“To put it simply, we’ve just always done our own thing,” Toby Lamb, Creative Director of Savile Row‘s Richard James, tells me frankly.
“We started out on Savile Row and we’ve always respected its traditions and the incredible quality of its tailoring, but we come from design backgrounds and that is what we’ve applied to both our tailoring and our seasonal collections.
“And, from 1992 to today, that remains our philosophy; to produce classic, refined clothing of unsurpassable quality and push the boundaries through design, colour and cut.”
For years, Richard James have experimented with colours and patterns. And, although other Savile Row tailors have dabbled with such styles, it seems that Lamb has embraced the alternative most obviously and – in many ways – bravely.
But why does the designer think it is important to push the envelope in this way, and not necessarily conform to what many would think the stereotype of a Savile Row tailor would be? How does he choose the colours and patterns of his suits – and are there still prints and hues too wacky to be turned into bespoke garments?
“The colours and patterns are all actually designed in house,” says Lamb, “which predominantly appear on shirts, silk pocket squares, cashmere scarves and silk ties. They’re influenced by the seasonal themes of our ready-to-wear collections.
Richard James SS17
“For example, our AW16 collection, called Chains + Cranes, was inspired by London’s bustling, powerful and incredibly cosmopolitan docks of the ‘30s. So there are some beautiful rope and chain prints and some seafaring blues and rusts.”
Velvet also appeared heavily in the AW16 collection, I add. Was there a reason that this alternative fabric made the cut?
“Velvet, or at least the incredibly plush all-cotton velvet we source from a small mill in Italy, drapes perfectly and holds and reflects light beautifully,” explains Lamb. “And it has a real depth of colour and is just a touch individual, which we always like. Our customers like to stand out a little without being ostentatious and our midnight blue velvet evening suit does that perfectly.
“For that reason we’ve moved into more casual cuts. We’ve always made casual wear and we’ve been cutting more softly tailored suits and separates. Our trademark Hyde suits – which the style press quickly dubbed the modern classic cut when we introduced them in 1992 – are still very popular, but more and more people want lighter fabrics and less structure in tailoring.”
Just like the suits, Richard James’ campaigns focus on colour and striking visuals. Younger men abound – but was this a concerted effort by the brand to attract younger men to tailored suiting?
“It might sound a little bit clichéd,” hedges Lamb, “but we appeal to men of a certain attitude more than a certain age – and that’s reflected within our seasonal campaigns.
Richard James SS13
“There’s often a sense of ambiguity to these images which grasps the viewers attention and feature both tailoring and casualwear pieces. They reflect what we’re about as a brand, as well as our offering of modern menswear and handcrafted accessories.
“We want people to see us as luxury, but with a certain air of breeziness.”
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