"Fashion" Tailoring: E Tautz

Amongst the classic style set, if that’s a label that even be applied to a distinct group of people, there is often a rejection of anything deemed “a label,” and a desire to instead seek out garments which come from tailors or classically inspired outfitters.  But certain brands break of this dialectic of tailor vs. fashion label, and a few of them do it quite well. 

One of the main distinctions that seems to surface upon looking at these two seemingly disparate groups of clothiers is that a designer creates fashion whilst the customer has a hand in creating his own bespoke garments.  And, another key difference is the idea that fashion is only wearable for a period of time (and is in fact not made to last longer than that time) while tailoring is somehow perennially in style and remains physically intact for just as long. 

Not only though does a successful fashion tailor need to keep quality high enough and styling classic enough to sate the traditional tailoring fanatic, but he must update and innovate, creating something with a bit of unique vision or else the offerings will be nothing more than typical off the peg suiting at a higher than typical price point.

As far as I’m concerned, the brand that best handles this crossover is E Tautz, which is essentially the ready to wear line coming out of Norton & Sons on Savile Row.  With proprietor Patrick Grant’s emphasis on “British Makers” and an almost fanatical devotion to craft, Tautz’s tailoring is about as high qualtiy as ready to wear can get.  But while you get a certain degree of classic Savile Row quality and styling, Tautz looks totally at home on a runway.  There is a definite stylization and comprehensive aesthetic to this past week’s Spring 2011 show, and to the brand as a whole.  Strong but narrow double breasted jackets, slightly cropped trousers, shirts that are a unique cross of crisp British tailoring and wonderfully rolled American button-down collars, and eclectic wool ties and bow ties populate the collection season after season, but with a shot of reinvention every few months.

The “separation” between fashion and tailoring is sometimes a sharp one, and other times the division seems superfluous altogether.  In my opinion these fashion tailoring brands serve two purposes: they introduce people to fine tailoring who may otherwise be more interested in “fashion,” while also reminding people like me to break out of my tailoring bubble and look at fashion occasionally – and I’m usually surprised and delighted by what I find. 

Photos courtesy of Permanent Style