Simon Cundey and Alex Cooke (that is he in the background) of Henry Poole & Co. visited San Francisco's Huntington Hotel this week. In the second half of the nineteenth century Poole was perhaps the greatest society tailor that ever has been, and it remains a pillar of Savile Row. Cundey's suit in the photo exemplifies Poole's middle of the road house style that lies mid-way between London's soft drape and hard military-style extremes. 
For this visit I had in mind a Norfolk jacket for winter days out of doors but, after perusing half a dozen of tweed merchant's W. Bill's books, realized my heart was set on a cloth seen in Scotland the previous summer and decided to locate that fabric number in order to commission it at a future date. 
Instead, I elected to order a classic English blazer in a 14 ounce/420 gram hopsack. It will be double breasted, with Poole's dark red signature lining, six gilt Nelson buttons on the front and four on each sleeve, and slanted pockets without flaps. The blazer is to my mind a most useful jacket for evenings in these casual times and a wardrobe can usefully contain several of them.
We will see the first cut of this coat in London in January.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Henry Poole & Co
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3 comments:
Glad to hear that Winston Churchill's main tailor (along with Austin Reed and others) is still going strong!
A couple of observations from looking at that order docket - a model of brevity and precision:
a)They use the term jacket, not coat, internally.
b)There is the option to provide references. In the very old days (1920s, 1930s) you had to provide a reference to be accepted as a client - a link to the gentleman's club ethos of the time. Nowadays I believe it is used mainly for marketing purposes.
I'm not quite sure what the shorthand "IN B PKTS" and "FCG PKT" represent. "Inside Breast Pockets" and "Facing Pocket" perhaps?
Now I know where he got it. My tailor once told me that when he was a lad he took the King's shilling to work at Henry Pool (even worked for free at first to get in the door as an apprentice)to learn about the business. On his own here for forty years now, his house style is a bit like that middle of the road.
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