January 2010 - USA Travel Itinerary

Steed are happy to announce the January 2010 USA Itinerary & due to the continued success of the Washington DC trip, Edwin will again be visiting The Capital.
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Chicago 

Monday, 18th, January

The Drake Hotel

140 East Walton Pl

312 787 2200




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Washington DC 

Wednesday, 20th January

The Hay-Adams Hotel

Sixteenth & H Streets

N.W. Washington

202 638 6600

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New York


Friday, 22nd January & Saturday, 23rd January

The Kimberly Hotel 

145 east 50th Street

212 755 0400



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Boston

Monday, 25th January & Tuesday, 26th January, till noon

The Eliot Hotel

370 Comnmonwealth Ave.

617 267 1607



Congratulations to the staff at the Eliot Hotel after being voted the #1 Small Hotel in the US & Canada and One of the Top 20 Hotels in the World! By Travel & Leisure - August 2009
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I look forward to meeting customers, old & new alike and as always I will be offering both my Semi-Bespoke & Bespoke service. 

I carry a wide selection of cloths but if anyone has any particular requestes for a certain bunch, please don't hesitate to ask. 

Obviously the days between cities I will be traveling. However, there maybe an opportunity to see customers, late afternoon, early evening of those days. 

If you’d like to make an appointment, I would appreciate it if you could contact me prior to the trip, so that I can organise my day to accommodate everyone. 

Best regards, 

Edwin DeBoise 

Steed Bespoke Tailors 

+44 (0) 20 7287 7227 

http://www.steed.co.uk/ 

http://www.steeds-view.blogspot.com/ 

edwin@steed.co.uk 

RVR Neckwear

On my recent October trip to The USA I had the pleasure of meeting Robert Valdes-Rodriguez. RVR to many friends, colleagues and business partners.

As a former Wall Street executive, Robert had a ‘lucky’ tie, one that he always wore to important meetings and client pitches. After twenty successful years with his ‘lucky’ tie, it got old and frayed. Robert's fruitless search for a replacement led him to design his own. It quickly turned into a passion, ultimately resulting in a collection, simply named RVR.

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Robert’s new ‘lucky’ tie: Signature, Oxford Blue #99

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RVR is a men’s luxury neckwear company.
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They're exclusive and passionate about exceeding the demands of the discriminating man and have entered this market because they believe that the best tie you’ve ever worn is the one you are viewing on their site. 


All of the RVR ties are exclusive silks, woven by the world’s most heralded mills and are hand tailored to perfection. The results are ties that have been so carefully crafted, you can’t help but see and feel the difference.
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Robert's philosophy is if you're running a global board meeting, dressing for opening night in Vienna or on the way to your Hampton's retreat. 
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Wherever in the world you are, whatever you’re doing, you take pleasure in perfection. The texture of a ’61 Latour. The fit of a Savile Row (Steed) suit. The engineering of an Italian roadster.

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The RVR man and RVR ties. Both extraordinarily refined. 
Each a quiet statement in high style.

I will have a catalogue of the RVR Neckwear collection with me when I visit the USA in January 2010.

Alternativly, check out Robert's website and blog.

http://www.rvrneckwear.com/

http://rvrneckwear.blogspot.com/

Steed's Christmas Season Special

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Steed is happy to announce a Christmas Season Special.

We are offering a free Made to Measure Shirt with every two or three-piece semi-bespoke suit or any order of a sports jacket and trousers during December.

If ordering two suits, you will receive three shirts.

If ordering a Bespoke two or three-piece suit or sports jacket and trousers, you will receive two Made To Measure Shirts.

If ordering two Bespoke suits you will recieve five shirts. Same applies if ordering a two sports jackets and trousers.

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With a wide selection of fabrics to choose from you should be able to find something suitable to your tastes.

For further details or if you wish to make an appointment, please don’t hesitate to call or email.

Best regards,

Matthew DeBoise

Steed Bespoke Tailors

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For a few miles more!

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I'm happy to announce an extra trip to Chicago, USA this December.

Partly because I do love Chicago & also that I'm a few miles short on my Platinium status with American Airlines & the easiest way to aquire them is, a round trip from Manchester (UK), so I thought "what the heck."

Chicago

Friday, 4th December & Saturday, 5th December 2009

The Drake Hotel

140 East Walton Pl

312 787 2200

There is a chance that I could accomodate customers late afternoon/early evening on Thursday, 3rd December and Sunday morning if need be.

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I look forward to meeting customers, old & new alike and as always I will be offering both my Semi-Bespoke & Bespoke service.

I carry a wide selection of cloths but if anyone has any particular requests for a certain bunch, please don't hesitate to ask.

If you’d like to make an appointment, I would appreciate it if you could contact me prior to the trip, so that I can organize my day to accommodate everyone.

Best regards,

Edwin DeBoise

011 44 20 7287 7227

Steed Bespoke Tailors

edwin@steed.co.uk

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Restyling & Refashioning at the V&A

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Andrea Nixon (Steed Bespoke Tailors)... who was this years Rising Star Winner in The 2009 Golden Shears tailoring competition, has been selected along with the other winners to exibit their garments at the world famous Victoria & Albert Musuem (V&A), in London.

They're setting up a tailoring studio, where they will be exibiting their work. Also they will be offering advice to anyone that is interested in tailoring and how to restyle and recycle their wardrobe.

This is part of the "Restyling and Refashioning" event day, taking place on Saturday, 14th November 2009. It is being held in the Sackler Centre, of the V&A, between 10:30am and 4:00pm, and is free to the genaral public, some activities are ticket.

This reinforces what we were discussing in our previous post, with today's society of "Make do and Mend".

There are various events taking place throughout the day, including guest speakers advising people on updating their wardrobes. One of the attractions is a major Clothes Swap/Swishing event. This is a new craze which is becoming very popular. The basic idea, is that people take clean, good quality clothes and accessories, which they no longer want, and swap them with people for garments that they do want. There is no money involved and people should go away with new clothes that they really want!

On the day Andrea will be exhibiting her jacket and skirt that came third place in the Golden Shears competition, and received the Rising Star Award, March 2009. The competition is organised by The Merchant Taylors Company.

Andrea's entry for the contest was completly bespoke, especially since she designed, dyed the yarns and hand wove the cloth for the garments herself. The cloth is made from lambs wool and cotton, so it has a nice soft drape and feel to it, which goes hand in hand with the Steed House Style. The colour of the cloth is rich teal green, which helps give a luxury look to the outfit. The entries were marked on design, cutting, tailoring and style. The judges for the competition included David Furnish, Caryn Franklin, Patrick Grant, Marek Reichman and James Sherwood.

In the tailoring studio, Andrea will be able to explain to visitors how she made the pieces from beginning to end. She has step by step photographs showing the process, to make it easier for people to see the development of the making procedure. This will be interesting for people to see as some very complex techniques are involved. As the jacket will also be there on display people will be able to examine the time consuming details that adorn the jacket, such as beading around collar, lapels, and belt, along with the hand dyed silk lining.

Make Do And Mend

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With the recession taking its toll, people are saving their pennies on the fashion front and turning to S.I.Y. (Sew it Yourself), for a whole new wardrobe. S.I.Y. being the modern day term for "make do and mend".

Sales of sewing machines are up and an attitude of make do and mend seems to be sweeping the nation. Tesco Direct recently revealed sales of sewing machines have increased by 198% compared to this time last year and the number of people appling for Sewing classes at local colleges and night schools has also seen a sharp increase.

All this sudden interest in the trade can only have a good affect on the rest of us, in terms of people deciding, they might want to come into the trade or just take a keen interest and learn more by visiting the forums that we have mentioned in previous posts. We have seen evidence of this interest, by the increase in the number of CV's that we have recieved of late, asking about potential apprenticeships.

Although this is the case, we have had our best year to date, since Steed started back in January 1995, to the effect of the amount of regular emails and phone calls that we recieve, enquiring about our services at the top end of the market.

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The Norfolk Jacket

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Recently, there has been a bit of interest in Norfolk Jackets and we have also had a few enquiries, after seeing the one we made for a customer in Boston 2 or 3 years ago.

We found this picture (right) that we took in our Carlisle shop, when we typed in Norfolk jackets in google and it came up first on Google Images. The image has also surfaced on other Internet forums and blogs.

Not actually sure how it got on there but nevertheless it has received wide interest and nice comments as seen on the blog Wasp 101.

There are a number of variations of the jacket and a brief description of the Norfolk is below, as found on Wikipedia.

"A Norfolk jacket is a loose, belted, single-breasted jacket with box pleats on the back (and sometimes front), now with a belt or half-belt. The style was long popular for boys' jackets and suits, and is still used in some (primarily military and police) uniforms. It was originally designed as a shooting coat that did not bind when the elbow was raised to fire."

It was named either for the Duke of Norfolk or for the county of Norfolk and was made fashionable after the 1860s in the sporting circle of the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII whose country residence was Sandringham House in Norfolk.
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Welcome Back London Lounge

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Here at Steed..we would like to welcome back Michael Alden and The London Lounge,

After a brief time away, the site has just re-launched and is still having a few teething problems but they are currently being ironed out. (excuse the pun)

For those of you who haven't come across The London Lounge before, it is a Forum "dedicated to the discussion of the Bespoke Arts". To quote from the site it's self.

It's founder Michael Alden has managed to bring together many Artisans of the world of Bespoke and the general public who take a keen interest in the wonderful world of Bespoke Artistry or just want to learn more about it and whether or not they should delve into it.

Also with features on Sartorial vacations and Elegant living, where members discuss the finer things in life.

Within the forum members have the chance to ask questions to Artisans like myself, about all kinds of subjects within Bespoke Tailoring and also chat with other members about their past experiences with Bespoke and perhaps about what they have planned in the future in terms of future commissions and so forth. .. .. .
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Another feature of The London Lounge which Michael has created to a fantastic response is the London Lounge Cloth Club.

To quote the Forum again.. "The Cloth Club is not a cloth merchant. It is the collaborative effort of LL members led by the site’s founder, Michael Alden, whose primary purpose is to design, and organize the production and delivery of high quality, traditional fabrics intended for use in bespoke tailoring."

How this works is the Cloth Club products are organised into subscriptions and where there is enough interest for a particular cloth by enough LL members it will be sent to a competent weaver where the design will be studied and then put into production once the design has been confirmed and is satisfactory to the members.

The good thing about this is that LL members themselves along with Michael all put their ideas and concepts together to create beautiful cloths for themselves which will in turn be made up into fantastic looking clothes by Artisans such as myself and tailors around the world from Savile Row, Naples, Australasia, North America and even the Far East.

Here at Steed we have made a number of Limited Edition London Lounge Cloths created by the Cloth Club and they all make up beautifully as you can see in the pictures to the right, we have the LL Shetland which we have made a lovely Sports Jacket and the new Eden in Paris cloth also pictured looks as though will be another success of the Cloth Club. ..
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In fact my son Matthew was given a length as a gift
from a very genrous customer of ours, which he will be making up for himself very shortly and will be his first Bespoke Suit that he will cut by himself, which you will be able to follow on the blog as he goes through each stage of the making up, from the Pattern he will draft to the cutting of the cloth, the fitting stage and then of course the end product.
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So please do, if you havent already take a look at the site though the links provided.
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Mixing Business With Pleasure

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Matthew and I have decided to do a business trip to Glasgow, though we do have ulterior motives...we have tickets to watch Arsenal play Celtic that night at Celtic Park, in a Champions league qualifier.
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We're both avid Arsenal fans and we saw this as a great opportunity to visit Glasgow and take in what should be a terrific Champions league game with an electric atmosphere which is synonymous with European games at Celtic Park.

We are going to be at the Regus Business Centre, from 1pm till 5pm & have a wide selection of cloths, including a new range of exciting tweeds & cashmere.
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Regus
69 Buchanan Street
Glasgow
G1 3HL
Scotland
Main tel: +44 (0) 141 314 3737

If anyone is interested in making an appointment,

please call us on:

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01228 599 555

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or email edwin@steed.co.uk

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www.steed.co.uk

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October 2009 - USA Travel Itinerary

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Steed are happy to announce the October 2009 USA Itinerary & due to the success of the Washington DC trip in June, Edwin will again be visiting The Capital.
..
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Chicago

Monday, 5th October

The Drake Hotel

140 East Walton Pl

312 787 2200




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Washington DC

Wednesday, 7th October

The Hay-Adams Hotel

Sixteenth & H Streets

N.W. Washington

202 638 6600

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New York


Friday, 9th October & Saturday, 10th October

The Kimberly Hotel

145 east 50th Street

212 755 0400



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Boston

Monday, 12th October & Tuesday, 13th October, till noon

The Eliot Hotel

370 Comnmonwealth Ave.

617 267 1607



Congratulations to the staff at the Eliot Hotel after being voted the #1 Small Hotel in the US & Canada and One of the Top 20 Hotels in the World! By Travel & Leisure - August 2009
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I look forward to meeting customers, old & new alike and as always I will be offering both my Semi-Bespoke & Bespoke service.

I carry a wide selection of cloths but if anyone has any particular requestes for a certain bunch, please don't hesitate to ask.

Obviously the days between cities I will be traveling. However, there maybe an opportunity to see customers, late afternoon, early evening of those days.

If you’d like to make an appointment, I would appreciate it if you could contact me prior to the trip, so that I can organise my day to accommodate everyone.

Best regards,

Edwin DeBoise

Steed Bespoke Tailors

+44 (0) 20 7287 7227

http://www.steed.co.uk/

http://www.steeds-view.blogspot.com/

edwin@steed.co.uk
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Steed In Print

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Whilst in Washington, I met up with a lovely lady called Gilda Haber who grew up in Bethnal Green, in the East-End of London, where coincidentally my Father also grew up. She however now resides in DC.

Gilda has written a short story which has recently been published, called Mourning Becomes Electra, in which Steed Features.

The story revolves around Gilda herself, a hat designer and maker by trade (Hats By Haber) and a Widow named Mrs. Knox, who came to her for an Elegant Black Satin or Silk Hat for her late Husband's Funeral.

Steed is mentioned in the section of the story below, where the latest husband of Mrs Knox visits her for a hat of his own and Gilda notices the Steed label.

"I seized his jacket and read the bespoke tailor’s name embroidered inside the inner right breast pocket, “Steed of Savile Row.” Every good tailor kept a list of his clients. Even if he’d altered his name, I knew his unusual suit color and fabric. "

"Tomorrow, I would call Steed in London. I now turned and held up his jacket, the softest blend of wool and cashmere, delicious to the touch. $1,800 a meter, a Prince’s raiment, and helped him slide his arms into it."

Steed has also been mentioned in Ed Hayes' book, Mouthpiece, as one of his tailors.

Maybe one day we will be mentioned as 007's favourite tailor?

Another Little Gem In The City

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Twigg Shoe Services are based in the heart of historic Carlisle. The only high street shop in Cumbria, providing a fully bespoke service for Gentleman's footwear. The shoes you want are the shoes they make! Also they can rescue those old favourites that you can't bear to throw away, with their high class shoe repair service.

They are also Carlisle's only stockist of Alfred Sargent Goodyear welted formal and country shoes.

Determined to make quality a priority in every aspect of shoe making and shoe repairs, and to ensure that customers are happy to return again and again. Andrew Twigg the man doing the making and the repairing will also be the man doing the meeting and greeting, this helps build up customer confidence knowing that there will be a continuity in the work undertaken.

As a relatively new business established in July 2006 in Carlisle, He's already getting regular customers. Plus, first time customers saying "how nice to have a real cobblers shop back in Carlisle."












The workshop is situated on on a cobblestone street located between Carlisle Cathedral and Carlisle Castle, close to City centre and just a 10 minute walk from us here at Steed.





I bought a couple pairs of Alfred Sargent's from him which were very well priced and I'm hoping to commission a bespoke pair later on in the year.

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All this reminds me of the bootmaker who was given the Royal Warrant.

When Her Majesty's Inspectors came to visit to see that everything was in order, they were horrified to find the new sign the proprietor had erected, which read "Cobbler's To The Queen"
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Inform The President I'm Coming!

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Due to popular demand & an invitation from the President himself (just kidding) I'll be visiting Washington DC in June 2009.

The last time I was in DC, was 21 years ago, when I worked for Edward Sexton. We stayed at the Hay-Adams then & enjoyed a wonderful meal at The Lafayette, along with Edward's wife who reminisced about the swinging sixties & the party's they went to with The Beatles & The Rolling Stones.

For all other blog articles, please follow the link below as our blog as now moved to our main website!

http://www.steed.co.uk/en/blog/

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Chicago

Monday, 8th June

The Drake Hotel

140 East Walton Pl

312 787 2200


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Washington DC

Wednesday, 10th June

The Hay-Adams Hotel
Sixteenth & H Streets

N.W. Washington

202 638 6600

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New York

Friday, 12th June & Saturday, 13th June

The Kimberly Hotel

145 east 50th Street

212 755 0400


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Boston
Monday, 15th June & Tuesday, 16th June till noon.

The Eliot Hotel

370 Comnmonwealth Ave.

617 267 1607

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I look forward to meeting customers, old & new alike and as always I will be offering both my Semi-Bespoke & Bespoke service.

I carry a wide selection of cloths but if anyone has any particular requestes for a certain bunch, please don't hesitate to ask.

Obviously the days between cities I will be traveling. However, there maybe an opportunity to see customers, late afternoon, early evening of those days.

If you’d like to make an appointment, I would appreciate it if you could contact me prior to the trip, so that I can organise my day to accommodate everyone.

Best regards,

Edwin DeBoise

Steed Bespoke Tailors

+44 (0) 20 7287 7227

http://www.steed.co.uk/

http://www.steeds-view.blogspot.com/

edwin@steed.co.uk
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SAS - (Swiss Army Suit)

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We were recently asked to endulge on a project by a customer of ours that he had been thinking about for some time.

The idea was that of a multi-functional suit, ie. in his words a "Swiss Army Suit"...

The reason for this unusual but great idea was to cut down on the number of things that he needed to pack for trips, whilst still wanting a gulf between formal and casual wear.

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The end result was a 3-piece Suit which could be worn with either the waistcoat or not, and a jacket with inter-changeable buttons to transform it from a suit jacket to blazer or to a more relaxed sports jacket, with Mother of Pearl buttons.

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Judge for yourself the contrast in outfits by changing the buttons and accessories.

Bill (Voxsatoria) posted this article, which caused quite a stir on StyleForum.

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If you wish to read the thread you can click on this link. The SwissArmySuit™: a sartorial strip tease

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LimoLiner

Personally, I think it’s the only way to travel, between New York & Boston & that’s why I’ll be taking it again on the last leg of my USA trip.

Luxurious reclining leather seats, free hi-speed wireless Internet, a meal with beverages & they throw in an up to date movie as well. Great value from $89 one way, especially if you take in to account the price of a taxi to La Guardia & Logan airports.

I board in New York at the Hilton, located at 53rd & 7th Ave. (get there 10 mins before departing & no slapping through security at airports) & the journey ends at The Hilton Back Bay in Boston. They’ve also started a service to Hartford from NY & Boston, so worth checking it out. http://www.limoliner.com/

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Back In The USA

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Well, Here I am again on one of my quarterly trips to the States, with fittings aplenty & new customers to see, hoping that I’m not going to see the credit crunch.

Wall St. Up again today & a strong dollar, things not looking too bad. (Mustn’t grumble, I could but it wouldn’t do me any good, as my old dad use to say).

Anyway, whilst having my usual glass of California’s best & a Drake Burger at the Coq d’Or plus trying to stay up, till at least 11 o’clock, (my cure for jet lag) I remembered the story of a cutter, who joined one of the bigger tailoring establishments in Savile Row & was asked if he would do the travelling to the States.

The chairman enthused that he should not be inconvenienced by his time away (about 3 weeks) & that he should treat it, like home from home & not miss out on all the pleasures he enjoyed back here.

Upon his return, he presented the chairman with his expense bill, which was quite substantial. The chairman raged at the amount & demanded an explanation. "Well said the chap, you told me to treat my time away like I would at home & at home I enjoy a descent bottle of wine a first class meal & the company of a good women" (Or words to that effect). Needless to say his time was short lived there.
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Golden Shears Award 2009

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Rising Star, Andrea Michelle Nixon of Steed Bespoke Tailors has come 3rd in the highly prestigious Golden Shears Award 2009, while also scooping the Rising Star award.

1st, Rory Duffy of Henry Poole's

2nd, Paulo Nicodemi of Anderson & Sheppard

3rd, Andrea Nixon of Steed

Finalist judges included: James Sherwood, Patrick Grant, Marek Reichman, David Furninsh and Caryn Franklin

Andrea who is just 22, graduated from the University of Cumbria with first class honours in her Contemperary Arts Degree back in November.

The Golden Shears Award is a national competition & is open to trainees in the tailoring industry and students who were on dedicated tailoring courses. The competition received around 60 entries from which 26 made the finals. This was held on Monday 16th March, at the Merchant Taylor's Hall on Threadneedle Street, London.

The entrants were asked to design and make a fully tailored garment to specific measurements.

The 1st stage of judging was back in January in which the entries gained marks on the Design, Cut, Tailoring and Style.

The final stages were judged based on the fashion style of the garments, whilst being worn by professional models on the catwalk.

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Andrea created a jacket and skirt for the competition. She began by hand dyeing yarns, which she then wove into cloth herself. She had to do this using a hand weaving loom. The cloth design was based on natural patterns such as animal prints and rippling sand textures. The colours dervived from peacock feathers. She also hand dyed silk, which she used for the lining of the jacket. Once she had made the garments she then hand embellished them with beadweaving and crystals. To complement the outfit she made a belt to accentuate the waistline, aswell as matching handbags.


Andrea was so pleased with the result as the standard of all the entries was so high. As well as the prestige Andrea also won £1000 and a trophy to remember the wonderful evening.

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Andrea pictured alongside David Furnish & the Model wearing her creation.

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