The winds of change are blowing in Savile Row - The Telegraph
Perhaps the biggest change in bespoke tailoring over the past 10 years has been the number of young women working in and around Savile Row. Antonia Ede's business is a few minutes away, around the corner in Soho. That's not to say that tradition isn't still important; when I catch up with Ede, she is busy finishing off a chasuble for a priest officiating at a wedding two days later.
Ede, now 29, studied costume at the London College of Fashion, and after stints at the Royal Opera House and teaching the inmates of Wandsworth Prison, she decided to move into menswear. She handed out her CV to every tailor on Savile Row without success before landing a part-time job on the shop floor at Hardy Amies.
The winds of change
Antonia Ede
Head cutter Stuart Lamprell soon discovered she had a passion to learn and took her on. "He taught me for three and a half years," she explains, "until a job came up at Huntsman next door and, on Stuart's advice, I took it."
Two years ago, she set up her own business. "I adored Huntsman but it is very traditional, and as junior cutter you tend to work on standard navy work suits. I wanted to explore and be more creative, so the obvious answer was to go it alone."
Traditionally, cutters are the only salaried employees in tailoring, and today she works with 17 freelancers. "I use many of the people I was working with before," she says, "so I can vouch for the quality of the work. Everything is made within 100 metres of my workshop."
The work itself is changing. "I was doing a trunk show in New York when JP Morgan announced it was relaxing its strict dress code to a smart-casual look. A friend commiserated, saying that this must be awful, but actually it was a great opportunity." To fit this new lifestyle, she has created machine-washable tailored trousers.
Extract taken from the Telegraph newspaper, you can read the full article on the Telegraph website by clicking the following link. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/mens-style/winds-change-blowing-savile-row/
