Sartorial London: The Official Thread (UPDATED 9/6/2012)

[ShayaEXQT]

No prob--selfishly, I needed some suggestions, so I thought it would make sense to turn it into a mainstay guide for everyone.
If people figure out a Top Three Must Visits, I'll drop in, take photos, write up some articles, etc. TITC could use some content.

As I see it, depends what you want... places to shop or places to see? Could probably come up with 3 of each but just 3 combined seems hard....

 

[dopey]



No prob--selfishly, I needed some suggestions, so I thought it would make sense to turn it into a mainstay guide for everyone.
If people figure out a Top Three Must Visits, I'll drop in, take photos, write up some articles, etc. TITC could use some content.

W. Bill
Huntsman
? [A shoemaker]

 

[Bounder]



WOW! This thread is lowly becoming the London bible, kudos to you foo :foo:

Well, in fairness, I think this question might possibly have come up once or twice before.

While I doubt that Foo will be adding a bowler to his ensemble, Lock is a really great place to visit. From the outside, the shop looks quite intimidating. They even often have a sort of beadle standing by to open the door. But it is quite welcoming inside and larger than it looks as it extends over three floors. It is sort of like a hat museum where you can buy the exhibits. And if you need a substantial fascinator, there is no better place on earth.

 

[Hampton]

Harrods?

 

[Geezer]

Foo

Manton has given you the classic list of streets which encompass about 99% of my clothes shopping. Mount Street is a gem - possibly the best "stealth wealth" street anywhere. If I wanted to buy a mega-yacht, I'd buy one there. Discreetly.

If you want to venture a bit further afield, John Rushton shoes just North of Oxford St is worth a go. As are some of the Soho tailors (Mark Powell, for example), but some tend to be fitting rooms over other shops, so a bit hard to pop into - still, it is worth experiencing how in a matter of five of six streets London can shift from patrician poshness to scabby sex shops and dubious night clubs.

Floral Street is worth a mooch even if you don't want anything sold there, except the good selection of nice spectacles sold at McLintock Eyewear (the rest of Covent Garden is mostly a dire tourist trap). If you are taking in our legal history, there are a few interesting-looking little shops in the Holborn/Chancery Lane area, but I've only passed them rather than popped in. Eddie Rowlands at Redwood and Feller has a nice little shop and is a character, but his shop is on a dull road round the back of Victoria station, an otherwise utterly undistinguished area.

On the Row, I can confirm that the gents at Davies and Son are very happy to chat even if you aren't planning a bespoke order, and quite engaging. And whether you like their stuff or not, Andrew Hudson and Richard Harvie at the firm that bears their name (you'll find them in the smaller shop, which does the bespoke work), Jerry at Fosters, Hercules and the other one with a less colourful name at EG, and Ken and Tony at Benson and Clegg are good people to pass the time of day with if their shops aren't full of customers. So is the guy at Cleverley's whose name I don't know, to mention just a few. I've never met Richard Anderson or the guy who runs Nortons, but I imagine they are similar. Of course, the area has its fair share of introverts, salesmen focussed on their commission, downright shysters, and grumpy old buggers, but they are heavily outweighed by outgoing types, who - if not with a paying customer at the time - are enthusiastic about their craft and their products and only too happy to shoot the breeze with someone who professes a similar enthusiasm.

 

[Butler]

As it has allready been mentioned +

Budd - perhaps some Black Tie accesoires?

Savile Row no 1 - Gieves & Hawkes, marvelous building, used to be The Royal Geografical Society - this is where David Livingstone planned his African travels! - have your shoes shined by "The Shoe Snob".

Turnbull & Asser - bespoke department, entry from Bury St., ask to see their scrapbook, you wont believe what you see!

John Lobb, St. James's - ask if you can see the downstairs in particular the last room and the cabinets with famous lasts - one for americans and another for us
(if you are lucky you will see them working on my new suedes

The Food Halls at Harrods

Paxton & Whitfield Cheese shop in Jermyn St. - buy the Stilton!

Afternoon tea at The Dorchester, Champagne, the lot!

221 B Baker St.!

Have a shave at Truefitt & Hill in St James's

Get Mariano to take you to dinner in his club around the corner from the shop - and try his favourite squash frités

Enjoy!

 

[Manton]

Good call on Mount Street, though that's where Rubinacci is, so foo was bound to go there.

 

[Hampton]

Perfect way to a great trip in London by Butler.

 

[andreyb2]



Initial thoughts: W. BIll and Drake's.Let's go.

Anderson & Sheppard and Kent, Haste & Lachter also sell Drake's ties -- cheaper than Drake's shop. Both ateliers worth popping in for accessories. Stephen Lachter at KHL knows his stuff.

Also, Turnbull & Asser and Emma Willis for accessories.

Longmire for stunning cufflinks -- but they are very expensive.

Cordings just to see a fine (perhaps the finest) example of a shop selling proper English countrywear.

Trumper's and DR Harris for English-style parfumery and toiletries.

HR Higgins for coffee and tea.

James Smith for umbrellas.

Globe Trotter, Swaine Adeney, Tanner Krolle and Mackintosh if you want their wares -- shops themselves are very uninspiring.

A couple of shoes shops -- but this is already covered to death.

Andrey

 

[andreyb2]

Almost forget -- Udeshi's shop is worth visiting, too. Again, in your case mostly for accessories.

Andrey

 

[Geezer]

Heck, how could I forget to mention the James Smith umbrella shop (though I am a Brigg man)? It's a national treasure.

Also, Foo, you might be surprised by how many high-end traditional clothesy shoppy people lurk on here or similar sites. You may walk in, thinking "Am I about to waste the time of famous clothes shop person?" while they are thinking "Hey! That's that guy off the internet. I like him" (or "Hey! That's that guy off the internet! If I am nice to him, he'll be nice about me on the internet and a whole coach party of iGents will turn up and buy my stuff").

 

[DocHolliday]

Go to Smith. Really, don't miss it. It's like stepping into the Victorian era. And don't just go -- support the shop. It's a treasure.

 

[dopey]

Foo:
Since you mentioned writing this up, I think it would be a great project to see if you can sort through some of things that make English bespoke and Savile Row in particular different from what you have seen in Italy. I don't think you will have enough time to really get the English "way" in a short visit, but consider at least two things - the approach to style and the relationship with their customers and also the way things are made. By the latter, I am thinking of the importance of a central location and the way that has been driven by and drives the outworker system and the trimming and cloth merchant relationships including the fluidity with which cutters move from house to house (Personally, I find it interesting to note how much I like the work of Michael Skinner and cutters he has trained, but their other stylistic family trees you could fllow). Also the way the English have semi-industrialized an individualized hand-work driven craft. I think that brought benefits to both the customer and the tailors. The latter is also, I am sure, a response to the way Savile Row became, first, the tailoring destination for the civilized and civilizing world and then an export product where they exported themselves via the traveling tailor system.

 

[Ich_Dien]

Rubinacci in Mayfair?!

 

[KayJay85]

Foo as you visit Naples often enough this may not be relevant to you but in the interest of building a central repository of information:

E. Marinella store @ 54 Maddox St in Mayfair