Savile Row programme about to start in UK

[Happenstance]

Glad to see the scary faced man from Abercrobie & Fitch who was having the suit made at the end has apparently better taste in tailors than he does in plastic surgeons.

 

[mattjames]

Originally Posted by mafoofan

Bad taste has been the overwhelming trend over the course of human history; it's no worse now than before. Abercrombie's move to Savile Row may be a good thing for the tailors. Hopefully, it will force them to make the hard decision to go somewhere where they might actually survive.

The impression I got from the show was that the tailors were doing just fine, it was the possible increase in rent which had the potential to push them out, and the A&F store was likely to have that effect on the property values.

I also thought most of the managers really snobby and some of the customers featured really didn't do British stereotypes any favours.

Which English customers? There was that old adventurer guy who was alright, and the Reichman guy in the Aston Martin who I also thought was decent enough. The rest were Americans.

 

[lasbar]

Old money ..the Americans are fascinated by London and anything with a bit of history....It is still a new country built on immigrants dreams...

The guy with the Aston Martin was more middle-class public school boy...

The mix was interesting...

 

[culverwood]

Presumably the customers who appeared in the program were those who agreed to appear. In other words a self-selecting group of publicity seekers and those less shy than most.

If approached I certainly would not have wanted to have been on TV, you know they are going to edit you to fit a stereotype and you have no control of what is broadcast.

 

[tommib]

Originally Posted by mattjames

Which English customers? There was that old adventurer guy who was alright, and the Reichman guy in the Aston Martin who I also thought was decent enough. The rest were Americans.

Yeah the Aston Martin guy seemed fine, but I thought the 'explorer' was outrageous, living in a bygone era, bygone before he was probably even born probably. The man having the trousers which extended up his back into braces, I don't know what style the trousers are, I thought he was pretty awful too, fussy in really prissy way. The public school man with fox hunting coats? (He wasn't so bad.)

I suppose Savile Row's where the upper class shop, but it'd be nice to see a more cosmopolitan group of customers in the next three programmes, especially if it's all about making Savile Row popular again.

T.

 

[flatfront]

I watched and enjoyed it tremendously. I do however feel that at time some of the old boys did themselves no favours.
Why the fear? I mean they are not going to be losing business to A&F and there will be a lot more passing trade looking in windows and wondering what goes on behind the doors - free advetising as it were.
I do agree with the sentiments that A&F are trying to cash in on the Savile Row name but no-one is really going to be fooled . If they were flogging cheaply made poor quailty suits then that might be a different matter.
For me the owner of Norton & Sons came over as by far the most sensible of the interviewees. Here was a guy immersed in the traditions but not afraid to deal with the inevitable too. Sadly Dege & Skinner and A&S came over as a rather "Suits you Sir" caricatures so ridiculed in The Fast Show.
As for Blashford-Snell - The explorer - I have a friend who has been on one of his expeditions and he is indeed just like this in real life but he does walk the walk even if he does seem like a creature from a bygone age.

 

[mattjames]

I forgot about the guy with the fishtail trousers. He wasn't that bad. Even the New Yorkers were far more tolerable than I expected. (Probably because they were WASPs.)

On the whole though, I like that these eccentric Englishmen still exist.

 

[RJman]

Originally Posted by mattjames

Even the New Yorkers were far more tolerable than I expected. (Probably because they were WASPs.)
Ah yes, we find the limits of your toleranCE...

 

[lasbar]

Do i start another fight if i do ask why New-Yorkers are so criticized in America?

Is it another province/capital city battle or something more cultural?

I thought that New-Yorkers are perceived as more more in your face and pushy than other Americans...

The people i met from New-York were Euroepan expat therefore it is hard for me to get the all picture...

P.s: I'm planning a trip to New-York or Frisco,be gentle with my dreams..

 

[RJman]

...

 

[Happenstance]

The ginger guy was a character called Nick Foulkes who recently wrote a book on Dunhill, a self-proclaimed style 'expert' and 'dandy'.

 

[lasbar]

Oh yes..He is also a Rubinacci customer... He is on some of the PR docs on display in the Mount street shop....

He is certainly a Dandy but i did find him hideous in his suit..

The montage was particularly adequate when the voice-off was commentating on the link body mperfections and tailors skills..
He did look like some kind of inbreeding nobility legacy from some obscure exiled Royal families..

Sorry but such a sight was sufficient to distract me from watching this documentary...

 

[Meursault]

Originally Posted by Happenstance

The ginger guy was a character called Nick Foulkes who recently wrote a book on Dunhill, a self-proclaimed style 'expert' and 'dandy'.

He's probably the most prolific menswear writer in the UK. He's basically a freelance menswear journo. He writes regularly for the FT, and probably 90% of the articles in their last watch supplement were by him. Didn't the A&S guys fawn over him? 'No sir, there's no one else quite like you...'

 

[lasbar]

Was quite sickening ....It is hard sometimes to love bespoke ,being stuck between the guardians of an elitist temple with their old Empire bevahiour court and absurd etiquette and the Abercrombie ,Brioni and Versace of this world...

I can't stand equally these two tribes...One selling soulless objects of desire and the others denaturing the beauty of the perfect object...
Is anybody else is feeling this duality,this emotional fracture between snobs and label merchants,a strictly commercial or egotistic agenda....

That's the reason why i do love artisans with a soul...i will be more interesed in talking to the tailors upstairs than the guys downstairs...

 

[Winot]

Originally Posted by flatfront

I watched and enjoyed it tremendously. I do however feel that at time some of the old boys did themselves no favours.
Why the fear? I mean they are not going to be losing business to A&F and there will be a lot more passing trade looking in windows and wondering what goes on behind the doors - free advetising as it were.

I suspect it was carefully edited to play up the 'battle' between old and new. Enjoyable enough (especially for the obsessed such as us) but terribly cliched telly in the end.