I have to admit that I’ve had a soft spot for Patrick Grant ever since I saw him in the 2009 BBC documentary about Savile Row, London’s quintessential English mecca of gentlemen’s tailoring and bespoke clothing since the 18th century. At 6ft something he is quite a dish and the owner of Norton & Sons, one of the oldest tailors on Savile Row. He’s also fabulously British and won’t name living customers but past ones include Edward VII, Winston Churchill, Cary Grant and Alexander McQueen.
Patrick calls himself a bearded bicyclist and bird-lover on Twitter but recently has come to more mainstream fame through judging the ‘Great British Sewing Bee’ competition, another BBC programme. Norton & Sons’ house style is two-button, single-breasted and a handmade two piece suit will cost you upwards of £3,600 depending on the cloth.
His reason for joining the ranks of designers like Matthew Williamson and Henry Holland at Debenhams is that he wants to make clothes for urban professional guys who are not earning the big bucks. He claims his target market wants a great suit to wear to work, a sports jacket, a shawl neck knit, jeans and a classic looking shoe. Patrick himself would have bought these clothes 15 years ago if they existed but instead he had to save up for a year to buy a Prada suit. He says
I think young men are seeing a return to dressing in a more elegant way.
A welcome trend which should support his range of knitwear, suits, shirts, ties, chunky leather shoes, belts, wallets and handkerchiefs. His attention to detail is impressive and rumour has it that only after countless prototypes would he give each garment his seal of approval. He fiercely supports British industry and insisted on using British cloth which he considers the best in the world by a ‘country mile’ though he claims Italians did a much better job of telling the world they were cool.
Needless to say I love his style, attitude and his AW 2013 collection for Debenhams and fully support him in his quest for more TV programmes about fashion history and style.
There are a lot of people who think fashion is too frivolous for somewhere like the BBC, but clothing is serious. It’s important. It says a lot about who we are.
Ok, now all I need to do is convince my American dude to buy into the look and grow a beard.
Enjoy and I hope you’re inspired!
More information | Hammond & Co. by Patrick Grant for Debenhams
Photography | Chad & Paul