Anderson & Sheppard
AS LUCK AND THE ALPHABET would have it, my run-down of establishments conducive to good living in London kicks off with this top-notch and extremely suave tailor.
As much an ideal as an address (one doesn’t need to be on it to partake of its traditions and expertise), ‘Savile Row’ is in no sense a monolithic entity. Quite the reverse. Each of the major firms has a distinct identity that sets it apart from its competitors, and none more so than Anderson & Sheppard. Founded in 1906, and so a relative upstart in the rarefied world of bespoke tailoring, Anderson & Sheppard’s client list has, besides the likes of Cecil Beaton and Somerset Maugham, included some of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Celebrated for its fluid or ‘soft’ tailoring – relaxed shoulders, generous lapels, minimal padding – Anderson & Sheppard suits were worn by Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Gary Cooper and Fred Astaire, the last of whom would dance around the fitting room to ensure he’d be able to move as freely through private life as he did on the silver screen. Beloved by Americans to this day, as well as by all those who prize effortless sophistication above fleeting fashion, Anderson & Sheppard is, to my mind, the most purely charismatic tailor on or off the Row. It’s for any chap who sees himself less as a middle-aged merchant banker and more as Cary Grant in Indiscreet.
See also: Huntsman, Norton & Sons
