Wearing only my finest Melton’s and my brightest brogues, I join the impeccably dressed gentlemen flocked outside the Winston Churchill Cabinet War Rooms for the Woolrich and Savile Row tailors London Men’s Collections presentation.
As we huddle outside in the cold crisp air by the dim streetlight the sea of extremely dapper and tweed-dressed men already sets a vintage mood and installs a hint of pre-war nostalgia. What we are about to experience downstairs in this remarkable wartime museum is something else altogether.
The shows curators intentions are for each and every viewer to take part in the collection and relive each of the situations as opposed to being a mere bystander at another catwalk show and the effect is greatly achieved.
Every room and corrider is filled with designer-clad models in the finest Savile Row tailors has to offer from Gieves and Hawkes to Turnbull and Asser, Budd, Bates and Cutler and Gross to name a very select few.
To see the Woolrich outerwear, suiting and luxury accessories displayed against such a historical and aesthetically precise setting is a treat and a once in a lifetime experience. The plethora of models are as dynamic in their constume and roleplay and as versatile as their surroundings become. From playful kitchen porters to businessmen discussing war the clothing is worn naturally and shines is such an environment.
The Cabinet War Rooms is within itself a beautiful place to lose an afternoon engulfed in all its histories and artefacts but can only become better when brought to life with the help of the classic and legendary British Savile Row masters.
by Calvin Baillie