Photo credit: Rich Kessler
“I’m a bespoke tailor based in London located off of Savile Row at 6 Brook Street in London’s glamorous Mayfair region. I grew up in Yorkshire which is north of England and where all the textile mills are, so I think I was inspired to pursue a career in tailoring partly from that. I went down to London to study fashion, and during my time studying fashion I realized that in order to make something you really need to understand the craft like pattern cutting,” Kathryn Sargent told Hollywood on the Potomac at an event in her honor at The Jefferson Hotel hosted by Capitol File Magazine. She is Savile Row’s first female head of bespoke tailoring.
“I just decided one day I’d go and be a fashion designer,” she added. “I was always drawing and being creative; first as a child, but then it kind of drew me towards fashion. I quite fancied being the next Vivienne Westwood. At college, I loved menswear and I decided to focus on that and if you do menswear you either do casual clothing or tailoring. I was always drawn by men in suits, a James Bond look – my father was always kind of James Bond.”
Kathryn Sargent
“A suit can do amazing things for somebody,” she explained. “My tutor said, ‘why don’t you go up to Savile Row and have a look there’ – that’s where all the suits are hand-cut and hand-made. I went up to Savile Row, did a work experience placement, and then landed a job at Gieves & Hawkes which is Number One Savile Row and then was there for fifteen years. I think you know the kind of clients they’ve tailored over the years, and part of the history of them is that they are people who have Hollywood connections, the royal families, any distinguished notables you can think of, had their clothes tailored in Savile Row, so that really appealed to me. I trained and learned the art of pattern cutting and crafting. I make classic pieces that you can wear like an ultimate jacket, the ultimate coat for women and men.”
“I launched my business four years ago. After being trained at Gieves & Hawkes and becoming a cutter, ultimately I was promoted to the position of head cutter, which isn’t as gruesome as it sounds. I was the first woman in the history of Savile Row to hold that position. Once I got to that position, I realized this entrepreneurial thing was there ….. an undercurrent that I wanted to explore. A lot of the companies are going towards building a look, building a brand, a design house, whereas I was inspired by the craft of bespoke tailoring, the actual taking a pencil and cutting a pattern and making everything from scratch because what would be right for me but wouldn’t be right for you. We all live in different climates, have different lifestyles, so I tailor to the individual. I get to know them, about their tastes, their profession. I give them advice on what I think would suit their body shape, enhance the good points, and disguise the maybe no-so-good points, but it’s a tailor’s craft that allows you to do that.”
Philip Wood, Managing Director of The Jefferson Hotel with Kathryn Sargent
“We have a process here just to show how it all works, from the art of cutting the pattern through to cutting the material out by hand and actually doing all the stitching. It’s all made by hand, but these are investment pieces and the suits are built to last. A Savile Row bespoke piece or piece made by me is really, is truly an investment and should last you ten, fifteen, twenty years ultimately. This jacket, I think, is five years old, and I know I’ll be wearing it for another ten years.” The jacket in question costs about £2,800.
Photo by Janet Donovan
“It’s people who need to look good and people who have great taste. It’s not for everybody, but it’s something that is the top level of luxury, it’s luxury. If you think about the amount of work that goes into it, it’s over 50 man-hours to make just the jacket and it’s all made by hand in London. We have big overheads because it’s not just sent away to a factory to be made. These clothes are crafted and have a life of their own and are indeed sculptures of the client. They’re walking sculptures. I always feel like I’ve got my suit of armor on when I’m wearing my bespoke clothes. I’ve brought a selection of garments here that we’re making for our distinguished clients who are based over here in the U.S. Can I show you?” Yes.
Photos by Janet Donovan
Sarget went on to tell us about the garment structure: “It’s all padded by hand. Feel it. That’s what makes the shape of the garment. All these pieces are made by techniques that are over 200 years old and they’re still being practiced today. It’s really a craft in an art. It’s about tailoring. We leave extra material inside so we can make changes. We do fittings and then lay them down flat, lay the pattern on, and re-mark it and go over into a three dimensional garment. That process is reflected two or three times during the lifetime of the first fit. It’s an investment of time. This is a common collar. It’s all covered and made to roll a certain way. Looks like stitching here. This is James Bond, Skyfall, Daniel Craig inspired pea coat. It doesn’t just have to be a classic suit.”
“This is a classic man’s business suit,” she explained. “You can see it’s the structure. You see the roll of the sleeve? A lot of suits are flat. What we do is, we work with a client and enhance their figure. If you’re holding a room in business, you want to look sharp, or you might want to look a bit softer, not so threatening or important. Again, I work with a lot of people and advise them on their image and what would empower them. This is a very nice classic suit. One button, peak lapel. Ladies top coat piece here, very elegant, classic tailored piece that we’ve just worked with a client in the New York area. She can wear that over a fitted dress, or she can wear it as a top coat. Then there is Sear Sucker Thursdays. This client wanted a different way of wearing sear sucker so it’s a bit riviera ….. a little bit Clark Gable. Instead of just taking a classic suit and just using sear sucker to make it, we played with the styling to give it flair. Do you like that?” Indeed, here’s my address. “The ladies piece here is Dior inspired. We worked with her to do a fit and a flare. The front, you really see it from this angle. We’ve hand embroidered the sleeves. This is a real show piece.”
Photo by Janet Donovan
