Norton & Sons
WITH A HERITAGE AS LONG, if not longer, than many of its neighbours, Norton & Sons is, by my reckoning, the least atavistic tailor on Savile Row. Founded in 1821, and with a glittering client-list that’s included everybody from Winston Churchill and Cary Grant to King George V and assorted US presidents, it presents itself as the proverbial blank canvas. The club-like ambience that’s virtually ubiquitous at the uppermost level of menswear is notable by its absence. Instead of ‘Spy’ cartoons, the plain white walls are sparingly adorned with choice pieces of contemporary art; instead of mahogany and leather, the furniture is sleek mid-century modern. Only the curlicues of gold braid looped around the chest of a Victorian officer’s tunic hint at Norton’s distinguished origins in the grand old English tradition.
This may make the whole enterprise sound antiseptic, or even sterile. Far from it. Upon arrival, one is greeted with the warmest and most personal of smiles. It’s a smile, moreover, that one acquires and retains during the ordering and fitting process. Untrammelled by an intractable house style, and ever responsive to the client’s specific needs and wishes, Norton & Sons is as adept at tailoring for doctors as for lawyers, for media types as for politicians. It takes that blank canvas and allows the client to project himself onto it as he most wishes to be seen. The results are, without exception, faultless.
See also: Anderson & Sheppard, Byrne & Burge, Huntsman
