A Discussion Thread for Swan Songs

[RJman]

As for SAB briefcases ... I have a heavily used one that no longer makes the cut. Sad. I'm guessing it made 15 years of use.

Exactly the same case with mine. I switched to my generic nylon laptop bag and am actually much more comfortable.

 

[Frog in Suit]

I'm using a small phone while traveling ... please forgive the typos ... I can barely read what I'm writing.

I would answer yes to your question if we are talking London generally. And somewhat on Savile Row. But, all the tailors I have used are still in business and on The Row or nearby ... even if a couple have lost some luster.

Some of the places now gone include Bowring, Arundel, and Co. It went from The Row to the Burlington Arcade to being opposite but absorbed into New & Lingwood (or so it appeared). They day I found out that Lord's was missing from the Burlington Arcade I almost cried. Many establishments are gone ... and few are what they used to be. Then again, there are new places. But to our RJman for a minute ... I love his distinction between the quality produced in England vs. France ... and he is on target in my opinion. Of course, he knows so much more about it than I do.

Was just thinking about S.A.B. In my time it has gone from worn but grand quarters on Piccadilly ... to a pseudo-baronial premises somewhere between Savile Row and Mount Street ... to blond wood hell on St. James's ... and now they are in the Burlington Arcade ... I believe. For a while they even had an small outpost in San Francisco (in the 80's or 90's ?). I'll have to check them out when I'm in England in a few weeks.

I am honored to say that I was with RJman when I got my Hilditch & Key Paris La Dame à la licorne scarf. I also had an Arnys Cavalier almost identical to his ... although I did not purchase under his guidance. Caring not about the upturned nose , I still have and wear a couple of Forestière coats. I'm a Corbu fan. I even wore mine on the Right Bank (crossing myself) way back when I spent a brief while out back at the Avenue Montagne hôtel particulier of Monsieur Le Duc de La Rochefoucauld. Madame la Duchesse had to pay for her daily coif and was willing to rent a portion of the former stables (living, dining, kitchen & bath) and a wine cave (the bedroom).

I've been skipping around the book and am almost done. I'm enjoying greatly.

SAB are in the Piccadilly Arcade, a few doors from, or even next to, Budd and Benson & Clegg. Over the years, I have acquired three of their brollys, the first one in 1984 or 5 (Piccadilly shop), with a thick whangee handle that I have been told to cherish because you can't find those anymore. I still covet their Gladstone bag but it is way beyond my means. I have a very old, but more recent, Herbert Johnson flat cap. Most good shops in London have been "modernized" into nothing. The last tailor's shop with a frosted glass front was Meyer and Mortimer (= Jones, Chalk and Dawson) and they have moved...

 

[RJman]

SAB are in the Piccadilly Arcade, a few doors from, or even next to, Budd and Benson & Clegg. Over the years, I have acquired three of their brollys, the first one in 1984 or 5 (Piccadilly shop), with a thick whangee handle that I have been told to cherish because you can't find those anymore. I still covet their Gladstone bag but it is way beyond my means.

chere grenouille endimanchee
there are some vintage ones I can hook you up with online if interested. In addition a few former SAB makers are on their own making stuff the right way at relatively more reasonable prices, they could make you one to order too.

 

[ValidusLA]

Just received my copy today and through part 1. Really enjoying it so far. As a 35 year old who has been to Paris many times, but only on short vacations, even just the section on Old England is eye opening to me.

there are some vintage ones I can hook you up with online if interested. In addition a few former SAB makers are on their own making stuff the right way at relatively more reasonable prices, they could make you one to order too.

Are these makers online?

 

[dieworkwear]

Are these makers online?

I believe Ray Clark used to work for SAB and was selling stuff under his own name for a while. Don't believe he's available anymore, but he used to sell on Etsy.

 

[RJman]

I believe Ray Clark used to work for SAB and was selling stuff under his own name for a while. Don't believe he's available anymore, but he used to sell on Etsy.

@ValidusLA That's the one I have in mind. I believe there was a guy on this forum under the username casemaker who had been at SAB, might be the same guy. Rats. I did once talk to Bertrand Montillet about making a version of my SAB and he quoted me a fair (nowhere near SAB but not cheap) price.

 

[dieworkwear]

I believe there was a guy on this forum under the username casemaker who had been at SAB

Sadly, he recently passed away.

Simon Baker - Casemaker

Has anyone had contact with Simon Baker, he has the username "casemaker" on here? I had ordered a briefcase from him back in May 2014. This is the second case I ordered from him, the first one took over 2 years to complete, but the work was excellent. The case I ordered, and placed a deposit...

www.styleforum.net

 

[ValidusLA]

Well that's too bad. Though that thread is rather a depressing read at the end.

I have now been looking through old Paris photos. I have some badly lit selfies taken on the Opera balcony facing the Place taken in May '12 (ostensibly right before Old England went over?). I can see the hotel signage but not OE's.

Makes me think how many other things I was within a stones throw of without knowing.

 

[RSS]

SAB are in the Piccadilly Arcade, a few doors from, or even next to, Budd and Benson & Clegg. .

Piccadilly ... not Burlington. Noted.

 

[Peter1]

I have a somewhat privileged view, as we've lived in Paris for a decade now, after a decade in Manhattan. I don't particularly care about classic menswear (although we do live around the corner from Lucca), but the excerpt certainly captures the Left Bank today.

The one thing that has surprised us about Paris is how affordable it is for young people. That sounds incongruous but because of rent regulation, apartments are pretty cheap compared to NYC or SF. They may be small and crappy but you can still find lots of places to live within a 10-minute metro/RER ride of Notre Dame for 1,500 euros or less. So the city's bohemian life isn't totally dead; some of it is moving out to the edge communities, however.

And much of the city's wealth doesn't actually spend much time here; witness the permanently closed volets on Avenue Foch, for example.

 

[Peter1]

As to whether the French are stylish, yeah, I think so. I've even had lunch with Alexander Kraft...

But I don't move in circles where tailoring is even a question so will defer to RJ.

 

[RJman]

As to whether the French are stylish, yeah, I think so. I've even had lunch with Alexander Kraft...

But I don't move in circles where tailoring is even a question so will defer to RJ.

does Kraft consider himself French? Is it like a Karl Lagerfeld thing?

In other swan news engraver Agry is moving :

 

[Peter1]

That was a joke about Kraft, he's German, but runs Sotheby's in Monaco/PACA,. I actually like his style; he really seems to enjoy wearing his own RTW clothes as well as Cifonelli etc.

 

[ballmouse]

I visited London just prior to the pandemic and went to SAB. It was not the old English establishment I was expecting. It was a very small store with bright lights under the supervision of a single store assistant who I expected was a model. Very nice and pleasant to look at, but not exactly the most reassuring feeling when spending a few hundred for an umbrella.

Went to James Smith and while maybe it's not the luxury brand SAB is, an older salesperson who spent his entire working life at the store spent probably an hour with me going over all the different umbrellas and highlighting their proficiencies. After I bought one of their single sticks, I was given a post card on which a photo of the store took up the full back side. It looked exactly as it did then and I have no idea which decade the photo was taken. 1980s or even 1950s would not have surprised me.

 

[RJman]

I visited London just prior to the pandemic and went to SAB. It was not the old English establishment I was expecting. It was a very small store with bright lights under the supervision of a single store assistant who I expected was a model. Very nice and pleasant to look at, but not exactly the most reassuring feeling when spending a few hundred for an umbrella.

Went to James Smith and while maybe it's not the luxury brand SAB is, an older salesperson who spent his entire working life at the store spent probably an hour with me going over all the different umbrellas and highlighting their proficiencies. After I bought one of their single sticks, I was given a post card on which a photo of the store took up the full back side. It looked exactly as it did then and I have no idea which decade the photo was taken. 1980s or even 1950s would not have surprised me.

Yeah, Smith has been in one place for decades if not a century. SAB was at 185 Piccadilly for something like a century before moving in like 1998, after that it moved three times as ownership changed and rents drove it from place to place. What's funny is that actual non-iGent Londoners suspect the Smith shop is like a money laundering front or something because they can't imagine anyone actually going in.

@ValidusLA IIRC Old England closed in early 2012, in part due to a fire that moved up the shutdown date that was already scheduled since it had already been bought out.