Friday 28 August 2009

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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Thursday 20 August 2009

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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Friday 14 August 2009

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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