Royal Warrants by Lyonsdown

Get up and go · June 2012

AN INDEPENDENT REPORT FROM LYONSDOWN, DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Royal warrants

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SPONSORED FEATURE

Tailored by tradition World famous tailor has hand-crafted bespoke suits for royalty, politicians and businessmen for more than 200 years

stablished in 1806, Henry Poole & Co is the founder of Savile Row, the modest Mayfair street recognised worldwide with more than 200 years of bespoke tailoring tradition. It was the eponymous Poole who first opened a Savile Row entrance to his palatial tailor’s shop in 1846 where he would serve claret and cigars to friends such as the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), Baron Meyer de Rothschild and Prince Louis

Napoleon (the future Emperor Napoleon III). Customers of Henry Poole walk in the footsteps of kings, prime ministers, presidents and gentlemen of note from the worlds of politics, property, finance and publishing. What do Benjamin Disraeli, Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill, J. Pierpont Morgan, General de Gaulle, William Randolph Hearst and Emperor Hirohito have in common other than their appearance in the historic ledgers preserved in the Henry Poole & Co archive? Today, Henry Poole & Co is one of few tailors on Savile Row dedicated only to the craft of hand-making bespoke suits. Each customer is measured by hand, his pattern is cut by hand and his suit is constructed by many hands with a minimum of 54-hours’ work and an average three months to perfect, all on the premises at 15 Savile Row. Though Poole’s is always pleased to welcome new

Fit for a king

customers to Savile Row, the cutters visit countries such as Japan, USA, France and Germany, to name a few, up to four times a year. In addition to City suits and formal dress such as the dinner jacket that Poole’s cut first for Prince of Wales in 1865 before his accession to the throne, Henry Poole & Co is the only Savile Row tailor to have a Livery Department and has held the British monarch’s royal warrant successively since Queen Victoria first granted it in 1869. Poole also tailored the velvet court dress, designed by Henry Poole’s father James in 1837, on the accession of Queen Victoria. In April 2012 Henry Poole & Co was proud to be awarded The Queen’s Award

for Enterprise: an honour conferred on Her Majesty’s birthday and in the diamond jubilee year. This award is Britain’s highest accolade for business and is granted by the Queen, on the advice of the prime minister, for excellence in international trade. +44 (0) 20 7734 5985 www.henrypoole.com

SPONSORED FEATURE

Personal service has tailored to the individual needs of many, including King George VI, making it an enduring choice through the decades

hen you are looking for a suit fit for a king, visit a king’s tailor. Benson & Clegg, in Piccadilly Arcade on London’s Jermyn Street was granted the royal warrant as official tailor to King George VI in 1944. The firm created the king’s suits, morning dress, military uniform, and the doublebreasted overcoat he wears in many historical photographs. The tradition continues today. Benson & Clegg holds the royal warrant to the Prince of Wales as the supplier of buttons, badges and military neckwear.

with the client from the outset.” So what is it that makes Austin uses this knowledge Benson & Clegg such an enduring when overseeing the choice of the monarchy? creation of each suit. “We provide an “I have a picture of the individual service to customer in my mind, the customer from so I can check with beginning to end,” our in-house tailors says Kenneth Austin, that the construction Benson & Clegg’s is exactly right. As a master tailor. master tailor I do some “The cutter helps you of the making myself to choose the fabric, rather King ensure the perfect fit.” than a salesman, as in many George VI Unlike many firms, which other tailoring firms. He use self-employed outworkers, then measures you, oversees the Benson & Clegg employs its own tailoring and carries out the fittings. jacket tailors on fixed salaries. “It It creates an individual relationship

means they can afford to take the extra time and trouble to get the details exactly right,” says Austin. The company also provides hand-crafted blazer buttons, hand-embroidered blazer badges and regimental silk ties, some of which are individually woven for the Prince of Wales. “Holding a royal warrant is an honour that means we must always provide the highest level of individual servicethat extends to every customer,” says Austin. 020 7409 2053 www.bensonandclegg.com