SAVILE ROW ACROSS THE POND

In downtown Manhattan, there is a plot that is forever England. Here, Leonard Logsdail, Savile Row tailor and Londoner born and bred, pursues his craft and has built up a loyal following since he left the Row some 21 years.

He remains a typical English bloke, quiet, unassuming, courteous. Yet in the capital of competitiveness and hard-nosed business acumen, he has established a highly successful business whilst managing to maintain a personal service true to his Savile Row roots.

Currently working on clothes for Kevin Kostner, his customer list is a star-studded roster of Hollywood greats as well as business and media celebrities. Denzel Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio and Hugh Jackman are just some of his recent customers, with a raft of others kitted out by him both for movie roles and in their personal lives.

 “I have been blessed by constant work for a number of years,” he reveals, “and, during this time, have had my business augmented by movie work.  I get called in for the top actors for big budget movies.  

“I have been with Leonardo DiCaprio working on a movie called The Wolf of Wall Street. I flew to Los Angeles to fit Matthew McConaughey for 4 suits for the same movie.   I delivered 20 suits for Channing Tatum and 21 suits for Jamie Foxx. I've just finished working with Christopher Plummer (this was particularly enjoyable) and the list goes on.”

He began his tailoring life in the late 60s, gaining experience around the Row, then setting up in partnership with Brian Burstow in the then centre of Swinging London in 1971, Carnaby Street.

Some 20 years later, having built up a business with international success, he gave it all up to move to New York.

"I had fallen in love with America, the people and the potential I could see for any one who was dumb enough to give up everything they had owned and built, to start all over again," he says. "Clearly, I was that "dumb!"

His marriage to an American, Barbara, undoubtedly helped in his decision. There were some difficult times along the way, he acknowledges, but he now has a successful bespoke business that is also moving steadily to establish a ready-to-wear label.

This comes under the Logsdail Classics Collection label, which he has taken on tour around the States in a trunk show. “It has proved very popular,” he reports. Its country styling reflects his sporting pastimes, and he occasionally takes customers with him on shoots.

His son Leonard is following in father’s footsteps, and seems to have inherited an aptitude for figurations and fit. “I have great expectations for him,” he says, so much so that he has set him up running a new independent business, called Carnaby Custom.

Bruce Boyer, one of America's leading style pundits (he is featured in the Ivy Style book on Style p6), puts Logsdail at the top of his list of tailors.

"Logsdail would be considered a great tailor anywhere," he says, "but particularly in a place like Manhattan, where real custom craftsmen are like hen’s teeth, he’s an
absolute gem."

So, the move across the pond was a smart one for this Savile Row craftsman - and has no doubt helped spread the Row's reputation through his success.

At top, noted American style leader, Dr Andre Churchwell; above left, Denzel Washington portrayed at a gangster wedding in a movie; right, the man himself; and left, outfits from the Country Collection.