Back in the Eighties, suits were so wide that even the shoulder pads had shoulder pads. Suits back then were boxy, square, and designed to make you look like a quarterback, a bouncer or a tank. So it was very difficult to wear one unless you were also shaped like a quarterback, a bouncer or a tank. If, like me, you were tall and skinny, wearing an off-the-peg suit made you look as though someone had thrown a sheet over a beanpole. Or a javelin. Consequently, at the age of 24, I started having suits made for me. Not because of any great affectation, but simply because I didn’t want to walk around looking as though I was wearing a Halloween costume.
I started modestly, using a lovely old man in Harrow who used to make suits for teddy boys. Jack Geach was his name, and every suit he made was a fingertip drape with velvet lapels and matching cuffs. He ended up making me three: one in matt black, one in bright herringbone, and a gargantuan and garish scarlet one which I’m fairly sure could be seen from space.
Then I moved on to Chris Ruocco, a former boxer who owned Philips tailors in Kentish Town. He made suits for me for more than a decade, along with stage outfits for George Michael, Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet. He even made the tartan suits Wham! wore when they played in China, which were seen all over the world.
Eventually, I migrated to Savile Row, where I’ve been having suits made for 25 years, usually at Richard James. They ended up making me so many that whenever I was interviewed and was asked what suit I was wearing I would always say, “Richard James” because without looking I probably was. They last made me a beautiful double-breasted evening suit in midnight blue for a book launch in the summer, and for a few fleeting moments it made me feel like George Clooney. And that’s the point of going bespoke: as well as making you look your very best (even if you look nothing like George Clooney, even if you look nothing like a George Clooney lookalike), a bespoke suit should give you the confidence not to care what anyone thinks about the way you look. The optics, as they say, are good.
In London, Savile Row tailors have been taking menswear business away from major fashion houses for decades, because if you have the wherewithal to buy an expensive designer suit from Bond Street, you’ve also got the option of walking 50 metres around to Savile Row and commissioning something which is going to fit you perfectly for probably the same amount of money. You’ll also have the opportunity to choose the fabric, the colour, the cut, and every other detail of the suit. You’ll also probably be treated like royalty rather than as someone who looked like they came into the shop by mistake. If you patronised the Row back in the Sixties then you were likely to be a banker, a politician or a barrister — or a member of the aristocracy — but as pop stars and television personalities started to get in on the act, the Row began to adapt to its new clientele, thus tempting even more potential customers away from Bond Street.
Mayfair’s premier shopping street has learned to fight back, however, along with many other luxury brands in town. These days the likes of Hugo Boss, Ralph Lauren, Paul Smith and Tommy Hilfiger will either a) go out of their way to alter one of their off-the-peg suits, or b) make you a completely new, made-to-measure or sometimes bespoke suit according to your precise specifications. They are all having some success, too, as not only does this allow the customer the opportunity to create something genuinely personal (and which doesn’t subscribe to seasonal fads) but also gives you all-important bragging rights. Which, as we know, as far as fashion is concerned is pretty much everything.
Just a few weeks ago, to prepare for a busy autumn schedule of launches, first nights and fancy dinners, I went to Dolce & Gabbana to try out its made-to-measure service, dropping into its third-floor studio at the bottom of Bond Street. And it was a completely successful operation. One of the drawbacks of bespoke tailoring is the number of protracted fittings you need (rarely fewer than two or three), and the fact you might have to wait months for the finished item. Big luxury brands have learned that their customers don’t have much patience for this, and so have adapted to do all the necessary work in one quick session. At Dolce & Gabbana I was there for about half an hour, in one of the most seamless fittings I’ve ever had. A month later I had my new suit, and, even though I experienced what you might call an accelerated growth spurt in the waist department (having had an intense late-summer carb-fest), it fitted perfectly. In fact, it was so perfect that it even appeared to make accommodation for other parts of my body that might be about to put it under pressure; a little more give in the shoulder in case of additional gym work, an extra quarter-inch in the jacket width in anticipation of Christmas etc.
And while I’m a staunch traditionalist, Dolce & Gabbana offers a host of options for those of you who might want to be slightly more outlandish this season: you can choose from 400 fabrics, and 95 styles, with 200 personal alterations. That’s a lot of options. Of course, as you’re waiting for your libation as you wade through the fabric books, you will notice some of the other things they have to offer, like dress shoes, evening scarves and extravagant ties. Even though I’m as impatient as I am predictable when having a suit fitted, I could have spent all day there. You could probably too, so I look forward to seeing you on the top floor of Dolce & Gabbana any minute now.
