When a gentleman (of any nationality) needs a new suit, he goes to Savile Row. This street in London’s exclusive Mayfair district is the place for bespoke tailoring for men. You don’t buy a suit “off the peg”: you are fitted by a master tailor. Ladies buy their clothes in other places and, for at least 200 years, Savile Row has been a very masculine environment. But that is beginning to change. 42-year-old Kathryn Sargent is the first female master tailor to open a store on this famous street.
The right stuff
Kathryn Sargent has always been fascinated by suits. After completing her degree in fashion design at the University for the Creative Arts, she became an apprentice at Gieves & Hawkes, one of Savile Row’s most famous establishments. She rose through the ranks and became the street’s first female Head Cutter in 2009. In 2012 she decided to start her own company.
nothing but the best
Kathryn Sargent is too discreet to name her clients, but they include royalty, politicians and captains of industry, as well as less famous people who simply aspire to having the very best.
CON AUDIO:
A Sign of the Times
Savile Row in London is synonymous with men’s tailoring. It is here that gentlemen go to get fitted for their suits, and it is very much a man’s world. It’s therefore surprising to find a shop called Kathryn Sargent. It is owned by a tailor of the same name who decided to go it alone after learning her craft at another Savile Row establishment, Gieves & Hawkes. Kathryn Sargent says she loves working on Savile Row:
Kathryn Sargent (mild Yorkshire accent): British tailoring is so unique because the suit and the origins of the suit were created here and I think it’s a line of history that runs from the start of men’s wear and fashion, and the trouser was invented here, the dinner suit was created here and I think that’s what we’re all very proud of and we want people to know about the histories and the origin of dress, but it’s so special because it continues to be relevant. The industry is an old industry, but it’s evolved and it keeps evolving to the modern day. Bespoke tailoring here in Savile Row has been going over 200 years, so we’re very proud of the fact that we’re still making suits here in this street and in the surrounding streets, as it has done for years, so I think tailoring continues to be important in men’s wear, and the suit will always evolve and the way that we work will always evolve, but we’re very proud of the heritage and the fact that the quality, you know, it’s the way that we work, and I think it’s becoming less rigid, the tailors are thinking more globally, and in a different way.
quality
Kathryn Sargent grew up in Leeds in Yorkshire, one of the many areas of Britain that provides material for the suits that are made on Savile Row:
Kathryn Sargent: The cloths are just so beautiful. You have, you know, West of England flannels, you have tweeds from the Outer Hebrides, like Harris Tweed and other areas, beautiful cashmeres from other areas of Scotland, and then you’ve got the sort of woollen mills of Yorkshire, where you get the great suiting materials, and I think the water is so good in Yorkshire for actually manufacturing this cloth that it continues to do so today. So the cloth goes hand in hand with the suit: you can’t make a really fabulous suit out of really bad cloth so, you know, you have to start with the raw materials.
ladies and gentlemen
Being on Savile Row, Kathryn Sargent mainly makes suits for men, although she does have some female clients:
Kathryn Sargent: It started, really, with me making my own suits and so I’d have clients who would say, “Could I bring my partner to have something made?”. And I started making a few pieces of women’s wear at Gieves & Hawkes and now there’s more and more women in professions where they want to have clothes that perform well for them and fine tailoring and especially have access to the cloths that the guys have had access to for all these years, so like the ultimate blazer or the ultimate jacket, I make those really sort of classic pieces that are going to work with their wardrobe. So we don’t make a man’s suit for a woman. I make it in a softer way, and also some women want to have a suit that has got more of a masculine feel, so we can adapt it, so it depends on the figure and how they want to feel again in their clothes, so I really work with them specifically to create something very unique for them, but I really enjoy making clothes for both men and women.
role model?
And, as a woman, how does Kathryn Sargent feel about having achieved success in a masculine profession?
Kathryn Sargent: I think it’s just a great position to be in, where the opportunity is now there. I’ve worked very hard to get where I’ve got to start up my own company. You know, you can’t just wake up one morning and think, “I’m going to do that,” you know, you need to get the experience required to do it, but for me like the fact that I’m like a woman is secondary; the fact that I’m a tailor... it’s the first thing I think about, I don’t think about being a woman, but now we’re talking about it, I think being a positive role model and showing other women that this is possible is a really good position to be in, but I’m really pleased to say there’s (are) more women in the trade now than there was (were) when I first started, more women in cutting roles, but it’s got to be a good balance in the workforce of men and women, and I think that is a sign of the times.