MEN: GO AND GET MEASURED
Sara Hollamby
Style Counsel
A SHARP suit is an important investment – get it right, and it makes you feel so good that it’s worth the hefty price tag. A quality suit should last many years and make you feel comfortable, relaxed and confident – the key is in the fabric and tailoring. So do you go for bespoke, or made-to-measure? A bespoke suit is one that is made from scratch entirely to your personal requirements and measurements while a made-to-measure suit is cut from a specific pattern and made to fit you. Both should fit perfectly.
Getting a suit made for you doesn’t have to be inconvenient. Charlie Collingwood at Henry Herbert (www.henryherbert.com), a young, affable guy with plenty of energy, arrives at your office on his scooter with piles of fabric swatches and stylebooks. Two or three fittings and six weeks later, he will present you with a beautiful bespoke suit that you have virtually designed yourself, right down to the horn buttons and flamboyant lining. Tailors such as Charlie – Savile Row is teeming with them – measure you and help you choose everything from the width of your lapel to the secret pocket. The finest British fabrics are used on the Row – Charlie cuts the suit himself then sends it to Yorkshire to be made. He will guide you through the process seamlessly (excuse the pun).
If all that choosing and decision making is not your thing, then go for made-to-measure. Favourbrook (www.favourbrook.com), a stalwart of Jermyn Street, is often thought of for formal and special occasions, but its business suits are also of supreme quality and made here in London. You try a stock suit for size, choose from hundreds of its fabrics, get measured by a tailor and one or two fittings later you’ll have a suit made to fit you perfectly. The difference here is that you can try on pretty much what you’ll be getting, and maybe it’s a girl thing but I like to touch and feel before I buy.
It is approximately a thousand pounds for a suit made in top quality fine English wool – it’s a case of whether you want to indulge yourself in something quite unique, or play it safe and try it out for size first. Would you like your tailor to come to you, or would you prefer to go to your tailor? Whichever you decide the results will be sartorially satisfying. Sara Hollamby is a business image consultant for WorkingVoices.com. Email [email protected].