Anderson & Sheppard: A Tailoring Profile
Isabel Montclair
There are tailors, and then there are houses. Anderson & Sheppard's tailoring profile belongs firmly to the second category. Founded on Savile Row in 1906, it has dressed princes, painters, film stars, and the kind of men who never needed to announce it. The house moved to Old Burlington Street in 2005, but the address matters less than the cut. What Anderson & Sheppard makes has always been about the relationship between cloth and body, not the postcode.
The easiest way to understand the house is through a single word: drape. Not the theatrical kind. The structural kind. The kind that makes a jacket feel like it belongs to the wearer before the second fitting.
⭐ Key facts
Anderson & Sheppard was established on Savile Row in 1906 and has operated continuously since. The house invented the English Drape Cut, a construction method that redistributes cloth for comfort and movement. Bespoke commissions typically involve three fittings and upward of 80 hours of hand-work. Clients have included the Prince of Wales, Fred Astaire, and Marlene Dietrich. An off-shoot haberdashery on Clifford Street carries ready-to-wear pieces and accessories for those not commissioning bespoke.
The English Drape Cut: What It Actually Means
The term "drape cut" circulates freely in tailoring conversation, often without precision. At Anderson & Sheppard, it refers to a specific construction: extra cloth is cut into the chest and back, then manipulated through canvassing and padding to create a soft, three-dimensional shape. The result is a jacket that has volume without bulk, and structure without rigidity.
Percy Anderson and Frederick Scholte are usually credited with developing this approach in the early twentieth century. Scholte, a Dutch-born cutter who trained on the Row, brought to the house a philosophy rooted in comfort and natural line rather than the military stiffness that characterized much of English tailoring at the time. The chest fullness became the signature. The sleevehead was set high and soft. The back had rope in the shoulder but ease across the blade.
This construction suited the clientele of the period. The men who came to Anderson & Sheppard in the 1920s and 1930s were not looking for an armored silhouette. They wanted to move. They hunted, they danced, they traveled. The cut followed. It is worth noting that the drape construction also ages gracefully: a jacket built on a floating canvas, rather than a fused or heavily padded one, will re-block and re-press decades after the original commission without losing its essential character.
💡 Historical note
Frederick Scholte is widely credited as the cutter who formalized the drape silhouette that Anderson & Sheppard became known for. He also tailored for the Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, who became one of the most photographed men in early-twentieth-century fashion. Scholte's influence spread far beyond the Row: the American fashion industry studied his proportions through photographs for years before anyone had access to his actual patterns.
Who Has Worn It and Why That Matters
The client list is not a marketing device at Anderson & Sheppard; it is a record of the cut's reach. Fred Astaire wore the house's jackets for decades, and it is worth considering why a dancer chose this particular house. The drape cut allowed full range of arm movement, the silhouette held its shape under stage lighting, and the soft chest construction didn't crease where a stiffer garment would. Astaire reportedly sent measurements from Hollywood when he couldn't travel to London.
Marlene Dietrich, who wore tailored suits throughout much of her career, was also a client. The house accommodated women without altering its fundamental construction; the cut worked because it worked with the body, not against it. Gary Cooper, Cecil Beaton, and later Mick Jagger and Ralph Lauren have all been associated with the house at various points.
The value of listing these names is not prestige by association. It is evidence that the cut solves real problems: movement, comfort, lasting silhouette. These are clients who had access to any tailor in the world and chose this one repeatedly. The through-line is not celebrity. It is a very specific preference for cloth that behaves, rather than cloth that performs.
The Bespoke Process: What Actually Happens
A bespoke commission at Anderson & Sheppard begins with a conversation. The cutter wants to understand not just the occasion but the context: how the client sits, how much time is spent at a desk, whether the jacket will be worn open or closed, in what climate. These are not pleasantries. They are technical inputs.
The cutter takes between 20 and 30 measurements, but the numbers are secondary to the observation. A good Savile Row cutter watches how a body stands at rest, where the shoulders naturally sit, how the blade moves when the arm rises. The measurements record what is seen; the pattern translates it.
A first baste follows, cut entirely in the house cloth from a draft pattern built for that client alone. At this stage the garment is held together with long, loose stitches that can be opened and re-sewn quickly. The cutter marks alterations in tailor's chalk directly on the fabric. A second fitting, sometimes a third, refines the balance, the seat, the collar roll.
The finished garment involves around 80 hours of hand-work: the chest canvas floated in by hand, the lapel padded stitch by stitch, the buttonholes sewn by a specialist. Savile Row bespoke tailoring of this type is one of the few remaining crafts where the skilled labor time exceeds the material cost by a significant margin. The pattern is retained in the house archive indefinitely; a client returning years later for a second commission begins from an established baseline rather than from nothing.
The Drape Cut vs. Other Savile Row Traditions
Savile Row is not a monolith. The houses differ meaningfully in their cut philosophy, and understanding the distinctions is useful before committing to a commission.
| Characteristic | Anderson & Sheppard Drape | Structured Savile Row |
|---|---|---|
| Chest construction | Soft canvas, floating chest piece, extra cloth for drape | Firmer canvas, defined chest, less ease |
| Shoulder shape | Soft rope, high sleevehead, natural slope | Squarer shoulder, more pronounced padding |
| Back shape | Blade ease, slight suppression at waist | More suppression, defined waist channel |
| Movement feel | Jacket moves with the body | Jacket holds its shape independent of body |
| Typical cloth weight | 280-350g, often flannel or fresco | 300-400g, often worsted or tweed |
| Best suited to | Active wear, warm climates, leaner builds | Formal occasions, cooler climates, broader builds seeking definition |
Neither approach is superior. They answer different questions. A man who spends long days at a desk and travels frequently may find the drape cut recovers better from a day of wearing. A man who wants a suit to carry formal authority in a boardroom or courtroom might prefer the more defined shoulder of a structured cut. The useful exercise is to try both before committing. Many experienced commissioners end up with one of each, worn to different contexts rather than in competition.
Cloth and Material: The Foundation of the Work
Anderson & Sheppard sources primarily from the British and Italian mills that have supplied the Row for a century. The house has a particular affinity for flannel: mid-weight worsted flannels in charcoal, mid-grey, and navy that hold the drape construction well. The cloth needs a certain softness in the weave to work with the floating chest canvas; a stiff worsted fights the construction rather than supporting it.
For summer commissions, fresco cloth is a frequent choice. Woven with a loose, open structure, fresco breathes, resists creasing, and has a dry hand-feel that reads as formal without trapping heat. The house has used fresco from a Yorkshire mill for decades. Heavier cloths, including english drape bespoke suiting in herringbone and houndstooth, come into play for autumn and winter commissions intended for outdoor use.
Lining choices are deliberate. A full silk lining in a summer suit adds weight and heat; the house often recommends a body lining only, leaving the sleeves free, which allows the jacket back to breathe and reduces the thermal load considerably. For winter commissions, a quilted or interlined lining can be added through the body without compromising the drape at the chest, since the floating canvas is forward of the lining in any case.
The Haberdashery and What It Offers
In 2009 the house opened Anderson & Sheppard Haberdashery on Clifford Street, a short walk from Old Burlington Street. The premise was practical: not everyone is ready or able to commission bespoke, but the aesthetic and the values of the house could be expressed in ready-to-wear shirting, knitwear, accessories, and cloth by the yard.
The haberdashery has become something of a reference point for a certain kind of London dressing. The white linen shirts, washed to a particular softness, the cashmere half-zip pullovers in navy and camel, the silk pocket squares folded flat rather than puffed: these are pieces chosen for wear, not display. The shop also holds a cloth room where customers can buy fabric to have made elsewhere, or simply to feel the difference between a 280g flannel and a 380g before committing to a commission.
For younger readers approaching classic British menswear tailoring for the first time, the haberdashery is a reasonable starting point. The price of entry is low. The education is immediate. Handling the cloth, seeing the colors in natural light, understanding what "navy" or "camel" actually looks like against different skin tones: these are things a photograph cannot teach. The shop also functions as a quiet introduction to the house's temperament. The staff tend toward the informative rather than the salesman register, which is itself a signal about what the house values.
"The cloth will tell you what to do with it, if you listen."
Attributed to a senior Anderson & Sheppard cutter, as recalled by Simon Crompton, Permanent Style, 2022
Trousers: The Part of the Commission Most People Get Wrong
The jacket receives almost all the attention in bespoke tailoring discussions. The trouser is treated as a subordinate consideration. At Anderson & Sheppard, this hierarchy is reversed in the cutting room. Sidney Sheppard, who gave the house his name, was a trouser cutter of particular distinction, and the house has maintained that emphasis.
The A&S trouser is cut with a high rise, a forward pitch, and a pleat configuration that allows the cloth to fall cleanly from the hip to the break. The waist suppression is minimal; the shape comes from the cut, not from tension. Worn with braces rather than a belt, the trouser sits correctly at the natural waist, and the front crease runs straight without pulling. This is not a fashion detail. It is a structural one: a trouser that relies on a belt for its fit will always look slightly strangled.
The pleat choice matters more than most guides acknowledge. A single forward pleat opens naturally when the wearer sits and closes when standing. A reverse pleat does the opposite and tends to splay at the thigh under a jacket. At the house, the forward pleat has long been the standard recommendation for the drape-cut suit, because it maintains the vertical line through the thigh that the floating chest above it establishes.
For those not commissioning bespoke, the principle still applies. A tailored wool pleated trouser with a higher rise and a straight leg will carry the proportions of the A&S silhouette more faithfully than a slim-fit, low-rise alternative, regardless of what it cost to make.
How to Approach a First Commission at Anderson & Sheppard
The house does not require an appointment, though one is sensible. Arriving without one on a busy week means the cutter available may not be the one best suited to the brief. A first commission works best when there is time for a real conversation, not just a quick measurement session.
Budget clarity matters. The house does not advertise prices publicly, which is common on the Row, but a bespoke suit commission currently runs in the range of several thousand pounds. For context: the cost reflects 80-plus hours of skilled labor, cloth from heritage mills, and a pattern that remains in the house archive and can be used for future commissions. Subsequent suits, built on the established pattern, require fewer fittings and carry a lower labor cost.
The most common error first-time commissioners make is over-specifying the design. Bringing reference images, asking for peak lapels, ticket pockets, and working cuffs on a first commission creates a suit that may not suit the body before the cutter has had a chance to understand it. The better approach: specify the cloth, specify the occasion, and let the cutter propose the design. The details can be refined on the second commission, once the cut is established and the fit is understood.
For those building a wardrobe that takes its cues from English drape tailoring traditions, a single Anderson & Sheppard commission in a mid-grey or charcoal flannel is an education that no amount of reading fully replaces. The way a well-made drape-cut jacket sits at the shoulder, how it recovers after a day of wear, what flannel feels like against the hand after 80 hours of hand-stitching: these are things the body learns and the eye remembers. Explore the full range of tailored pieces in the Montelaire men's collection to build the wardrobe that meets it halfway.
Those returning for a second or third commission often describe a shift in how they approach the process. The first commission is largely about correction and discovery. By the second, the client knows what the house does and the cutter knows the body. The conversation becomes about cloth selection and proportional refinement rather than establishing basics. This is the point at which bespoke becomes genuinely efficient rather than merely aspirational.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the English Drape Cut associated with Anderson & Sheppard?+
The English Drape Cut is a bespoke tailoring method developed at Anderson & Sheppard in the early twentieth century. It involves cutting extra cloth into the chest and back of a jacket, then constructing a soft, floating canvas that allows the fabric to settle around the body rather than being held in tension. The result is a jacket with volume across the chest, ease through the back, and a silhouette that moves with the wearer. The construction also ages well: a floating canvas can be re-blocked and pressed decades after the original commission without the brittleness that fused interlinings develop over time.
How many fittings does a bespoke suit at Anderson & Sheppard require?+
A standard commission involves a first baste fitting, a forward fitting, and a final fitting before delivery. For first-time clients, a fourth fitting is sometimes added. Each fitting builds on the last: the baste establishes the overall balance and proportion, the forward fitting refines the roll of the lapel and the set of the sleeve, and the final fitting confirms the finished garment before handover. Total elapsed time from first appointment to delivery is typically four to six months.
Did Anderson & Sheppard move from Savile Row?+
The house moved from its original Savile Row address to 32 Old Burlington Street in 2005. Old Burlington Street runs parallel to Savile Row and sits within the same Mayfair tailoring quarter. The move did not alter the house's methods, its cutters, or its commission process. The term Savile Row bespoke tailoring in Anderson & Sheppard's case refers to the tradition and the craft rather than the specific street number.
What types of cloth does Anderson & Sheppard typically use?+
The house works primarily with British and Italian mill cloth. Flannel is a house staple: mid-weight worsted flannels in grey, charcoal, and navy suit the drape construction well because the weave has the softness to float with the canvas. For summer, fresco cloth from Yorkshire mills is frequently recommended; it has a dry, open weave that breathes without creasing. Heavier tweeds and herringbones come into play for country commissions. The haberdashery on Clifford Street holds a cloth room where customers can handle the options before committing.
Is Anderson & Sheppard only for bespoke commissions?+
No. The Anderson & Sheppard Haberdashery on Clifford Street, opened in 2009, carries a curated selection of ready-to-wear shirting, knitwear, accessories, and cloth by the yard. The pieces reflect the house's aesthetic without the commitment or cost of a bespoke commission. For those building familiarity with the house's sensibility before commissioning, or simply looking for well-chosen wardrobe staples in that register, the haberdashery is a practical starting point.
How does the A&S trouser differ from a standard bespoke trouser?+
The house trouser is cut with a high rise, a forward pitch, and a single forward pleat. The waist suppression is kept to a minimum so the shape derives from the cut geometry rather than from tension against the body. Worn correctly with braces at the natural waist, the front crease runs straight from the pleat to the break without pulling at the thigh. The result is a trouser that reads as relaxed when standing and composed when seated, which inverts the usual problem of slim-cut trousers that read neat when standing and strained when sitting.
