‘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.