Richard James

DESIGNER NAME: Richard James

BACKGROUND: "Savile Row since 1992. We were considered anti-establishment, but now we're the so-called New Establishment."

SIGNATURES: “Contemporary Savile Row tailoring and modern British menswear. And we like to use colour.”

TRADEMARK PIECE: “What has become known over the last twenty-one years as our ‘modern classic’ tailoring: one or two-button jackets with deep side vents and a slightly higher armhole for a slim, definitive silhouette.”

IDEAL CLIENT: “Someone who puts a bit of themselves into our clothes, someone who really brings them to life.”

THE COLLECTION: “The theme is Sundown. And the collection captures that cool, colour-drenched hour when the spent summer sun slips away from another long day and the dark of night steals in, bringing with it a fresh energy and a delicious sense of expectation.”

IMPACT OF LONDON COLLECTIONS: MEN: “The international coverage and reception has been fantastic. I’m thrilled to see Savile Row at the centre of men’s fashion; it’s always been such a stylish place and it deserves the recognition.”

FIRST PIECE OF MENSWEAR DESIGNED: “An arresting windowpane check suit that came in navy and electric blue, grey and lilac and grey and apple green. I was very proud when it appeared in the V&A’s The Cutting Edge exhibition in 1997.”