Bespoke Savile Row Ripped and Smoothed

'Very timely...droll and engrossing' Sunday Telegraph 'Bespoke is a beautifully crafted celebration of this peculiar arena, smoothly weaving three overlapping narratives: a coming-of-age tale, a history of "The Row" and an examination of the tailor's craft... His erudite memoir positions Anderson as the Anthony Bourdain of the rag trade' Independent on Sunday 'Anderson is a fine raconteur and Bespoke is as well-crafted as his own worsted double-breasted suits' GQ 'What is striking about his affectionate book is the comic oddness of his fellow tailors, the picture it paints of terrifying "guv'nors" hwo run the shop with steely decorum and the patience required when fitting the most hellish of customers' Daily Express 'Anderson caught the fag-end of a world that sounds like an admixture of Are you Being Served? and Tom Brown's Schooldays: the arcana of men's apparel ... intermingled with darker accounts of bullying, breakdown and death' Nick Foulkes in the Literary Review 'A vivid exploration of an arcane, semi-Dickensian world. There is much insight into the changing nature of Savile Row. There is comedy. There is even a thrillerish sub-plot, wherein a junior buyer works as a spy for an outside buyer... I found this book compelling. The various elements have been cut and stitched together with consummate artistry. You warm to Anderson and the old craftsmen whom he reveres. You enjoy the privilege of temporary admission to an unknown world through the quality of the storytelling and the animated prose' Daily Telegraph 'A fascinating window on an arcane world' Choice magazine 'Savile Row is ... the last bastion of a past where craftsmanship was a point of national pride, not to mention an alternative occupation for creative school-leavers who did not want to swot for a degree. Just such a person was Richard Anderson ... now a star in his own right, [who] has written this very funny book ... I wich I had had access to his observations about the emotional and mental chaos attached to the job when my daughter and I had to learn the business overnight...' Glenys Roberts in the Daily Mail 'Poignant' The Sunday Telegraph 12/9 'Richard Anderson, a top Savile Row tailor, takes us through every step of the process, and tells us his own story too...He brings it to life.' William Leith, Evening Standard, 16/9 'An exceptional exploration of an English institution' Charlotte Vowden, Daily Express 24/9 'Your hand needs to be steady as your nerve to be a tailor; Anderson's prose proves to be equally firm' Colin Waters, Scottish Sunday Herald 19/9