formal dinner to a regular party. But it is important to remember never to have or wear your black tie suit before 6pm (hence the term evening wear). That is considered very poor etiquette and is frowned upon in most circles. The pieces of what makes a dinner suit will be listed below.
Fabric colors – The term black tie is a bit of a give-away. Black is the traditional color, black stands out especially with the shirt and bow tie. Although black is the tradition midnight blue is considered the classic. Midnight blue was introduced during the 1930s because the color is able to keep its richness whereas black can seem to fade especially in old suits where the cloth can fade and has a grayish shade especially in parties that start before sunset. In addition black seems rather dull and boring. Today it is rather difficult to find midnight blue dinner suits in off the peg or ready to wear therefore made to measure or bespoke is your best option.
Types of suit fabrics
Ever hear the expression, “The suit makes the man, or woman.” Well have you wondered what makes a suit? We are going to cover what types of suit fabrics make up those beautiful and elegant suits that business men and other professionals have adorned for years. There are many different fabrics out there so pay close attention and find the right one for you. If you are not sure a general rule of thumb is to go for natural wool fabrics.
Natural Fibers
Things that fall under this category are wool, linen, silk, cashmere, cotton, polyester and microFibers. These fabrics are all found in nature and are either grown or harvested. That is what classifies them as natural, being that they come from source and are not manufactured. Not being manufactured just means that they are already a fiber and that there is no creation process to turn them into a usable fiber. It does take some work to get these natural fibers into a workable fabric, but it is not the same as creating the fibers themselves.
Wool
Wool is the best suiting fabric available today. This is a natural fiber that is harvested from sheep and other animals such as goat (Cashmere and Mohair). It can be a light weight and durable material, but has a high tendency to wrinkle. This is probably one of the most versatile fabrics out there right now. It can be dyed almost any color, holds that color well, and breathes well on top of that.
Ways of Processing Wool Yarns
There are two main ways to process the wools into wool yarns. These are worsted and woolen.
Introduction
There are many components to every men’s wedding suit, but there are even more components when it comes to what is right to wear and when.
Do you have a wedding coming up?
Are you stressing about how to outfit yourself, let alone the other guys in your party?
What Groomswear options do I have?
It can be a very stressful time planning a wedding so here is a guide that should help take the guess work out of looking your best on that memorable day.
Things to remember before deciding on your wedding suit
The Bride: First of all you will need to know some fundamental truths when it comes to proper dress on your big day. The first is to always remember what your fiancé’s dress looks like and to pick your suit color accordingly. Ok you got me there, I know you are not supposed to see the dress otherwise its bad luck. Ask the bride to give you subtle hints such as colour, styles and accessories so you can match it. Better still get someone who has seen images of the dress to help you out.
Wedding Theme and Colours: Some weddings will have wedding themes so find this out before you decide. Always remember to keep the look professional because what you’re wearing is what you will be seeing immortalized in your wedding photos from now till death do you part. When you are picking your suit and color schemes remember to keep it simple too many colors may look tacky or out of place especially if you already have a two or even three color scheme. It is also important to pick colors that will compliment each other.
Savile Row - Normally misspelt as Saville Row. This is the place where the rich and famous from all over the world such as Royal families, billionaires, footballers, pop stars, film stars and even gangsters get their suit's tailored.
There are as many tailor shops as there are townhouses some would say as you walk down Savile Row. Most people view Savile Row as the Mecca of Tailoring; even Huality Tailoring has a fitting room down the Row.
Savile Row, the east side
This is a look at Savile Row – Who’s Who- The Main Players in the tailor game. The top of the line shops have been called the Godfathers of the Mayfair mafia. But we let you decide what you think of each of them as we cover them.
Savile Row was not only where the most famous tailors in the history of the world have are or were established, but it was originally the home of the rich and wealthy. There is no other way to describe it other than that some bright minded people thought it a brilliant idea to have their shops in close proximity to the upper class, and those who lived in the Savile Row area. The tailors have been there since before the 19th century.
Finally the World Cup 2010 in South Africa is here. Since we are suit-a-holics we will discuss the new England Single Breasted 3 piece suit.
Looking at the photo from left to right we have: Theo Walcot, Emil Heskey, Matthew Upson, Steven Gerrard, Michael Carrick, Joleon Lescott, David James,Robert Green, Jermain Defoe, Gareth Barry, Stewart Downing and Shaun Wright-Phillips.
The England squad looks very suited up and very fashionable indeed. This is a Single Breast 2 Button grey suit made from Marks and Spencers. I always prefer two buttons because somehow it looks slicker and defines the body better than a 3 button but more formal than a 1 button. Looking further at the Jacket details we have the notch lapel and slanted pockets, a timeless look.
The waistcoat is simply a single breasted 5 button pointed bottoms, another classic timeless look added to the 3 Piece Suit.
According to my sources, the pure wool with black and white birds-eye woven fabric are made by Alfred Brown, a Yorkshire Mill in Bramley Leeds. This family company has been running since 1915, currently at its third generation and has been suppliers to great Savile Row tailors down London.
As you can see from the picture the tailored suits all fitted beautifully. No doubt these are tailored according to the player’s measurements and body shape.
Where can you get one of these you and how much you may ask? Well the suits are made by Marks & Spencer so no doubt M&S are quick to offer these. The damage, its only £199 but as with all off-the-peg or ready to made wear these are not going to be fitted like the way it fits the players as in the photos.
I was watching the first televised prime ministerial debate the other day. Due to the fact that this is the first in the UK Election history it is no wonder that there is so much debates about who came out on top in terms of best and worse policy.
For me, not being too political, here you have 3 men in 3 fitted suits, let’s analyse their styles and find the best fitted suit.
David Cameron went for the typical Tory old boy look, blue tie with the Dark blue suit. David Cameron suit costs £3,500 by Richard Anderson of Savile Row. David has started to wear Savile Row suits since late 2009 (before then it was off-the-peg). When news first broke out about his newly fitted suit he was quite embarrassed about it (quoted by the Telegraph) because at the time the Conservative Spin doctors were getting acres of coverage’s about his Wife Samantha Cameron wearing a £65 dress from Marks and Spencers. This did not bode too well for Mr Cameron as his wife is seen as down to earth and in touch with the working people whereas he is donning around in a £3.5k suit.
Clegg(gold), Cameron(blue), Brown(Pink)
Huality Tailoring is proud to announce the launch of our new website. After many feedbacks from you we are excited to say that the site has a more vibrant modern look, new content, significant layout updates, features and super friendly.
There is the bespoke styles section that shows some of our many suit styles which was lacking in our old site. We have added easier help and support such as FAQs and a search function for you to find things more quickly and easily.
Our new Blog
Due to popular demand there is now a new Blog to keep you up-to-date with the latest news, style advice, special offers, technical articles about bespoke tailoring and anything interesting about suits.
I would like to say thanks to all the customers, friends and family who took time and effort to provide us with the advice and feedbacks, it was invaluable.
It was your constant enthusiasm and support that has made this Blog come about. We did not realised and are very flattered that so many of you are interested in our journey. From now on it would be my pleasure to update you with everything that goes on within Huality, from latest news to anything interesting about suits and tailoring.
Dying to tell us ways of improving it?
We want our new bespoke suit website to be everything you want it to be and so would love to know your thoughts. You can be as honest as you like, so please give us your feedback and let us know what you think.
Have your say, post us your comments now.
To celebrate the launch of our new website, we are giving away *FREE Made to Measure Shirts with a capital plural 'S'. Yes you can have as many shirts as you like, and no they are not cheap. Each made to measure shirt is worth at least £50. In my BabbleGeek definition this is called BabbleGeek Stupid Give Away (BSGA).
What's the cost? You haven't been listening have you? Nothing! Not a single penny, it's FREE and as many as you like. OK, enough of the Babble ranting and raving, what's the catch?
OK OK you got me there, there is a little catch. All we ask from you are two things:
- remain a subscriber to our email newsletter
- refer a new customer (not an existing) to us and if they buy a suit we will give you a FREE made to measure shirt.
Don't forget to tell the new customer that you referred to mention your name and email address during the purchase of their new suit. That's all there is to it.
I say no more before I come out with some more BSGAs and get taken away in a straitjacket by the Huality Tailoring Team..
Sign up and get a free shirt
