Benson & Clegg
ASK AN AFICIONADO of menswear to rank the bespoke tailors of London in ascending order of size from smallest to largest and Benson & Clegg would probably be at the bottom of the list. Employ quality as the criterion and it could tussle with the big boys for top billing. It may be compact, but it is, in every other respect, as perfectly formed as one of its impeccable suits. Founded in 1937, Benson & Clegg attracted a heavy-hitting clientele from the word go. King George VI was on its books, as were his brothers, the Dukes of Gloucester and Kent. The royal connection is retained to this day: the firm holds a warrant from the current Prince of Wales, supplying him with military neckwear, blazer buttons and blazer badges. More youthful – at any rate, less intimidating – than some of its competitors, Benson & Clegg has carved out a niche for itself as the go-to tailor for blazers, those most classic but versatile of garments that permit chaps of all ages to navigate with total assurance the mystifying terrain of ‘smart casual’.
Exquisitely elegant with its A-line skirt, nipped-in waist and roped sleeve-heads, the Benson & Clegg blazer can and will transform even the most rotund clubman into a fair facsimile of a lean-limbed, twenty-something Guardsman. As with all bespoke tailors, allow three fittings and eight to ten weeks from order to delivery.
See also: Cordings, Meyer & Mortimer, Henry Poole & Co
