SOHO - SAVILE ROW'S RAFFISH COMPANION

Soho, sexy, tatty, exciting Soho, has always provided the back-up for cool, snooty and elegant Mayfair, the Mayfair of Savile Row.

While the main firms of the Row do have their own workrooms, they and many others also rely upon outworkers based in the cheaper, meaner streets across Regent Street into Soho, where the rents are cheaper and small workrooms available in the old properties. Though their numbers have diminished in recent years, they still make this a centre of sewing excellence that underpins the Row’s own sewing skills, as well as a hive of erotic and theatrical entertainment.

Its status waxes and wanes, as other London villages, but is currently on a wax, back in favour with young Londoners as well as tourists. And part of this rejuvenation may be seen in the numbers of style shops it offers.

One of these is Pokit near the top of Wardour Street, run by Bayode Oduwole. He moved here five years ago from the then newly fashionable Clerkenwell, and before that from the cool Maida Vale. Now he sees Soho as the happening place, with other style shops moving into the area. “I’m always ahead of the curve,” he says, with a grin. “They follow me.”

His early training as a chemical engineer may seem an odd start for a career in clothing but he thinks it has served him well.  “It means I know about structure,” he explains.

Born in Nigeria, he grew up in London and thinks it is the cool place to be. Enjoying the club and music scene, he liked clothes, and it seemed quite a natural switch from chemical engineer to a young entrepeneur in the fashion arena.

“I started with a shop selling bags and accessories made to my designs, for men and women. That was in 1999 and it went well, and then I brought out a full collection of clothes in 2000. Then I moved onto bespoke.”

This is not Savile Row-style bespoke, with a fully canvassed make to jackets. But it is a process of making for the individual customer, using the highest quality cloth, working with the customer on styling, and using a skilled tailor for the cut and completion.

“Our jackets are mainly unstructured,” says Oduwole. “We start off with one of our block toiles and work from there.”

The toiles comprise some 5 different block styles, made up in white cotton fabric. From one of these, a customer may choose his basic idea – long, short, shaped, boxy, straight – and then specify other details as the fitting goes along. Trousers have a slight curve in their cut, to follow the line of the leg.

Top, herringbone Donegal tweed suit; above Keeper's jacket in tweed with cord trousers; below, ladies tweed jacket; and at bottom Pokit's exclusive lace-less shoes.

“Many customers don’t really know what they want. So by choosing one of these toiles and by adding details as we go along, the customer can see what he might be getting. The more they are involved, the more the finished article will be what they had in mind. We have 5 different blocks for jackets and another 3 for trousers, and the permutations on that are as extensive as the Enigma code!”

It’s a version of bespoke that suits the young and creative customers who visit the shop. Another neat idea to help customers make cloth decisions shows samples cut up to form a simple jacket front, with lapel, which they can put on to show how the cloth will look when made up.

"Instead of loads of cloth bunches, we provide these sample fronts which customers can put on to give them a real idea of how it will look. Yes, it is expensive for us, but I think it is worth while."

The end result will be as classic or as avantgarde as the customer dictates, with some well tailored jackets on display showing a soft but meticulously finished tailoring. A suit will take on average 3 weeks to complete. He encourages customers to bring back suits within four weeks "for a service".

"We can see how it has settled down, whether any tweaking is needed. Why not servicing for clothes?"

Cloths include fine Huddersfield worsted, Donegal and Scottish tweeds, Irish linens and some firm cottons, as well as Italian seersucker. "We can't get a cotton seersucker in the UK," he says regretfully.

The eclectic style of Oduwole's clothes is carried through in his accessory designs. The classic Goodyear welted brogues shown here, made in Northapton, are designed to be worn without laces. Some ready-to-wear garments, a selection of shirts, sturdy canvas bags, leather belts, and a homburg hat, straw version, all reflect his styling stamp.

"I aim to provide the full outfitter experience," he says, "in a nice, relaxed setting."And an extensive collection of vintage jazz records helps provide the right vibes for the shop. "Some customers have never seen a turntable before and they think it is really cool." Part of Pokit's Soho experience.