Savile Row Off-piste

Savile Row has always been something of a generic term, encompassing not only the adjacent, lofty streets in Mayfair but the labyrinthine, exotic area of neighbouring Soho, and other more far-flung addresses where practioners of Savile Row standards are to be found.

Dougie Hayward in Mount Street, for example, has attracted a celebrity clientele for many years, Charlie Allen is a younger example in the upper reaches of Islington, Timothy Everest has thrived on being based in Spitalfields, highly unfashionable when he started there, while Edward Sexton opted to move out of the Row into Knightsbridge. Even the the revered Anderson & Sheppard is now outside the Row, albeit just around the corner.

So in the face of the continued erosion of the Row's tailoring exclusivity, as non-tailoring organisations move in to benefit from its reputation, we look at some of the many tailors outside its parameters who are neverless part of its true craft.

Soho district always mixed tailors and fun ...

Mark Powell (one of his jackets pictured here) sums up the essence of that craft. "Dressing up is all about looking good and feeling good, style is the all important thing, bespoke tailoring the perfect way to flaunt individuality."

He is based in Soho, an area that has traditionally housed the supporting workshops of Savile Row. It's the fun centre of London, working girls rubbing shoulders, so to speak, with media folk, clubbers and theatre goers, as well as a legion of tailors in the old houses.

Described as "the missing link between Tommy Nutter and the new-wave Savile Row tailors" he was inducted into an appreciation of style from an early age in an East End family that appreciated fine tailoring. Influenced by real-life gangsters of the East End and by 'thirties and 'forties celluloid stars such as George Raft and James Cagney, he has established himself with many of today's celebrities, such as Mick Jagger and Bryan Ferry, as well as designing for some of today's gangster movies and a raft of other high profile shows and people.

A genial, relaxed man, he brings an encyclopedic knowledge of 20th century styles to bear on his clothes, adapting style lines to bespoke requirements. "If someone is paying for a bespoke suit, they don't want it to be out of fashion in a short while," he emphasises. And though he has successfully launched a ready-to-wear collection, bespoke remains his passion.

JUST AROUND the corner from Powell's Brewer Street premises, in Berwick Street, is Tony Lutwyche. A somewhat unlikely recruit to tailoring, he is nonetheless one of the most dynamic and influential figures to have arrived on the scene for sometime. A former major in the Royal Lancers, he eschewed the more usual career paths when he left the Army in 1999 and opted instead to open a tailoring business.

While he knew little of the practicalities at that time, he did have an appreciation of good tailoring - and has learnt a lot in the 7 years since he started in 2000. He praises the Soho fraternity of tailors for their help. "Many are now retirement age, and with no family members following to take up their businesses, they are only too pleased to pass on their knowledge to someone else who is interested."

He has built up a healthy customer base, many contacts from his Army days, others by recommendation, and he has now been joined by Tony Martin, formerly with Gieves & Hawkes. Left, one of his three-piece suits.

continued on Style p1