A Cut Above – Savile Row and the Crafting of Time

Sean Dixon presides over one of London’s best known men’s labels, Richard James, a brand that encompasses a broad range of contemporary ready-to-wear and accessories. At its heart however lies the reason for its very existence – the fine art of bespoke tailoring, the practice of creating one-off clothing for customers based on their own unique measurements. For tailors there’s a thing called “rock of eye”. It’s the ability to read and understand a customer’s unique measurements. It can only be reached with long training and experience. And a little luck. Located in London’s storied Savile Row, the epicenter of classic men’s clothing, Richard James Bespoke is a text book case of the craft of modern hand-made suits. As co-founder in the mid 90s of the brand, with designer Richard James, Dixon, as Managing Director, has helmed the house through the fast-changing world of male dress by never for a second letting go of the hallmarks of fine tailoring. When it began, Richard James offered a less stuffy take on Savile Row, but that age-old sartorial craft has always underpinned it all. We spoke to Sean at the Richard James Bespoke Atelier about the meaning of craft in the modern world of high-end men’s clothing.
 
 
Is making a bespoke suit an art or a science?
Bespoke tailoring is a craft, it’s also artisanship. Also, I really like to think it’s an art as well. It’s also about having the trained eye and the innate talent to spot the tiny differences that make a bespoke suit really unique and give men’s clothing some lasting integrity. But craft absolutely is key to it. And it's a really old craft too. Clothing has changed of course over the years, but the essential craft of constructing a bespoke suit, hasn't really altered that much in 150 years.
 
Transforming two-dimensional cloth into a three-dimensional piece of bespoke clothing is essentially a team effort, but who is the lynchpin?
The cutter is the artist, the one who visualizes the fit and look of a suit on the body, interpreting the tiny idiosyncrasies of the human form, interpreting them to make the suit fit perfectly and look great. But the tailors – the guys who put it all together with multiple kinds of hand work – are a pivotal part of it too.
 
People these days want everything immediately. How does Bespoke square with that?
We never, ever hurry it up, especially for the first time. We always like to take a good six weeks to get to the first fitting. But once, I think, once a pattern's been created, and a first suit is completed, you can speed the process up for future suits for that customer with just minor adjustments, of the existing pattern. That said every cloth is unique and fits or performs in a different way. So, you still have to go through a fitting process, absolutely, but you might shave off a couple of weeks.
 
What’s the most critical moment in the making of a suit?
Every stage is critical, but probably the first fitting is the turning point. That's because everything can still be deconstructed at that moment. But once that first fitting is done and everyone's happy with the fit, and everyone's on the same page, that's when its essentially locked in.
 
It’s a big deal (a rite of passage in a way) getting your first bespoke suit with so many details to decide on. How do you make that process less daunting for a first timer?
We try to be as open and non-judgmental as possible.  It all starts with a conversation. We always start off by finding out what's the suit for. Where is it going to be worn? What do you want it to be? We do a lot of clothing for special occasions, events, weddings, that sort of thing. But there's always a few questions we go through with the customer just to get some understanding. We have to make it has to be equally as enjoyable and engaging for a first timer as it is for a veteran.
 
Is there a trust issue with bespoke?
An appointment with a cutter is like going to see your doctor.  He’s not just taking your measurements. He's reading you, looking at everything, about the way you walk, about the way you stand, all so he or she can account for that in the cut of your suit. First time customers tend to get a bit stiff at these appointments and stand like a soldier at attention, so you have to get them to relax in order to visualize the cut. That’s the craft of it.
 
 
Do you ever find yourself having to talk someone off a ledge because they’re hell-bent on a pink suit?
It does happen, but it’s pretty rare. If a customer wants a pink suit, it's usually because it’s their 10th or 12th or 15th suit; it’s almost never the first. But say it's a wedding suit, and the customer really wants to really make a statement on their big day. A lot of our business is clothes for special occasions so it’s our duty to suss out what’s it’s about. This is a big investment, so we suggest ways to help the customer get more use out a suit down the line. Perhaps there's a way of making it really special for that event, but useful long afterwards too.
 
That long term view sounds a very long way from fast fashion...
Totally! Bespoke is the antithesis of fast fashion. Think about that old word “bespoke”. It comes from the cloth, it's about a bespoken fabric, a piece of fabric selected (or bespoken) expressly for that one suit. The cloth, the cut, the make everything is crafted to make it last. A well-made bespoke suit by definition has built-in longevity. It's the polar opposite of fast. It’s a slow process as well, from consultation to measuring up, choosing fabric, details, linings, buttons, all that sort of thing. It all takes time. And it's a really interesting process. If you have any interest at all in clothing it's something fascinating to get into.
 
Do you find people get hooked on the process?
Not so long ago we had a first-time customer from the Financial Times. His assistant booked him in for just 15 minutes. An hour and a half later, he was still there, thoroughly enjoying the whole thing. We love it when that happens. It’s always better when a customer is engaged in it all.
 
You run a very successful going concern in bespoke, but do you also feel you have a kind of moral duty to preserve bespoke as a craft?
I think we do have a duty of care to the business as a whole. But what’s really interesting right now is the number of young people who approach me about coming to work in the business. For years, people who were into clothes would go to study at fashion college and try to be the next John Galliano. But now, we’re finding there's a quite a lot of younger people who really appreciate the physical making of something. So, they want to come and understand that process. We’ve got many 20-year-olds downstairs, learning, willing to put the hours in, sit with the tailor, sit with the cutter, and learn as much as they can.

It’s a long process. Does it always pay off?
You're not necessarily always going to make it. I've seen people that are just not able to master it. It’s a dexterity thing, the hand and eye. But it's also a confidence thing. When you make a bespoke suit for somebody, they're usually paying a lot of money for it. If you put it on them and they don’t like it, there's really no hiding place. It can be a confidence-sapping experience for a young tailor. You have to know how to how to deal with that. That's a skill.
 
Customers have probably never been more informed about style. Does that make it easier or harder for a tailor?
Certainly, we tend to take elements of bespoke and put it into ready to wear and vice versa to accommodate the customer’s needs. And there's definitely a feeling these days for softer shoulders, more relaxed shapes, less construction and that’s definitely translating into bespoke as well. That makes it more of a challenge because, customers still want the shoulders to look correct, and they don't want anything collapsing. Normally you'd use shoulder pads or interlining to achieve that. So, when taste calls for less structure, you really have to up your game in terms of cut because there’s nowhere to hide. It definitely sharpens a tailor’s focus.