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May 1, 2007
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(Alice enjoying the NYC sunshine)
Well, as usual I had a wonderful but exhausting time in the US. Alice and I were shown the usual hospitality and kindness in every city of our trip. The weather was kind also, not too hot or cold. Chicago, unsurprisingly, surprised us with its chilly temperatures. Never mind, we were kindly treated to a trip to Wrigley field, so we're dedicated Cubs fans now.
Because the diary was so full we didn't get to meet as many new customers as normal. I did think that we wouldn't take as many orders because of this. However my existing clients kept re-ordering. Thankfully in the end I was busy as ever. I'm very fortunate to now have brilliant people working for me, which makes my average part in the process seem highly skilled. As I've said before, you can cut the best suit in the world but if your tailors are poor, then you've got no chance.
It's good that the cloth merchants always keep coming up with new fabrics and designs. This is great, of course, but the interesting thing is that most people still order the classics. Blue and grey birdseye, plain worsted, pic & pic and classic Prince of Wales checks. I guess they're classics because they always look good and have lots of uses.
My tailors will all be busy for the foreseeable, which is very fortunate. Even though I'm busy, I know that we as a profession are not as large or do anything like the turnover we did in years gone by. Before I went to the US I had my usual chat with Mr Hallbery on the telephone. I like to know how he's keeping and I keep him up to speed on what's happening on the Row. He always has a tale to tell me.
He told me about his father and uncle who both worked on the Row. In the thirties his Uncle, Charles Valgren [of Swedish stock] worked with three other tailors in Anderson & Sheppard known as "The Big Four"
( a little bit of re-cutting)
These four gentlemen were some of best and quickest tailors on Savile Row. They could make beautiful work, and a lot of it. This was very fortunate. To give you and idea of how much people would spend on their clothes in those days. One individual kept the "Big Four" working every hour of their day solidly on his order for months. This gentleman was the "Maharajah of Alwar."
He ordered every lounge, dinner and morning suit possible. Country wear and and formal wear. Also as was the norm in those days days all his personal household was catered for. An order for a hundred items was not uncommon. Remember, people would often change three or four times a day and you always had to be immaculate. It's incredible how much work there was. The cutter who was responsible for this work was treated to safaris and shoots on elephant back. Grand old days indeed.
Anyway, I don't have any orders on the books like that, but thank God I've enough to keep me going for a while.
It's now the 1st of May all the flowers are coming out at the Hall and I'm dusting down my old MG today. I've got a lot to do, so let's open the windows and get my head down and look after my clients, not Maharajahs, but just as important.
(flowers in the garden)
Thanks again to Everybody for my wonderful us US trip, and speak to you all soon...
Posted by tom at May 1, 2007 9:12 AM