SPEAKER_03 0:12

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Men's Webstar Podcast, episode 32. I'm your host, Pete Brooker, and in this episode we'll be talking to none other than Savile Road tailor, Richard Anderson. Richard was one of the youngest cutters ever at Huntman, and in 2001 he went on to open his own business, becoming the first bespoke tailoring house to open on the road in 50 years. Here's a clip of the interview.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

I think one of the great things with um Savro and the main houses, though, everyone people uh some people could assume that a Savaro suit is a Savro suit, but it's you know each house produces slightly differently, each each house cuts slightly differently, and each house has a slightly different uh atmosphere and ambience.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

So Richard will be coming to the US in September and he's taking bookings now on his website, which is Richard AndersonLTD. So head over there. We'll be dipping out the dates on the interview, but you can check him out on his website, which is RichardAndersonLimited.com. And if it's dates there, then get yourself booked in. We'll also be doing a news roundup with editor at large backloads. Could be giving me the loadow on the runners and riders that create the red carpet at the GQ award.

SPEAKER_04 1:20

Oh my gosh! He was taking an up an award on the night. That was a cool space too. Fool's token very nice. We had, of course, the legend Jeff Goldblume. I think he was one of the standouts as well he has today.

SPEAKER_03 1:36

That's all to come, but make sure you're checking out the website www.mendsworthstyle.co.uk for all your latest on fashion travel cards. What kind of fertilizer you need to go your beard? We've got it all going on over there. Subscribe for 195. If you haven't done that already and follow us on the total at menswear style. If you'd like to get in touch with the code, then email us here at info at menswearstyle.co.uk. Okay. Woo! Let's get it on. I'd like to welcome to the podcast now Richard Anderson, uh Tavel Road Taylor, extraordinaire. Richard, how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Very well, thanks, Peter. Yes, very well. Thank you just back for a um holiday in Croatia, so uh feeling quite perky actually.

SPEAKER_03 2:24

Oh wonderful, excellent. How was Croatia?

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Very good, yeah, nice food, nice weather. So uh yeah, it's been a very busy year, so it was nice to sort of kick back for a couple of weeks, quite frankly.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

Yeah, definitely. Well, listen, um so much to talk about, Richard. Uh I'm so thrilled to have you on the show. 101 different questions. They're all probably going to come out a bit scattergun, but here we go. Sure. If we could start with what are your earliest memories? So you started working at The Huntsman. You were one of the youngest cutters to ever work at The Huntsman, if my if my uh facts tell me correctly. What were the fondest memories that you had and what were the deciding factors that made you want to leave the Huntsman and ultimately set up on your own?

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Well, Huntsman's was a real I wasn't I I you know, I was um there was lots of cutters at Huntsman's. I mean, Huntsman's was a hundred and f is a hundred and sixty or a hundred and sixty-five, hundred and seventy-year-old company now. Um so when I joined in nineteen eighty-two, they were still well established and there'd been lots of um lots of cutters before me. And um uh but what I was I was the youngest head cutter in their in their history when I uh at the age of I don't know 32, 33. Um so I started a cutting apprenticeship there when I was 17. Uh and I loved it. I mean I absolutely loved it. It was like uh a completely different um world, you know, coming from my uh comprehensive school in Watford, which was great, into the hallowed halls of Huntsman's, which was uh then probably the the best and world and most renowned and most prestigious tailors uh in the West End. So it was a uh a culture shock. Um but they what I loved about them, it was very um obvious that they were they were the best. Oh they do, they're extremely proud of what they um achieved. Um their um eye for detail and their level of quality was sort of second to none. And you you know you very you had to sort of sink and sink or swim in that environment, but I love the challenge of it.

SPEAKER_03 4:15

And I mean you're number thirteen, Savarros. You're only a couple of doors down. Sure, sure. Do you still kind of go around there and and invite yourself around for a cup of tea and vice versa? Are you still on good terms with those guys?

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Of course, yeah, absolutely. I mean, Savarrosa like uh it's like a village, we all know each other. Um there's no one there left from my time at all there. I mean, I've been I've left Huntsman's uh sort of 17 years now, uh, and it's also gone through a couple of uh changes in ownership actually. So uh there's no one who I work with who's who's who's still there, unfortunately. Um but no, we have I have a good uh rapport with the people that I know, I know the chairman, uh we all sit on various boards and charity events, that sort of thing. So so no, I mean uh I think one of the great things with um Savro and the main houses, though everyone people uh some people could assume that a Savro suit is a Savro suit, but it's you know each house produces slightly differently, each each house cuts slightly differently, and each house has a slightly different atmosphere and ambience. So uh so uh you know that that's that's really where we are with that.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

Richard, could you tell me, out of curiosity, what it is that sets you apart and distinguishes you on Savile Road, talking about how different house has a different style.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

I think I think it's obviously the cut, honestly. I mean, I was taught to uh cut from a very traditional way of uh of of cutting. Um, you know, when one when a cutter cuts for a a customer, he takes uh uh a set of measurements, in my case I take 19 measurements, um, but the measurements don't tell you the full story. The measurements won't tell you how the guy stands or the lady stands. In other words, their figuration. So what we call what what we mean by the figuration is is one shoulder higher or lower than than the other one? Is uh is one sort of uh knee bowed out more than the other? Is is one carrying, is one has uh uh a corpulent sort of um stomach or a uh long back, flat back, all these sort of things that are taken into consideration. And for a cutter, really what he must do then is put those two ingredients together, if you see what I mean, the measures and the figuration, plus a little bit of his artistic eye and the customer's personality, and cut uh an individual pattern. So each each one is is different for that. And I think um what we what we do, we have a very distinctive house style which is based on um a method of cutting called the Thornton System, which is a 19th century way of cutting. Um and the balance of the garment that one can achieve with that Thornton system is is fabulous. There's no there's no need to sort of um reinvent the wheel and think you can do it better than that system, but within that framework, what you can do, you're you can put your own stamp on it. In other words, then you have to you have to allow for the customer's figuration, their personality, and your artistic sort of um sense in the in in that system. And I think all those ingredients goes um into making uh a very um distinctive silhouette that we at Richard Anderson um are known for. And really the look of it is pretty based on a riding coat. Uh so if we start if you start at the top of the coat, the shoulders are really quite natural. There's a small amount of padding in the um in the shoulders. There's no rope to the sleeve head at all, it's just one continuous line from the um shoulder seam going into the sleeve seam. Um the armholes we cut quite high, and that's for two reasons. One for ease of movement, so you one can move the arm forward without restriction. Um, and also, secondly, is to get a nice long line through the side seam, um, which is designed to make anyone look a little bit taller and slimmer than they actually are. So, in other words, you you know you're you're looking to um accentuate the good parts of the body and maybe disguise the bits that aren't quite as good.

SPEAKER_03 8:00

Now, from what I understand, there's always an apprentice and the master, a little bit in tailoring terms at least, and in I guess Star Wars terms. I was just watching an interview with uh your business partner, Mr. Lishak. Mr Lishak, yes, of course. He was telling me about how there would always be someone underneath the main cutter so that we could then parlay these skills onto other apprentices and juniors so that you know the the trade, the skill doesn't die out. Can I ask, do you still employ that tactic? Do you have someone working under you, direct under you?

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Oh no, very much so. It's very important actually. Yes. I mean we've got a uh on the cutting side, we have got a young young man who's been with me maybe three years now and uh is making good progress and is just on the uh on the he's got a few of his own customers for trousers. You normally start them on trousers and develop them into coats. Um and we're hoping to get him on to uh to have his um own cut coat customers by the end or early next year, I'd say.

SPEAKER_03 8:58

Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

So yeah, that that that is still very, very prevalent. And also, you know, it's it's important because you know I'm just over fifty now, so uh my range of customers uh stretches from obviously twenty to you know, we we're we're lucky at Richard Anderson that we have a very broad range of customers. We're not just uh pigeonholed into sort of CEOs between you know fifty-five and seventy. Um so you need you need younger cutters that are gonna uh appeal to the younger audience, uh, because you know, in you know, in five, ten years' time I won't be quite as relevant to you know the the 20 year olds uh uh and the and the thirty year olds that are ordering.

SPEAKER_02 9:37

Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

So you need you need that uh longevity. So that's on the cutting side. And on the making side we've got uh we've got um two um apprentices who've both been within with me for seven or five years now who are both qualified, who are making very good coats there in their late twenties, early thirties, uh, and we've just started another trainee as well. So it's very important to ha keep those uh keep that momentum going actually. And I think we're also lucky in the respect that the young people certainly in the last uh ten, twelve years, have really um wanted to come on board and and and and and see Savaro as a very and the tailoring industry as a very um up and coming industry.

SPEAKER_03 10:17

Yeah. And and if you don't mind me asking, how do you incentivize your trainees to stay with you beyond the point of you know their graduation, shall we say, that they they don't get great big ideas other than themselves and want to set up another shop, for example?

SPEAKER_00 10:32

Well, listen, you can't uh you know you can't you know have to you have to play the percentages to a certain extent, but we like to think that we look after our young people um when they do come through, uh you know, we do look after them well, we pay them, we pay them well. Um and uh of course you've got to be alive to that, but uh touch wood would be okay on that front so far.

SPEAKER_03 10:52

Okay, so uh Richard, I want to talk about your book, the new book, Making the Cut. How long did it take to get a book like this together and how do you carve out the time to actually write a book in the first place?

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Yes, I mean this is the second book. The first book I my first book I did uh 2008-2009, which was a longer process actually. That was that was sort of five years. This one was actually about three years, actually. Um and what I wanted to do, I wanted to again I wanted to do something something different. I felt that most of the books on Savile Road were sort of fairly dry biographies, so um I wanted to make this one informative, um uh with a little bit of personality as well, and and be something that uh not only would be good to look at but but but but would be good to read as well actually. And the um inspiration for it all was was it was really uh 25 sort of fairly iconic looks, but which were done in a more modern take um if you see what I mean. And some of the garments amongst those 25 one wouldn't associate with being made on the Savile Row, i.e. duffel coats or uh omega jackets, that sort of thing. But again, it was amount it was an amalgamation of sort of 25 pieces that over the last, let's say, since we formed Richard Anderson, have been talking points. So in other words, a customer would come in, see a certain garment or you know, hanging up and go straight to it, gosh, what's that? And you know, it would it would it would um create a discussion for sort of 15-20 minutes or however long it was, they might not order it, uh but it would lead to a a discussion. And uh so you're you know, my thinking was well if they're interested in that, then other people would be as well, really. So and I and I also felt that that sort of book would would have be would be unique coming from a Savro Taylor stroke designer.

SPEAKER_03 12:37

The the book's coming out, you're you're you're off to America soon. You've got a you've got a tour coming up. So you'll be in New York September um 13th to 15th. Uh Boston on the 19th century. That's right, yeah, that's right. I've got them written scripts down here. I'm glad you've got the script. So New York 13th to the 15th, Boston 17th, Chicago 19th, San Francisco 21st to 22nd, Beverly Hills, 24th, Houston on the 26th, and finishing up in Washington, DC, 28th and 29th September. That's uh that's quite that's quite the roadshow.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

It is, and we do that three times a year, Peter, and we've done that, you know, that we've done that uh religiously um since we started. Um January, May, and September. Um so yeah, we we go out there, we service our American clients out there, and uh it's a it's a it's a big part of our business, especially on the East Coast.

SPEAKER_03 13:29

Yeah, I bet. And and how do they uh how does the business work then? So you you'll measure them up, you'll then take a coup take those measurements back to Savile Road, presumably, but they can't come back and forth for third and four fittings, I'm guessing all can they?

SPEAKER_00 13:43

They can. I mean, the majority of our customers we will see over in England as well. It's it's it's unusual that you just see people in America. I mean, our our our core the our core customer base are very business oriented, so they're flying all over the world. So, you know, of course, we do have the old American customer that doesn't travel, but the majority, especially in New York uh and on the East Coast, you'll see them in London and you also see them in America, actually.

SPEAKER_03 14:06

Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

And and that speeds up the process, of course.

SPEAKER_03 14:09

Yeah, yeah. And so what's what's it like when you do go out to America? You you obviously see your clients. Is it then um a bit of a meet and greet? Do you take them out for drinks afterwards? How how how friendly do you get with your clients?

SPEAKER_00 14:21

I don't do that enormously, Peter. No, I don't do that. I mean the work the work uh we design our our working day into half an hour slots from 8 30 till 6. Um the majority, uh well virtually 95% of those slots will will go in New York. So quite frankly, by the time you have the um it it's nice to have a bit of privacy in the evening and go out for a nice dinner, quite frankly, and uh and uh so no, it it's not it it's it's really work fitting customers taking orders during the day, nice dinner, and then go again the next day.

SPEAKER_03 14:49

I guess it's just it's a massive thing seeing your tailor and obviously if a tailor's made a a real special trip to America, you know, I would feel obliged to go, right, you're coming out with us tonight, and then you have to kind of draw the line somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Yeah, no, of course, sometimes, and sometimes the um the customer um friend the customer thing does does uh you know evolve into friendship over time, of course. Um but but it's it's really um yeah, it it really is just just the just the the working day and and also you know we're there three times a year, Peter, as well, actually, so it's not as if you're just going there once every two or three years sort of thing. So we're we really are there fairly regularly.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

You you talk about how Richard Anderson, the brand, is hoping to break down those don't come in barriers, you know, that's associated with some of the the rigidity that you might see on Savile Row. How do you how do you embrace these new trends and how do you embrace you know the modern way of retail?

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Well, I think um I I think what we wanted to do, I think if again if we go back to when we first started in 2000, um we I myself both myself and Brian came from very traditional houses, and there's nothing wrong with those houses at all, I must say, I've been great institutions. But I felt it was all sort of uh dark wood, uh you know, stag heads on the wall, that sort of thing, and I felt that sort of atmosphere could, could, uh, you know, I do unemphasise the word, could be intimidating for certain um sort of my age group at the time, sort of 30-ish, mid-30s, that sort of thing. Uh, you look over the roads to the um the yet the new generation of tail of come stylists that are round in sort of like uh mid to late nineties, you know, your uh Richard James, yours or Botanes. Uh and and what they did, they they sort of made the whole thing a little bit fresher and a little bit more comfortable, I think. Um what I wondered, what I saw was we could we could do that um without maintain with without sacrificing the quality that we learned um in a very traditional house. So I wanted to sort of like bring those two worlds together really. Um so that was really that was really what we what our plan was in 2000. Uh and what we did, we just painted the walls white, we had some mod mart in there, um the customers were uh much friendlier to us. It was it was quite uh uh an interesting. We hadn't uh our style hadn't changed in serving and cutting and making, but the just because of the atmosphere of the shop, the the customer and the c and the um the customer was much more friendly and uh relaxed, I think. Um so I think we've uh it's almost like the restaurant trade years ago, it was all sort of like the the guys in the sort of red velvet sort of uh blazers escorting you to these plush red velvet tables now, all of a sudden you've got these fantastic new restaurants. So it's it was kind of that vibe. Uh and so we we've really run with that for the last 16, 70 years. It's been it's been very successful. The key though, and I must stress, the key is not to sacrifice the quality of the cut, the service or the make, and even you know, keep keep improving it. Um and we we you know we I and again we you know here as as against my other company, we're we're very into and I really enjoy sort of working with different fabrics like it. Uh and I I think the book will will show some of those fabrics, like the sequin fabric, something like that. And uh you know, fabrics that you know my old masters at Huntsman would never would never touch, you know, would never do. You know, th they never cut a duffel coat, they'd never cut a bomber jacket, they'd never make a sequin dinner jacket, um, they never make a a jacket with one peak lapel and one notch lapel. So uh you know, we enjoy doing that and we enjoy sort of uh the more fashion side of things as well, honestly.

SPEAKER_03 18:25

That sounds fantastic. Uh you're the first uh new tailor on Savile Road for something like fifty years, is that right?

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Something like that, Pete, yeah, exactly. Yeah, but absolutely, yes.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

So I guess uh in a way it is up to you, you know, being the relatively new boys on the block, uh, to to kind of propel it forward. I mean, I'm I I should say I'm knee-deep in this book at the minute by um I forget the author's name, but it's a biography on Tommy Nutter. Uh Tommy Nutter, yes, yes, yes. And uh he was he came in obviously with Edward Sexton at the time uh course, and he uh he brought down the frosted windows that that was so prevalent on Tavel Ray and kind of had that in potato feel. And um reading all the stories about how Elton John would come in and just go, right, that's it, we'll have to shut the shop for the day because we'll have to get absolutely stinking drunk. And he would he had that uh rapport really with a lot of his clients, you know. He did.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

I mean it's funny you say that, but we are the relatively new kids on the block. But you know, saying that myself and my business partner Brian Lishak has got sort of like something like 80 years experience on South Road between us, so it's kind of so it's but yes, as a company we are we we are very new at at 16, 17 years old compared to you know the 200-year-old Henry Paul's Dijon Huntsman's and those those sort of guys. Um so uh so yeah, but I think uh going back to the question of how the the the roads evolved really, maybe since I've been there, I think fewer tailors, I think that's the first thing. The few fewer true tailors. Uh it's it's kind of more design-led, especially on the other side of the street to where I am, Peter. Um which again, I'm not saying it's a bad thing at all, because you know, but that's I think uh that would be the the biggest um change. I mean when I started in 1982 and Brian when he started whenever he started in the forties or the fifties, uh Savro was you know, not only the shop fronts, but all the offices upstairs and you know it was all full of tailors. So that that's uh the the amount of true tailors now ha has diminished. Um but really i you know it's up to us Peter to uh to be better than the ready-to-wears, to offer uh uh better service, to offer better service, to better quality. And there's always gonna be there's always gonna be the customer that cannot get something ready to wear up, you know, that he likes and wants to have something desi designed individually for himself.

SPEAKER_03 20:41

I I'm just I guess I'm kind of groping for what uh alongside with you know the new openings and these new movements, uh design led stores, Abercrombie and Fitch coming in at number three, I think it is. Um what are the biggest, would you say, like the massive key moments where you can look back and say, now that was a turning point for Savile Roe?

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Well, I think when Abercrombie did come in, that was that was uh sort of uh twelve, fifteen years ago. Um so that that was a a big uh a big change actually. Um and then of course what that does, I mean it's it's good in one respect that it brings um a different sort of footfall to the road. So that's that's one thing. But obviously you have to also offset it for the um the rents that some of these big brands can pay compared to uh compared to us guys. So it's it it it's it's a bit of a it's a bit it's a bit of a two-edged sword, quite frankly. Um but uh and also from the quality side as well, of course, because that's that's always we're always very um uh aware of the quality of the merchandise being sold in Saver Roads and one one has to be alive to that.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

But key key moments, I think Abercrombie and Fitch, I think uh um but really the companies although they've changed hands, Peter that would be Kilgown, um Henry Poole's. Huntsman's Dejen Skinner have been consistent uh for many years there.

SPEAKER_03 22:04

I just want to remind people again that the Making the Cut book is out now, available to buy on Amazon.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

Absolutely, yes.

SPEAKER_03 22:10

Oh, it it is out.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

It was out uh I think it was out yeah, yeah, uh uh uh end of April it was up.

SPEAKER_03 22:16

Richard Anson there. And Richard and I also talked on a little bit further about some of the clients that comes into the shop there in Savile Row. Um we put that up on another podcast called From Tailors with Love, which is more orientated around the style of James Bond. So you can also find that on iTunes. But here's a quick clip. Well, do you get approached at all from any TV productions or any any film productions to provide the costumes?

SPEAKER_00 22:40

We we haven't actually. We we we you know we've got individual actors, you know, Hollywood uh actors and people like that that we make the clothes for. Um but uh we haven't we haven't been involved in any, you know, uh doing clothes for big productions at all, no. But um I mean on on the Hollywood side we can we could we could uh talk about Surian McKellen. Um we've we've made clothes for him. Um we've met we've made uh Benicio del Toro another actor we've made clothes for him. Um George Michael was George Michael was a client of mine. Um Brian Fer Brian Ferry the rock star, so all sorts of people, even g even going back to you know Lucian Freud, the painter.

SPEAKER_03 23:16

So you can check the DVD extras if you will, over on from Tailors with Love. That's available on iTunes. But now we're gonna be speaking to Beck Loads, editor at large for menswear style. I'd like to introduce Beck Lodes. Beck, you don't need any introduction. Beck Loads, editor at large for menswear style. How are you doing today, Beck's?

SPEAKER_04 23:35

I'm good, thank you. How are you?

SPEAKER_03 23:37

I'm really well. Okay, so today's what day is it? Thursday.

SPEAKER_04 23:40

It is?

SPEAKER_03 23:41

Last night was Man of the Year Awards for GQ.

SPEAKER_04 23:45

It was indeed.

SPEAKER_03 23:46

And we're gonna have a quick look at the runners and rioters that hit the red carpet last night. So all of the pictures are out in the press. You can go to GQ, we'll just type GQ Man of the Year Awards, and also go over to Men's Wear Star because I'm sure we'll be doing a feature on this soon. Let's start from the top, eh? Prince Charles rocked up.

SPEAKER_04 24:03

He did. Looking very looking very smart.

SPEAKER_03 24:06

He did. I um I I mean look, he's he doesn't really have to go too far to dress well because I think he's got his you know he's got a bottomless pocket to actually go out and buy the spokesuits from Gizenwork or get his shirts from Turnbull and NASA. So, you know, he can't he can't really wrong. Yeah, right. He was very self-effacing with some of his quips about how he turned up in a lounge jacket because he didn't want to outdo everyone in his fancy tuxedos, etc.

SPEAKER_04 24:33

Yeah, it went down really well, actually. I think his speech went down really well with everyone, so good on him.

SPEAKER_03 24:38

Yeah, um, always looking immaculate. We but the the stylish man of the year was given to John Legend, right?

SPEAKER_04 24:47

It was indeed. Yeah, he was uh busting out the velvet, um, in a nice sort of very dark, sort of inky blue velvet suit, I think from Hugo Boss, and velvet slippers to match.

SPEAKER_03 24:58

Yep, definitely. And he looks actually pristine on this. The the lines on his jacket just follow him so well, don't they?

SPEAKER_04 25:04

Yeah, look very smart.

SPEAKER_03 25:06

Yep, and you've got a picture of Ollie Cheshire standing next to him in a looking very Sean Connery with the white ivory dinner jacket and the the red bouton air.

SPEAKER_04 25:18

Yeah, it looks nice. Yeah, it's smart. Marks and Spencer's very nice.

SPEAKER_03 25:23

Mm-hmm. Yeah, so uh what do you think of the the white dinner jacket over black waistcoat, black trouser?

SPEAKER_04 25:29

Yeah, it's not something you see all the time, actually. I think it's quite in some ways it's quite a brave look. Um, but uh it looks smart. He does look smart.

SPEAKER_03 25:39

I think you can be quite forgiving when someone's that good looking.

SPEAKER_04 25:42

Yeah, true.

SPEAKER_03 25:43

You know, you don't always then have to scrutinize everything else because you're already starting from a place of affection, aren't you? Very true. I said affection, not erection, just for the record. Um and his mate standing next to him is Ollie Proudlock. Now, Ollie has turned up in a real Bobby Dazzler, hasn't he?

SPEAKER_04 26:03

Yes, he definitely went all out. He's definitely a standout, that's for sure, with the print loud print. I think it was sort of the gold on black, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_03 26:12

Yeah, so gold butterfly floral print. The the jacket is black, shawl collar, and the waistcoat looks to be a very wraparound uh double-breasted waistcoat, if that makes sense. You'll have to go on the website and have a look at it, but it's looking fantastic, and that's got like we mentioned earlier, that's got to be Joshua Kane, right?

SPEAKER_04 26:32

I think so. Yeah, must be. He's a big fat.

SPEAKER_03 26:35

So by the way, if anyone's wondering why we're zooming through this so quick, it's because we recorded about 20 minutes of us looking and googling at pictures before I realised that the recorder wasn't on.

SPEAKER_04 26:45

It was starting again.

SPEAKER_03 26:47

It's okay, I'll get to correct the same jokes.

SPEAKER_04 26:49

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 26:50

Who else? Who else was uh a standout on the red carpet for you?

SPEAKER_04 26:54

Um we've got some more velvet from Sasha Baron Cohen. He was picking up an award on the night. That was a Paul Smith suit. Also, again, very nice. We had, of course, legend Jeff Goldblum. I think he was one of the standouts as well. He has to be.

SPEAKER_03 27:10

Yeah, he loves it. He won icon of awesomeness or something like that, didn't he?

SPEAKER_04 27:14

Yeah, the Hang Club icon.

SPEAKER_03 27:17

I mean, just yeah, so I I think Mark Hamill won it last year and Simon Pegg gave him him the award. And this year it's was it Tom Huddleston or Tim Huddleston gave him gave him the award? And he turned up in this silver and gold two-tone uh it looks like a silken viscose blend, if I'm if I'm gonna have a guess at it, but it just pairs so rude so well with like this grey silver tie and shirt and his silver stubble and the grey hair, etc. It's all coming through. It's a great colour combination, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 27:47

Yeah, it was nice, really nice, and uh his zebra stripe brogues pretty snazzy.

SPEAKER_03 27:52

Yeah. Um you're gonna have to send me a picture of that. I still haven't seen it.

SPEAKER_04 27:56

Oh really? Yeah, very cool, look very nice.

SPEAKER_03 27:59

I'm only just I'm looking at his head and just thinking that'll do me. What else? So outside of the GQ Man of the Year awards.

SPEAKER_04 28:06

All the madness of last night.

SPEAKER_03 28:08

Mm-hmm. I forgot to tell you this. They invited me a couple of years ago to cover this award. Hugo Boss were kind enough to invite us down on behalf of Men's West Style. They gave me a tuxedo, kicked me out of a nice tux, nice bow tie, cufflings. I even bought myself some Brogso. So I think I splashed out on about £200 on some Peyton Leather Hugo Boss shoes. I couldn't just walk up into this tux just wearing my crappy Converse. And it was really cool because I went there for the whole day. Not the whole day, but obviously the dinner. So some people only get invited to the after party.

SPEAKER_04 28:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 28:40

And some people are lucky enough to go to the whole dinner. I've I've kind of slipped down the pecking order, so the year after that I went to the after party, and this year, uh, you know, invites lost in the post.

SPEAKER_04 28:51

So of course it might be.

SPEAKER_03 28:54

But turned up for the dinner. Now, when you go to these sort of awards, the coolest thing about these awards is that everyone has to use the same toilet, right? There's no VIP toilet for Ricky Gervais. He has to come and slum it with us influencers, right? And I'm uh I'm talking to someone, I'm looking over their shoulder, looking at Ricky, I'm thinking, I d I do wonder if what I'd say to him if I met him at the U-Rhinal, because I'm about to go to the toilet, and I could somehow predict his trajectory as well through the room that he's actually going towards the toilet as well, but stopping and shaking hands. Anyway, I'll go to the toilet and do my toilet thing. And when I come out, Ricky's coming in. So I hold open the door for Ricky Gervais as he's coming through the toilet. Yeah, uh, I was like, hey, and he goes, Thank you, and just kind of squirrels underneath my arm as he if you can imagine that I'm holding it up in a real lofty manner for him. And he just goes in. And I I don't have anything to say to him, but I thought if I you know had that been one minute sooner, we would have been both at the urinal together next to each other, shoulder by shoulder. Right? Anyway, I wrote about this in a blog and posted it on a different website, and they got hold of me, GQ, and asked me to take it down. They say we don't need you to explain your inner dialogue when you're thinking about Ricky Gervais and urinal.

SPEAKER_04 30:11

Oh wow! Oh my god, okay. I didn't realise that would cause so much offence.

SPEAKER_03 30:16

I know, I know, they're very, very precious over there. They don't they don't want you to um add any unnecessary colour to the story, should we say?

SPEAKER_04 30:24

Right, wow, no stories of uh conversations in the bathroom then with Ricky Jesus It's it's not like the most scandalous story either.

SPEAKER_03 30:33

It's not like I embellished any of it.

unknown 30:35

Anyway.

SPEAKER_04 30:35

Oh well, at least it's a good story to tell.

SPEAKER_03 30:38

Thank you. Sorry, I I I digress massively. What else outside of the GQ Man of the Year awards is happening?

SPEAKER_04 30:45

Um, so we had the 30th 30th anniversary of uh River Island they're celebrating at the moment. Um they had a great campaign earlier on in the year um which was looking at removing labels from people, so they had all sorts of different age and size and uh gender fluid models in the campaign. Um and they're kind of following on with uh with their celebrations by releasing a capsule collection um which is online now. It came out on the 30th of August, and uh yeah, you can read some more about it on Menswear Style now.

SPEAKER_03 31:20

Okay, yeah, it's over there. Uh I did have a look at the blog because it just literally went live about 10 minutes before we jumped on the phone. I like the denim jacket with this kind of gold jackard pattern over the elbows. I I think that's the real winner.

SPEAKER_04 31:35

They've definitely sort of gone all out for it. I was quite surprised when I saw the photos, but it's a very luxe-looking collection. Um, but there's sort of they've styled uh embroidered hoodies like with badges on the uh with a nice smart tailored coat. Um so it's kind of this informal look, but you can wear it from day to night. So yeah, there's some nice tailored trousers, um, a nice uh leather bomber uh there's a bomber jacket a suede bomber jacket and then a leather jacket, biker jacket. Um and they range from the collection ranges from £25 to £250 for the leather jacket. So it's pretty well priced.

SPEAKER_03 32:13

Yeah, evenly priced, as they say. I like the little spiel, the history that you gave. I didn't know any about this, about how it used to be called Lewis Separates, and it was all like a family run business beforehand. I mean Lewis Separates is just a terrible name.

SPEAKER_04 32:29

I know. Not what you'd uh ideally go for, but I think they were just starting out, and yeah, they've gone from strength to strength, I guess. And it's still a family-owned business. Um, well, the majority is still owned by the family, so um, they're still very much involved. So yeah, it's interesting.

SPEAKER_03 32:46

Thank you, Beck Loads, and thank you, Richard Anson, for coming on the show. Make sure if you're in America, you're checking out his tour diary. He's um I make him sound like Bruce Springsteen. He's playing near a town near you, so uh, thank you for listening. That's it for this episode of the Men's West Style Podcast. Remember, it's only fashion people, and you're never fully dressed without a smile.