The famous bespoke Savile Row suit

Savile Row (originally named Savile Street) is a street in Mayfair, central London, built between 1731 and 1735.

The street is mainly famous for its handmade bespoke men's suits - each of them created to perfectly fit its owner. Tailors started opening their businesses on Savile Row in the late 18th century.

Suits, as at 2012, cost upwards of ?2,000 and usually over ?3,000 - depending on the used fabrics.
Why?What makes these suits so special?

Over 20 measurements must be taken before a cutter can create an individual card pattern. Every suit is handmade and it can take up to 100 man hours of craftsmanship to be finished. Men have thousands of different patterns to choose from and the cloth weight can be between 225 and 510 grams.
Note: 310 grams are the perfect choice for an all-year-round business suit.

The personal tailoring of one bespoke suit requires about 3 fittings and takes four to twelve weeks.

So, one of Savile Row bespoke suits could be a great 'haute couture' gift for a very special occasion for your beloved stylish and classy man.

Customers of the 'golden mile of tailoring' have included Lord Nelson, Napoleon III, Winston Churchill, Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, Cary Grant and Prince Charles.

The Savile Row Bespoke Association was founded in 2004 to protect and to develop bespoke tailoring as practiced in Savile Row and the surrounding streets. Despite this with increasing rents and criticisms from Giorgio Armani of falling behind the times, the number of tailors in Savile Row declined to 19 in 2006, from approximately 40 in the 1950s.

Over the past couple of years Savile Row is seeing an amazing revival - celebrities such as Sean Connery, Brian Ferry, Michael Caine, Charlie Watts, Jude Law and Tom Cruise have joined the Savile Row's client list.

Note: Many of the tailors from Savile Row do regular visits to the USA and Europe, so if you can't go to Savile Row, Savile Row will come to you!

Photo: Anderson & Sheppard - one of the top names in Savile Row, established in 1873