For over 200 years, tailors have been crafting high-end bespoke suits on London's famous Savile Row. A custom-made two-piece suit can cost £6,000. And while a tailor's tools are simple, the skills needed to turn a paper pattern into a pressed suit takes years to master. We followed Kathryn Sargent, the first female Master Tailor on Savile Row, to find out how she crafts a bespoke suit — and to learn what makes Savile Row suits so expensive.
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00:00 Catherine spent 13 years training to become a head cutter.
00:05 She's had these tailoring shears her entire career.
00:09 They're designed to effortlessly glide through cloth without being lifted up.
00:13 You have to concentrate because if you don't you might just cut into a very expensive piece of cloth.
00:19 Using a special tailor's code, Catherine draws chalk outlines to craft bespoke suits for the world's wealthiest clients.
00:27 Everybody you can think of in the public eye, from Churchill to Fred Astaire, will have discreetly had their garments made for them in Savile Row.
00:37 On this exclusive street, even ironing is an art form.
00:41 A custom two-piece suit like this one can cost nearly £6,000 and takes four months to make.
00:49 That's more than five times the price of a ready-to-wear suit from a high-end brand like Brooks Brothers.
00:55 We travelled to the home of Bespoke Tailoring to find out what makes these suits so expensive.
01:02 When buying a suit, there are three main categories.
01:06 Off-the-rack, made-to-measure and bespoke.
01:09 Off-the-rack suits come in standard sizes, while made-to-measure suits start from the same base pattern, adjusted for each customer.
01:17 But at Bespoke Atelier's on and around Savile Row in London's Mayfair district, tailors craft one-of-a-kind garments completely from scratch.
01:26 Bespoke suits are infinitely customisable, but they take much longer to produce.
01:32 The process requires close, personal interaction with the client.
01:37 On Savile Row, you're not just paying for the suit, you're paying for the tailor.
01:42 Every tailor, like a hairdresser, has a different style, a different approach, so you just have to find the right one for you.
01:49 Catherine Sargent became the only female master tailor working on Savile Row after opening a shop on the street in 2016.
01:58 Today, her shop is located within the so-called 'golden mile' of Savile Row, on nearby Brook Street.
02:04 Catherine has worked with many high-profile clients over the years, most of whom she's not allowed to mention.
02:11 I made a coronation uniforms for a king, and I was flown to their country to have fittings.
02:18 And not all are human.
02:20 We have fitted out their four-legged friend before, so yeah, a bespoke dog coat with a couple of those.
02:26 To become a member of the Savile Row Bespoke Association, tailors must work within a specific area of London,
02:33 offer 2,000 different fabrics, and cut each suit from a unique paper pattern.
02:39 Even a try-on is a major event.
02:42 The months-long suit-making process starts with the consultation, a chance for the tailor to get to know their client and their needs.
02:51 Today, her client is Richard Stoppard, a local finance executive who is looking to buy his very first bespoke suit from Savile Row.
03:00 I really wanted to treat myself to something that I thought gave me a little bit more gravitas, a little bit more standing.
03:07 I'm not going to lie and say that it's a small amount of money, but I see it as a smart investment.
03:14 Early on, Catherine establishes basic details like the suit type and materials.
03:20 But she also takes time to develop a relationship with each client by asking specific personal questions.
03:27 There's a person at the heart of the creation. It's not just the tailor and their interpretation.
03:32 You know, you're making something that's really, truly bespoke.
03:36 She says the only struggle is managing expectations.
03:39 Every man that I make a suit for wants to look like James Bond.
03:44 It shouldn't be like an intimidating experience. It should be really, like, super relaxed and very, you know, informative.
03:53 During the first meeting, she carefully takes the client's measurements.
03:57 With these, Catherine crafts the most crucial piece of the bespoke suit, the paper pattern.
04:05 These patterns are two-dimensional representations of each garment with instructions on how pieces should fit together.
04:12 Catherine keeps every client's pattern on hand for future orders.
04:18 Pattern cutting, fitting, problem solving, it's always shapes and dimensions, 2D to 3D, and I'm kind of like a tailoring nerd in that way.
04:27 Catherine works meticulously to ensure each piece is drawn to scale.
04:32 But as precise as she is here, sometimes the client's size may change during the process.
04:38 You measure somebody and then they come for a fitting and they've changed shape, lost weight or gained weight, and the measurements change.
04:44 But we make the garments and the patterns so we can adapt them for that.
04:49 Once she's done sketching, she carefully cuts out each shape.
04:54 These are my paper shears. Every time we do a fitting, we take it from 3D to 2D and back again.
05:03 So we're constantly working on the pattern, altering the pattern.
05:07 Catherine uses these initial patterns to figure out how much cloth she needs.
05:13 The most commonly used fabric is British wool.
05:16 You can shape it, you can stretch it, you can shrink it. It is a joy to work with.
05:22 She gets most of her fabrics from storied London cloth merchants, like Holland and Sherry, where the fabrics are often locally sourced.
05:30 A typical jacket made from British wool starts at around £4,350.
05:37 But some materials can boost the price significantly, like cashmere or vicuña wool from Peru.
05:43 That cloth is probably the most expensive cloth in the world, and for an overcoat you would be talking upwards of £20,000.
05:51 Catherine says she prefers robust materials because her goal is to create a suit that lasts for decades.
06:00 The next step is striking, or marking up the cloth with a sharpened piece of tailor's chalk.
06:07 With a piece of chalk, you get a really nice sharp edge and get a really lovely curve.
06:13 You tend to do those curves freehand.
06:16 Catherine leaves extra cloth on the edges in case she needs to lengthen it.
06:21 It's called the inlay, and it remains inside the final suit so the garment can be altered even years later if needed.
06:29 So a garment that's made by hand, by us, would hopefully last 10, 15, 20 years, even longer than that if people take care of their clothes.
06:41 Once the fabric is marked, she cuts out the rough shape of the suit.
06:46 On Savile Row, a master cutter is never without their high-quality steel scissors.
06:52 My tailoring shears I've had for over 25 years.
06:58 I've never had them sharpened. They've sort of become an extension of you, so I really don't want to get any new ones.
07:04 I think they'll probably last me throughout my career.
07:07 The tailoring shears are designed to glide, so when you cut the cloth, you're not actually lifting the shears up in the air.
07:18 It allows you to really get a nice control, a nice straight line over the cloth.
07:23 For me, this is the most relaxing, easiest part of the job.
07:29 The noise is very satisfying.
07:33 You know you've accomplished something, you've made a pattern, and you're now going to see this garment come together.
07:40 At this stage, Catherine hands this bundle over to her apprentice, Emma Warner.
07:53 Working off of Catherine's chalk guidelines, Emma does a first pressing of the fabric and arranges the pieces.
08:00 Then she uses a thick white thread, called basting thread, to hand-stitch the cut pieces of cloth together and shape it into a wearable garment.
08:11 I'm going to use the hem for the top part because you want to keep the shape in the jacket.
08:22 If it's canvas like this, you will have the shape of the bust in the canvas more than if you would do it on the flat.
08:32 So that's why we're using it now, but then later we also use it to press the collar because the collar is also in a round.
08:41 This basted suit is what the client tries on at the first fitting.
08:48 The loose stitching allows Catherine to easily take it apart and make any necessary adjustments.
08:55 To make sure that it's exactly as they want it to be before we go ahead and take it further.
09:01 How's it feel under the arms?
09:02 Yes, plenty of room I think.
09:03 Is it comfortable?
09:04 Yeah.
09:05 It's not too low?
09:06 No.
09:07 Can you move around freely?
09:08 Yeah, I think so.
09:09 Yeah?
09:10 This one looks good, this one looks a little bit short, doesn't it?
09:12 During the first fitting, Catherine marks any adjustments on the cloth in chalk using a special tailoring code.
09:20 A straight line would mean shorten or take in and a line with a cross like that would mean let out or lengthen.
09:26 Once the client is happy, the garment is broken down and flattened again.
09:31 Catherine updates the paper pattern to reflect any changes.
09:35 For bespoke suits, clients usually come in for two or three fittings during which minute adjustments are made to make sure every measurement is exactly right.
09:46 After weeks of back and forth, the suit finally starts to take shape.
09:52 At this stage, tailors add wool padding to the shoulders and the collar to give the suit its structure.
09:59 We actually put shape into the garment at this point so when you try it on next time you just see that it's got a little bit more form to it, it's not a flat shape.
10:09 Once the client and the tailor are happy with the suit, it's sent out for finishing in which artisans attach the lining and stitch the edges.
10:20 The suit then needs to be pressed to make sure it's perfectly crisp and flat for the client.
10:27 It might look like normal ironing but this step is essential to maintaining Savile Row's high standards.
10:34 And there are few in the business who can press a garment like George.
10:38 I was taught by a presser in which he was doing it for 60 years, so I suppose you could say I inherited 60 years of experience.
10:48 There's no one we haven't pressed for and we currently press for around about 95% of the industry at the moment.
10:58 As with every other stage of the tailoring, the presser pays close attention to detail, making sure there's not a single wrinkle in any of the fabric.
11:08 Give the back drape a really nice clean finish and the back of the sleeves, the foreness are all pressed out really nicely.
11:16 And then we'll concentrate back on the front again and just complete the front by pressing these lapel edges and making sure we've got a good decent crease down here and a natural roll towards the end.
11:28 That's pretty much it.
11:36 After months of work, Richard returns one last time to try on the final suit and to make sure everything is just as he imagined.
11:46 I think it's interesting on how wearing the suit makes me feel. At the moment, slightly emboldened, you know, luxuriant.
11:56 It's an interesting sort of quite emotional experience if I'm honest.
12:00 You can normally tell as soon as they put something on, like they just kind of like their posture might be a little bit different.
12:07 Looking at something on the body in the mirror for the first time when it's completely finished can be quite daunting.
12:13 But once they've left the building with the garments and they've started wearing them, we quite often get good feedback saying,
12:20 "Oh my gosh, it's really brilliant, brilliant." And people stop me and ask me, "Where did I get the suit made?"
12:25 Catherine started as an apprentice in 1996 and by 2016 she had made history by becoming the first female head cutter and master tailor on Savile Row.
12:37 Now, others are following in her footsteps.
12:40 The Savile Row Bespoke Association says it's added more than 50 apprentices since 2004,
12:47 and Catherine has noticed more women in this new crop of aspiring master tailors.
12:52 I think gender should not be a barrier to following your passion and your love for this craft.
12:59 So many women are now becoming tailors and cutters, so it's really, really great to see.
13:04 It's something I'm personally very proud of.
13:06 A lot of the customers are still male and the perception I think from a lot of the houses are that cutters should therefore be male.
13:14 That doesn't matter at all to me and we've proved that it does work and a woman can do this job equally as well as any man,
13:21 if not sometimes better.
13:23 [laughs]
13:24 [music]