Savileroy Style to Impress Dressed to Kill

Super Stylish Outfits That Will Surely Impress - Savileroy

1. Tuxedos Angelina Jolie, Brad don the dapper ensemble.

2. This blue suit is perfection..!!

3. Consider Going A Bit On The Casual Side – Wear A Suit With A Henley T-Shirt

 

4. Go The Beckham Way - Wear A Plaid Shirt With A Pair Of Jeans To Look Different Than Usual

5. Denim Never Fails to Impress! So Why Not Rock It In Style

6. And If You Eagerly Want to Wear A Suit, Wear It Without A Tie And Avoid Too Much Mix N Match

7. The One Thing That Never Fails to Impress – A Leather Jacket!

 

8. Add on a Bomber Jacket to The Outfit to Oomph Up The Fashion Quotient a Bit!

9. Grey is always nice..!

Edward’s Scissorhands: Savileroy Bespoke Tailoring

This isn’t just any bespoke tailoring appointment you’re making. You’re in the company of Mr. Abdul Butt, outfitter of Tony Blair & a host of British High Commissioners.

Gentleman Tailors Since 1842
By brownpaperbag.in | edwards-scissorhands-savileroy-bespoke-tailoring |

The scene is set at Polo View Market in Srinagar. The year is 1842. The Maharaja of Kashmir is playing at the adjacent grounds, and milling around are diplomats, lords, ladies and higher-ups of the regiment, most of whom have made their way to a particular studio in the market, or requested a houseboat call from its proprietor. The street hosts several establishments including Honest India, Zubana Tailors and Fashion House, but they’re all visiting the one and only A Salama.

We know this because the owner and tailor-in-charge at A Salama, Mr. Abdul Salam, happens to be the great grandfather of the person currently pouring hot kahva and feeding us sugar biscuits. Says Mr Abdul Majid Butt, “It was my great-grandfather who suggested we change the name to Savileroy. Most of our clients were foreigners, and we wanted something that sounded familiar to them.” Mr. Butt is now keeper of the family’s bespoke tailoring tradition, operating out of Delhi.

Post re-christening, Mr Butt goes on to explains, Savileroy began cutting their suits according to a “floating canvas”, a technique their counterparts on Savile Row are known for. A floating canvas, as opposed to a fused suit, is created with a layer of camel hair under the fabric (from Germany, quips Mr. Butt). The canvas provides a foundation for the suit, preventing it from sagging or bubbling. Back in Mr Butt’s grandfather’s time, suits took a good three months to create, over four or five fittings. “Today’s generation wants everything quickly, in three weeks or less, and they all opt for Italian cuts and slim-fit tailoring,” says Mr. Butt.

Mr. Butt has worked with every past (and present) British High Commissioner, as well as American, Canadian, Australian, French and German diplomats, regularly making house calls to their embassies.

In the 1930s, Mr. Butt’s grandfather and his family would travel to Sialkot (now in Pakistan) from November to March every year, to make suits for regiments and foreign officials. As their fame grew, embassies in Delhi began clamouring for the famous tailor, so visits were regularly made, which means that when they finally moved here in 1955, they had a well-established clientele. “Everyone was waiting for us,” beams Mr Butt.

Suit Up

We are currently chatting in Mr Butt’s Jangpura studio and home, where his family has lived for 60 years. Should you visit, we advise you to get directions beforehand and once you arrive, don’t leave without flipping through Mr Butt’s album, which seems like any old family compendium but look, it’s Tony and Cherie Blair, the English cricket team and Chelsea Clinton!

Mr. Butt has worked with every past (and present) British High Commissioner, as well as American, Canadian, Australian, French and German diplomats, regularly making house calls to their embassies. Sir Rob Young, the High Commissioner from 1999, was a steady customer, followed by Sir Michael Arthur, Sir Richard Stagg (who Mr. Butt calls Dickie Stagg) and the current Brit-in-residence, Sir James Bevan. “They don’t follow fashion, because they have real style,” enthuses Mr. Butt. Shyam Benegal, Suhel Seth and Karan Thapar are owners of custom-made Savileroy suits as well. Mr. Thapar, possibly due to his ties with Mr. Butt’s beloved England, is a great favourite, earning compliments like, “He’s got a great sense of dressing and goes for the very best. He studied in England, isn’t it?”

It was Sir Michael Arthur who introduced Mr Butt to the Blairs back in the early 2000s. The whole arrangement was very hush-hush, but Cherie Blair arrived in India a month before the official visit. “There were strict instructions to keep it quiet, and I created some dresses for her and gave her a pashmina shawl,” says Mr. Butt. Tony brought a suit from Gieves & Hawkes (from Savile Row, incidentally), as a sample. The ensuing photographs show two very happy customers.

So we guess that nothing’s changed since 1842.

Getting There: Savileroy, 2/9, Jungpura A, New Delhi. Call 9811426261. www.savileroy.com. Suits stars at Rs 6,000 and go onwards of Rs. 25,000 according to the fabric.

Bespoke suits from Savileroy!

sunday sentiments Bespoke suits from Savileroy | Karan Thapar
 
In the early 1930s, when the future King Edward VIII was a rather popular Prince of Wales, there was a music hall favourite which claimed “I’ve danced with a man who’s danced with a girl who’s danced with the Prince of Wales.” This weekend I find myself in a similar sort of position. I’ve found a tailor who makes suits for Tony Blair and now he’s making one for me as well!

Known by the somewhat unlikely name of ‘Mr Savileroy’, he’s a Kashmiri gentleman called Abdul Majid Butt and his family has been making bespoke suits and ladies dresses since the early years of the 20th century. What’s more Mr Butt has an album of handwritten recommendations to prove his credentials. The oldest, from an English lady who lived in Sialkot (now in Pakistani Punjab), is dated September 20th, 1933 and was given to his father. “A. Salama has made me two tweed cardigans and skirts”, it reads. “I was very pleased with his work.” Six years later, Major Warriman of Queen Victoria’s Own Corps of Guides testified: “A. Salama has made me a coat and some pairs of shorts. His work seems very satisfactory.”

Over the years Savileroy’s fame — as the family shop came to be called — spread far and wide. In 1951, Count D'Aspremont Lynden, the Belgian Ambassador in Delhi, added his certification to its growing list of recommendations: “Mr Savileroy has made a tweed sports coat that fits me very well.”

By the 1990s the family enterprise, now run by Abdul Majid Butt and his younger brother Bilal Ahmed, had become a visiting point for British dignitaries coming to India. Jack Straw (as Foreign Secretary), Peter Hain (Northern Ireland Secretary) and all the three British service chiefs number amongst its grateful customers. In 2001, when Bill Clinton came visiting, members of his delegation ordered an astonishing 150 suits. Alas, the former President was not one of them and I daresay it shows.

Mr Butt’s pride is an autographed photograph of Cherie Blair. She’s standing beside him in a shell pink suit, wearing an Indian looking pearl necklace. The inscription reads : “Savileroy, best wishes, Cherie Blair”. Her smile says the rest.

Mr Butt says the picture was taken in September 2005 when the Blairs were last in Delhi. At the time Tony ordered two suits, Cherie several dresses and they also picked up an outfit for a son. Unfortunately, Mr Butt can’t say which one it was.

Today, the Butt family is based in Delhi. Their old Srinagar shop, near Residency Road, burnt down in 1994. Mr Butt doesn’t hide the fact that militants were to blame. But he still proudly displays photocopies of an old Berlitz India Pocket Guide which, on page 94, states that Kashmir can boast of “tailors with names like Savileroy”. “But now,” he laughs, “we are here. I’m a Delhiwala!”

My first point of contact with the Butts was Bilal. Last winter he made me a soft black leather jacket which attracted so much attention that, within days, the extended clan had ordered several more. We soon discovered that Bilal’s suede bandgala waistcoats were truly special. My sisters and cousins have taken them as far afield as New York and Botswana!

However, it was an accident that introduced me to the Butt family’s suit-making talents. Requiring an old dinner jacket to be altered for a nephew’s wedding I rang Bilal for advice. He was away but his brother Abdul Majid stepped into the breach. He did a superlative job and I started questioning to find out more. That’s when the story tumbled out. With a large beaming smile — but an oddly reticent manner — he brought out the letters of recommendation and told me about his famous clients.

“Let me make a suit for you,” he eventually asked. I hesitated but he could tell I was in two minds. “You wear fine clothes on television but I can do better.”

It was my turn to smile. I soon discovered that Mr Butt is a delightful salesman. His final argument was impossible to resist. “And I’m a lot cheaper too. Why do you think the English come to me? They recognize value for money.”

So that’s how it happened. I have still to receive the suit but now I’m hoping that one day I will get to meet Tony Blair. “I say Prime Minister,” I shall ask, “is that from Savile Row or Savileroy?”