Comments on: From the ACL Archive | Savile Row on the BBC

By: F.E. Castleberry

F.E. Castleberry — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:28:50 +0000

THOROUGHLY enjoyed this. One of the most interesting fashion documentaries I’ve watched. Thanks Michael for posting this.

By: Douglas Johnson

Douglas Johnson — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:49:16 +0000

I just started watching this, and the premise that A&F selling jeans will raise rents and price the the $7,000 suit makers out of business. Well, raise the price to $10,000. I mean if someone is game to spend $7,000 on a suit (or whatever they cost), then why not $10,000?

By: Jamar

Jamar — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:13:33 +0000

The link from styleforum.com works, the files are huge but the quality is good.

By: Edward

Edward — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:10:50 +0000

Thank you for sharing this wonderful story.

By: rob

rob — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:14:59 +0000

i’m always comparing the similarities of fashion to the automotive industry. They both allow people to show off their personality/status to society at large. In this I’d compare Savile Row to the old school coach builders of the early 1900′s or so. They prided themselves on handmade coaches, attention to detail etc, however the machine age quickly challenged their economy.

The coachbuilders that survived (somewhat) were the ones who realized the writing on the wall and evolved with the times. They partnered with larger established firms to provide those firms with the prestige of their brands in exchange for financial stability.

By: Andrew Maletz

Andrew Maletz — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:15:24 +0000

Recently, Forbes featured an article on the status of Savile Row in the downturn, and most seemed to say they were doing well, but not booming. There have been numerous articles about a flight to quality within the menswear market, an understanding of the value of a bespoke suit. I am not sure how reliable the articles are, or if they are just trying to convince themselves that everything will be ok. More interesting than the AF openning is the current feud between the Savile Row Bespoke Association and the Savile Row Alliance. Appartently, some of the tailoring houses are offended by Kilgour, Gieves and Hawke, and others opennly branding and offering ready to wear. Bespoke seems to have reversed its decline and begun to carve out a specialized market share (obviously much smaller than in the past, creative destruction and all that). Another interesting turn of events regarded a made-to-measure outfit, Sartoriani (sp?), who labelled their wares as bespoke. This was challenged by the Row, but the UK advertising authority ruled that bespoke had lost its meaning, and in the process gave it back. My main question is how they will continue to find tailoring talent?

Here is the link to the Forbes article

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/09/22/lifestyle-eu-britain-savile-row_6914054.html

By: Montmorency

Montmorency — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:05:53 +0000

I’ll second Tom’s recommendation of the Harris Tweed documentary – I was vaguely aware of the industry being in bad shape and then the somewhat dubious “rescue” of the Yorkshire cloth magnate Brian Haggas. A year or so on it’s fascinating to see what’s played out, and thankfully it looks as though the resurgence of interest in traditional craft in tailoring might have come just in time for the weavers there, despite their isolated advocate body being seemingly outdated and ineffectual. The mind bogglingly misguided and arrogant attempt at gobbling up the whole Harris Tweed name for himself by Haggas seems to have ended in hubris, but it’s astonishing to watch – when it get’s to “Harris Tweed – The Movie” you’d think you were watching a satire – it’s pure Spinal Tap meets Local Hero, with a dash of David Brent thrown in. How Patrick Grant was that patient with the whole affair I don’t know..

By: farns

farns — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:20:31 +0000

A friend of mine was involved in the building of the store. A&F put up a massive hoarding with gaudy advertising all over it, on the outside of the building while it was being renovated. It took a lot of time and money just to build and put the eyesore up. Westminster council asked them to take it down. ‘OK’, said A&F, ‘how much do you want’? ‘I’m sorry’, the council replied, ‘this is Westminster and you are new here, it doesn’t work like that. Now take it down or we’ll stop your whole construction’. After spending a long weekend of nights putting it up, he then spent another grueling night shift ripping it down.

By: Michael Williams

Michael Williams — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:17:02 +0000

It isn’t available outside the UK. Fucking iPlayer! ha

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:14:33 +0000

There’s a new programme currently airing on the BBC focusing on Harris Tweed. It’s a continuation of the Saville Row and British Style Genius programming and features contributions from Patrick Grant and others.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mr0n9

Apologies if it’s unavailable to view outside of the UK.