TROYAL WEDDING END OF AN ERA


HE BIG INTERVIEW


F


OR A MAN A


Savile Row veteran bids a fond farewell. By Daniel Evans WEEK


AWAY FROM


retirement, Alan Alexander is full of vim. When we meet at 9am for coffee, the Henry Poole veteran has already been at work for the best part of two hours and certainly


seems to have as much energy and enthusiasm for the day as the young apprentices he works with and so admires. “The increasing number of apprentices I see in and around


Savile Row now – both male and female – are incredibly good news for our business,” he says with clear delight. “When I first came to Savile Row, nearly every shop was a tailor’s shop and there were lots of apprentices. Then it petered out a little but, in recent years, there has been an upsurge. The good thing now is that a lot of young people seem to be keen to get involved in


a craft tradition, especially women. There has been a sudden increase in interest.” As Alan, now 66, looks back on his 50 years in the business – he began as a 16-year-old apprentice coatmaker for a tailor who worked for Savile Row companies – he does so with understandable pleasure. “When I came into the trade, one of my ambitions was to work on Savile Row. Now I’m proud to say I’ve been working here for 36 years. When I was at school, I was interested in fashion and a career adviser suggested tailoring. I went to see the rep from the National Union of Garment and Tailor Workers who knew someone who needed an apprentice coatmaker. I gave it a go, liked it and have stayed in the business all my life.”


SAVILE ROW STYLE MAGAZINE 43


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