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Events, News

Report By Daniel Evans

Girl power was the name of the game at Golden Shears 2023 as three young women walked away with the honours at this year’s prestigious event. And, unlike in recent times, it was the college entries which dominated, ahead of the trade contestants. First prize and The Golden Shears went to Mila Dastugue from The Wimbledon College of Arts with Victoria Demekhina, from The Tailoring Academy, collecting The Silver Shears. The Rising Star was Imogen Pike, also from The Wimbledon College of Arts.

From the left: Imogen Pike, Mila Dastugue and Victoria Demekhina. Top: Mila’s entry

The presentations were made at a packed Merchant Taylors’ Hall on Monday night with all 22 finalists – whittled down from more than 70 entries – presenting their finished works in stunning surroundings in front of family, friends and industry experts.

Simon Cundey, Chairman of Golden Shears and MD of Henry Poole & Co, could not have been happier with the evening. “We’re delighted to be back as a live show after the pandemic and at this historic and amazing venue,” he said. “It’s lovely to be live. That is a big thing for us. Having the rapport with everyone – the families, the college lecturers, the trade shouting and screaming for their entries was fantastic. It is imperative that the clothing industry does all it can to motivate the next generation of fashion leaders and nothing demonstrates that better than the Golden Shears competition.

Click here for Golden Shears Gallery 2023

“It was big transformation this year with a swing towards the colleges. It shows that if you get the right lecturer and your lecturer gives you the inspiration to do something special, you can win Golden Shears. And it’s quite dramatic for me to see that. It was incredible to see the colleges come through so well this time. Wimbledon were very strong, so, too, Sunderland and Rochester. They are real class acts now. And I’m super happy to see three women win.”

Mila, who also won a cheque for £3,000, was blown away with her victory. “I’m extremely happy to have won,” she said. “I put in so much work and I was really hoping to do well but not expecting. From design to finishing took 500 hours. My entry was inspired by the 1930s – Marlene Dietrich and Elsa Schiaparelli. The 1930s is such a nice period for art and one of the first periods with women in suits. I’m interning at Thom Sweeney at the moment and I really would like to be a cutter.”

Victoria Demekhina’s design

Runner-up Victoria, who received a cheque for £2,500, explained: “I started my journey in fashion less than two years ago and it’s unbelievable to win this award. Tailoring has been my passion since I was at school. I moved to this country with my husband before Covid and then went to The Tailoring Academy in Macclesfield. I’m currently working at Samuel Brothers in Aldershot. They do military tailoring. Looking ahead, I want to be in tailoring, absolutely.”

Imogen, who was presented with a cheque for £2,000, said: “It’s amazing. I’m so surprised and so excited to win this. I study costume design and am really interested in history. I’d love to work on Savile Row some day.”

Imogen Pike’s entry

The Golden Shears, known as “The Oscars of the Tailoring World” were founded in 1974 by Robert Bright, MBE. Entrants are either apprentices with a tailoring company or university/college students on a tailoring course. All have to demonstrate excellence in both their design and tailoring skills and be vetted by their master or course leader. This year, from over 70 entries, 22 were selected on technical merit to go through to this week’s final and be judged by a celebrity style panel.

This year, the Technical Judges were:  Joe Morgan, Chittleborough & Morgan; Dario Canera, Huntsman; Victoria Townsend, The London Academy of Bespoke; Juan Carlos Benito, Hackett; Davide Taub, Gieves & Hawkes. The Style Judges were: Kirby Allison, Tony Gaziano, Harry Jarman, and Hilary and Michael Whitehall.

The participating colleges and companies were: Anderson & Sheppard, London College of Fashion, UAL, Cosprop, Inkberrow design centre (IDC College), Leeds Arts University, Morgan and Fenwick, Savile Row Academy, The Tailoring Academy, The University of Sunderland, University for the Creative Arts Rochester and Wimbledon College of the Arts, UAL. The evening was hosted by Nick Hewer.

The event was held with the support of CAPITB Trust, The Merchant Taylors’ Company, The Pollen Estate, The Textile Institute and Savile Row Gin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Report By Daniel Evans Girl power was the

Events, Launches, News

From left to right: Lady Sabrina Percy, Hum Fleming, Daisy Knatchbull, Natalie Salmon and Flora Vesterberg

By Daniel Evans

The cocktails were flowing and the enjoyment was obvious when Daisy Knatchbull celebrated moving The Deck, her women’s tailoring house, into new premises on Savile Row last week. With a glamorous party enjoyed by people from across the world of fashion, Daisy, who opened her first store at 19 Savile Row in 2020, was clearly delighted to be in a much bigger space, across the road, at No 32.

“I’m loving the evening,” she told me. “I’m very blessed and honoured to have so many people here to celebrate the opening of The Deck. The move means we have a bigger presence and more store frontage. To be among the bastions of British tailoring is an honour, a great thing, and we really have the opportunity to make our mark on The Row. I hope we stay here for the next 100 years.”

Among the guests were D&G model Lady Sabrina Percy, Prince Edward’s daughter Lady Helen Taylor, Arabella Holland, Natalie Salmon, Flora Vesterberg and Hum Fleming. The cocktails were provided by Savile Row Gin. Daisy adds: “I launched The Deck with a vision to dress the success of the world’s most self-empowered women and now, three years later, I couldn’t be prouder of where our house stands. This new space on Savile Row is the biggest physical manifestation of The Deck to date; designed and curated to reflect the grand scale of our garments on offer. I’m incredibly excited to continue with the creation of all tailored identities from this tremendous space. Whether you’re an existing customer of The Deck or someone with a newfound sartorial curiosity, our new doors are always open to welcome you, because our story cannot exist without yours.”

 

 

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From left to right: Lady Sabrina Percy,

Lifestyle, News, Savile Row Gin, Travel

Guests at the Savile Row Gin Experience in the stills room

Jessica and Debbie and Amy and Scarlet, who all left JP Hackett’s flagship store on Savile Row clutching their prized, personalised bottles of gin, were unanimous when they said: “It’s been a night to remember.” The quartet had been part of a sold out evening of cocktail tasting and gin making, hosted by The Savile Row Gin Experience, at the centre of elegance and craftsmanship for which this exclusive oasis of Mayfair is well known. To begin, there was a short introduction to bespoke tailoring by the urbane Thomas van Kannen, store manager at Hackett, then a fascinating talk and demonstration about the secrets of making gin with expert Michal Zajac.

Savile Row gin CEO Stewart Lee welcomes guests to the Pink Room

First, Thomas, in the elegance of the former Hardy Amies building at 14 Savile Row which has been Hackett’s London HQ since 2019, guides us through the world of bespoke tailoring. He says: “Everything bespoke is made here at the store and it takes about 12 to 16 weeks to make a garment. The head cutter is the architect for the suit and, in Juan Carlos Benito, we have one of the best in the world. His grandfather trained on Savile Row – he made a suit for Fred Astaire – and I know JC has always wanted to return here and follow in his grandfather’s footsteps. It’s his first job on Savile Row.”

Thomas goes on to explain how JC, as he is known, goes about his work. “He creates a shape for each client which is only possible with bespoke. Every pocket is cut and made by hand, every buttonhole is stitched by hand – every little detail you can see is made by hand. That’s why you have to treat it like art. There are around 80 hours of hand work in every garment.”

The focus then moves on to Michal as he entertains those gathered in the busy Green Room at the back of this magnificent building. With a few drinks to set the mood – first a  French 75 then a Southside, apparently a favourite of Al Capone – Michal brings on the main event – creating and distilling your personalised bottle of gin.

Guests choose botanicals for their unique bottle of gin

Michal explains that, before you actually create your gin, you need to select – with the help of some small weighing scales – your botanicals, essential ingredients that provide your gin with its unique taste. You’ll need to pick your base flavour – juniper, coriander or angelica – then a variety of others from the four stations dotted around the room, depending on whether you want your gin to be spicy (black pepper, cassis, liquorice etc), citrusy (lime leaves, orange peel, lemon peel) herbal (thyme, rosemary etc) or floral (elderflower, orris root). Then it’s out to the stills, kept in a separate room, where you mix your choice of botanicals with some ethanol, pour it into your still, heat it up and, 20 minutes later, out comes your unique recipe, ready to be poured into your personal gin bottle to take home.

It was a process that delighted the packed room of first-time gin makers. “The highlight was tasting the gin as it came out of the still,” said Amy. “I enjoyed combining the ingredients and learning about the different proportions that go together.”

Her friend Scarlet agreed: “I enjoyed learning about the ingredients that go into a cocktail,” she enthused. “You come away with a brilliant bottle of gin you have made yourself. A lovely experience.”

Debbie was equally enthusiastic. She said: “We took an artist’s palette of flavours and blended them together according to some principles to see what comes out at the other end. I enjoyed the combination of having a bit of skill imparted as well as having a good old go. You can create your own thing but you’ll get some real information and education at the same time.”

And, as Jessica holds her prized bottle of gin which she says will be going straight into her fridge at home before she invites some friends around for a tasting, she sums up the evening: “It was convivial and informative,” she said. “A lovely group of people with lovely drinks. The highlight has got to be the distillery and I highly recommend.”

The Savile Row gin team

To find out more, go to The Savile Row Gin Experience. You can book an experience here. Book now for Thursday, March 9.

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Guests at the Savile Row Gin Experience

News, Suits

Gieves & Hawkes, one of the most famous names in tailoring, is back in British hands after being bought by Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group. The iconic business, with its main store at No 1 Savile Row, was sold to Ashley last November by the Hong Kong-based owner Trinity Group after it fell into administration at the beginning of last year. All five of Gieves & Hawkes’s UK stores will be part of the deal. Frasers Group, which already owns Sports Direct and House of Fraser, emerged as a potential buyer last September and sealed the deal for an undisclosed sum in November. Hong Kong conglomerate Trinity Ltd took over Gieves & Hawkes in 2012 but Trinity was subject to a winding-up petition for debt in September 2021. Michael Murray, chief executive of Frasers, said: “We are delighted to have acquired Gieves & Hawkes, securing a long-term future for an iconic 250-year-old brand. This acquisition further adds to our portfolio of strategic investments in luxury and premium brands.”

Gieves & Hawkes, which has held Royal Warrants since 1809, has made clothes for King Charles III, George VI and George V, as well as the princes William and Harry. It also dressed Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Winston Churchill. The firm moved to the Georgian townhouse at 1 Savile Row after Gieves acquired the Hawkes brand in 1974. Gieves was founded in 1785 and Hawkes in 1771.

 

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Gieves & Hawkes, one of the most