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‘Saucy cut togs’ and Contemporary Men’s
Flamboyancy
By Hardeep Gill
English Tailoring and Savile Row
English tailoring has been influen7al world-‐wide since the 17th Century. The magic behind Savile Row is about crea7ng a masterpiece that allows
you to alter the contour of the body.
City Life
The Texts
‘In London’s Maze’: The Pleasures of Fashionable Consumption by
Christopher Breward
“Transac7ons within the menswear shop instead represented the first stages in the forma7on of masculine iden77es that have otherwise been obscured by the insistence that men somehow resisted the blandishment’s of consumer culture through an adherence to
ra7onal decision-‐making processes.”
(Breward, 1999:157)
“To be respectably aPred excited curiosity, but a seedy appearance provokes contempt”
(Breward, 1999:165)
Fashioning the Gentleman: A Study of Henry Poole and Co., Savile Row Tailors
1861-1900 by Fiona Anderson
“Mr. Poole was the head of the most noted tailoring firm in the world, both on account of its extent and the aristocra7c element in its connec7on. He was tailor by appointment to all the crowned heads in the world of any
note.”
(Anderson, 2000:407)
Image Discussion
“Reed arranged its merchandise according to the social standing and expecta7ons of poten7al consumers, rather than adhering to the stock responses of tradi7onal promo7onal prac7ce”
– Aus7n Reed Archive
(Breward, 1999:168)
Aus7n Reed Catalogue illustra7on c. 1910
“More than this, the figure of the leisured London bachelor, targeted by publishers of such guides, had himself come to symbolise a modern and fashionable posi7on…”
(Breward, 1999:173)
Jonathan Ross, GQ UK October 2006
Courtesy of the Henry Poole archive
“Henry Poole & Co. were successful in adrac7ng a diverse range of elite customer types between 1861 and 1900.”
(Anderson, 2000:420)
“London was patronized as an imperial center of power, wealth, style and influence.”
(Anderson, 2000:422)
Weekly trade journal, the Tailor and the Cuder, 1914
Fashionable pleasures for the London Gentleman
• As the popula7on of London expanded at the turn of the 19th century, so did the need for men to find new leisure pursuits.
• Publica7ons such a ‘The Tailor and Cuder’ highly influence tailors and the services they provided.
• The modern Dandy has not changed much in the ideas he represents through what he wears.
• Investment in the latest clothing trends at the 7me was not to be seen as feminine but instead more masculine for a man who wants to look aker his appearance.