Savile Who?

London's coolest new tailors don't work on Savile Row. The capital's bespoke tailoring scene is in rude health, thanks to a new breed of young entrepreneurs who have left fashion's most famous street to set up on their own. Here are five you should know.

- Aleks Cvetkovic

A Savile Row suit is a beautiful commodity. It’s also a deeply traditional one. The Row’s largest bespoke tailors—those, such as Huntsman and Henry Poole, whose names are spoken reverently by connoisseurs—stick rigidly to their house styles and offer an experience that can at times be, if not intimidating, then perhaps not entirely a bundle of laughs, either.

And while men’s style has grown more casual in recent years, many of the senior denizens of The Row have continued to prioritise formalwear and business suits rather than evolve with the times. It’s a state of affairs that can be frustrating to younger tailors, particularly those who joined the industry with dreams of working on the most famous street in fashion but who are also desperate to remain relevant, both culturally and sartorially.

Kimberley Lawton, who left Savile Row behind to launch her own tailoring business in 2018, refers to these young professionals as “people who wanted to be more creative and not make navy and green tweed all the time”. And she’s not alone. Now, thanks to Lawton and a group of similar entrepreneurs, you no longer need to step inside the mullioned shopfronts of Savile Row to get creative with some of the best bespoke tailors in London.

A number of independents, operating in characterful ateliers in cool parts of town, are offering clients a more personable, creative partnership than many long-standing bastions of traditional British tailoring. And whether they make dramatic C-suite suiting, low-key “lunch suits” or casual suede jackets, this up-and-coming generation has transformed the British capital’s tailoring scene from a single, siloed street into a vibrant “studio city”. Here are five of the best.