Jacob Elordi in statement pink for GQ’s Men of the Year awards; Stormzy in stand-out Shantung silk for the Brits; George Clooney in the classic charcoal wool twill suit that he took from the rail himself; Elton John on stage and off…  

The common thread (excuse the pun) is Richard James, which, as the only winner of the British Fashion Council’s Menswear Designer of the Year award to practise the craft of bespoke Savile Row tailoring, occupies a unique place in the world of men’s fashion.   

It all started in the ‘80s at the then-groundbreaking Browns boutique in London when Richard James, the menswear buyer and an aspirant menswear designer, met Sean Dixon, the Saturday boy who was busily studying for a degree in fashion during the week. They decided to do their own thing, and set their sights on Savile Row, which is now a thriving centre of quality tailoring and style, but was then a little bit démodé and down on its luck. The idea was simple: to produce classic, impeccably crafted clothing and push the boundaries with colour, cut and design.

When the store moved to No. 29 Savile Row – the largest space on the street - in 2000 and installed wraparound plate-glass windows, the pavement outside fast became a prized paparazzi stalking ground. Further expansion followed in 2007 with the opening of a dedicated bespoke tailoring store on Clifford Street - directly across the road from the Savile Row flagship - and in 2018 Richard James crossed the Atlantic and launched a not insubstantial store on Park Avenue in New York.

Today, you will still find Richard James behind the wraparound windows at 29 Savile Row and at 461 Park Avenue. But the Clifford Street store has now been reimagined and relaunched as Richard James House, a club as much as a space, that, over three floors and 2,500 square feet, showcases exactly what Richard James is all about. And there are also stockists throughout the world and an all-reaching ecommerce operation. Richard (who, incidentally, was awarded an OBE for services to men’s fashion in 2018) retired a few years ago, but remains in spirit as well as name, and Sean is still en situ as Managing Director.

So, things have changed a little bit since Richard James first opened its doors. But one thing that hasn’t (and won’t, ever…) is the original idea: to produce classic, impeccably crafted clothing and push the boundaries with colour, cut and design.

"There is an odd atmosphere these days in Savile Row. Nothing tangible, you understand. But from time to time, people stop to peer with uncertainty, with incomprehension, even with vague horror through the plate glass window of No. 37a. There’s a new boy on the Row, and he’s causing quite a stir."

Certain of the established tailors on the street were unimpressed (“They won’t last five minutes,” was one of the milder pronouncements), but the word about Richard James was out, and two of the very first visitors to the store were Elton John and Gianni Versace, who created something of a stir when they exited bearing a large part of its contents…

The style press soon took note, and hand in hand with that came a sea of celebrities, a good number of them from the world of the arts. Tom Cruise was dressed for the Oscars, Hugh Grant for Bridget Jones’ Diary, Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro for George magazine (in camouflage suits; a much-copied Richard James innovation), Oasis’s Gallagher brothers for their weddings, a regularly returning Elton John for all sorts…

"We wanted to make Savile Row sexy and exciting. We’ve always respected its history and craftsmanship, 
but we have just done so in our own way. "