RIP Edward Sexton - bespoke tailor 1942 - 2023

I was very sad to hear of the death this week of Edward Sexton, that impeccable tailor and gentleman who was so much part of the modernisation of Savile Row since the seventies. 

Always impeccably cut: Edward Sexton 1942-2023

I was lucky to interview him some years ago and to meet him on occasions since - the last in November last year when I took the photograph above of his celebrating both his new Savile Row store and his birthday. He will be much missed.

Below you can read the feature I wrote in 2015: 

After decades as a lawyer, essentially an uncreative and often destructive profession, it's a huge pleasure for me, in my new life as a blogger, to talk to people who make it their task to create quality, elegance and style. I recently went to Beauchamp Place, in the shadow of Harrods in South West London, to meet Edward Sexton, bespoke tailor and striver for perfection, in his studio.

I can, even as a then disinterested youngster, remember the impact made on Savile Row by the opening of Tommy Nutter and Edward Sexton's Nutters in 1969. I even went over there to press my nose to the window. For some reason I can't now explain, I thought that Nutters was mentioned in one of the James Bond books as 007's tailors. The last Bond book was written a few years before Nutters opened, so I'd just got it completely wrong.

Of course, Nutters wouldn't have made suits to Bond's tastes anyway. Although the quality of the tailoring was high, the clientele was international pop and rock stars and the styles were those of Carnaby Street rather than the establishment of Her Majesty's Secret Service. Images of stars wearing Nutters long waisted coats with huge, wide collars, exaggerated roped shoulders, flared trousers and clashing checks advertised Edward Sexton's creativity and sixties style.

These elements still echo in his tailoring, providing a refreshing and individual alternative to the classic styles available elsewhere in London. These style clues from earlier and possibly more original days of tailoring reminded me of Mark Powell, another tailor whose work I write about here. The relationship between cutting edge tailoring, depth of experience and heritage is complex and so interwoven that they can never be separated. Without tailors with a foot firmly in the best of the past, we would be much the poorer.

But Sexton isn't dwelling on the past. The focus of his skills, and the very obvious pride he has in them, is on the quality of his tailoring. He showed me how he structures, sews and manipulates canvas, cloth and thread to make a garment that moulds to the wearer, moving with him or her and masking unevenness or pocket contents in way which, to me, seems magically mysterious. 

Despite his depth of experience, he told me that he can learn something new every day and he admitted to me that he has never made the perfect suit. This must make him the perfect tailor. Who wants to go to a craftsman who claims always to make perfection? It's the striving for elusive perfect tailoring that makes the genius. Luckily he also loves to pass on his skills to a younger generation and seeing him work with a young apprentice made me envious of the creativity and skills he has to pass on. 

Everything is completed in his studio; cutting and tailoring. Sexton offers a made to measure range, offering all that we love of the Sexton style. Suits in this range cost around £1800 [written in 2015] and are made in China from his own patterns. The block is then altered back in London after fittings with the client. A large proportion of Sexton's clients are women.

Sexton is obviously a man of great generosity and the number of young tailors and apprentices working closely with him highlights his desire to pass on his many years of experience to a new generation, ensuring the future if his business, and indeed of London tailoring.

See Edward Sexton.

Auction of Dege & Skinner made safari suit for Valentino

On 30th November, Bonhams in New York will be auctioning a safari suit made by tailors Dege & Skinner of Savile Row for Rudolph Valentino, the Italian-born American actor and star of silent films, who became a sex symbol of the 1920s, before his untimely death in 1926, aged just 31. The suit will be auctioned in a movie memorabilia sale. 

Rudolph Valentino

Dege & Skinner tell me that they were asked to verify the suit as genuine. They were able to do this as they had sewed (as they still do) a label into the suit recording the customer's name and date of despatch to them. The label records that it was made in 1923, the coat was cut by Dege & Skinner's current chairman’s father, Tim Skinner in their workshop, then located on Conduit Street. The riding breeches would have been made by the celebrated A.J. Hosford.

Dege & Skinner are, of course, one of only a couple of family-owned tailors left in Savile Row. They are Royal Warrant holders and continue to dress Hollywood stars and leading actors with timeless style and supreme elegance. Readers may recall that they recently made me a suit from cloth which I designed with Johnstons of Elgin (click here for the story).

Hammond & Co - Patrick Grant menswear at Debenhams

Occasionally I feel I might be making some progress with my search for style as an older man. Then I see someone effortlessly exuding style wearing battered basics and my illusion is shattered.

Or I meet Patrick Grant. This master of style always seems to look elegant without being starchy. I know, because I met him a few days ago to see the Hammond & Co collection he's designed for Debenhams.

But, of course, I console myself with the thought that Grant can easily look stylish. He owns a fashion business and no doubt has cutters and tailors to cater to his every whim.

But then Grant tells me that he's been wearing suits costing £299 from his Hammond & Co for Debenhams collection IN PUBLIC and has even had compliments on them from fashion journalists who assumed they were creations from his Savile Row workshops. And you'll be able to see him wearing the same suits in several episodes of the new series of the The Great British Sewing Bee, to be shown soon on BBC.

Grant wears a Hammond & Co suit, made from British cloth

Is it really possible to look that stylish in a reasonably-priced suit? I tried on a Hammond & Co suit jackets and it worked for me. He's right - it is possible to look very stylish (after Patrick has tactfully adjusted my wonky shirt collar) without breaking the bank. The cut, fabric and details look and feel right - rather than cheap and insubstantial compromises.

How have he and Debenhams achieved this? In his presentation Grant used the word 'simple' on many occasions. Every penny has been spent on materials and fabrication. Styles are unapologetically classic - the design team immersed itself in the Savile Row heritage of Hammond & Co before starting the design process.

Maximum attention was given to a reasonable number of products, producing a carefully-thought out capsule collection through which runs noticeable themes of Savile Row-inspired shapes and styles. Colours are generally plain grey, black and navy for town wear, highlighted by splashes of mustard and burgundy. Quality of materials is good - reasonably-priced knitwear is often thin and insubstantial; this is thick and chunky. Suit cloths are silky and flexible.

This is a collection for men of any age. I would have worn most of the clothes without any hesitation, as would a young man in his twenties wanting well-made but affordable British classic styling rather than drainpipe chinos and low waistbands.

This is pure style, rather than ephemeral fashion.

Here are images of my favourites - the best of which, in my view, is the Prince of Wales check double-breasted suit (made from British cloth) worn by Patrick Grant in the picture above. There is more to the collection, which you can find at Debenhams online or at most Debenhams stores.

 

Savile Row at Spencer House - London Collections: Men

This is a very impressionistic record, taken on my iPhone, of the wonderful presentation by Savile Row at the beautiful Spencer House, the eighteenth century palace in St James's, London. The historic surroundings were the ideal backdrop for the best of traditional British tailoring.

As we left someone commented on the youth of the models, echoing my thoughts and comments in yesterday's post on the Hackett show. Why were nearly all the models in their twenties? I can understand that Savile Row may want to encourage a younger clientèle, but to ignore the traditional customer base at an event like this is an interesting decision.

Is this London Collections: Men showing the youth-oriented myopia that I discussed in the New Year?

(All images Grey Fox)