The Pandemic has created a real space of change for businesses, some bad, but some good, and that’s why we wanted to share about Pratt and Prasad, who recently took on the Dashing Tweeds bunches to offer their customers our cloth. 

We recently interviewed them about what they do and why, we hope you enjoy.

Tell us about yourself?

I am Haddon, the head cutter and founder of Pratt & Prasad. I have worked in the bespoke tailoring industry for ten years. I tend to make my extreme life choices on a spur of the moment. At the age of 21, I decided I wanted to become a bespoke tailor in London. Within three months I left my life in Warwickshire and moved to London, not knowing anyone and only having a potential, zero hours contract in a hotel.

I quickly secured myself an apprenticeship as a coat maker/assistant shop manager at English Tailoring, Canary Wharf. After several years I moved to The Disguisery in central London where I learnt how to make bespoke trousers. There, I had the opportunity to make for several top companies on Savile Row and for companies that provided for film and television. I continued to Kent & Haste, just off of Savile Row and became the under cutter for Terry Haste.

When the pandemic hit I found myself on full-time furlough, then moving to part-time furlough. To fill my time, my husband (previously the Finance Director for Huntsman, Savile Row) and I began Pratt & Prasad Bespoke, based in South West London. Pratt & Prasad had for a long time existed as an Etsy shop as a way to top up an apprentice wage. The Etsy shop consisted of handmade bow ties and pocket squares made from cloth remnants from local fabric shops that would otherwise be thrown away. Paul (Prasad), developed the website and branding whilst I worked on creating pieces for the website gallery, Instagram content and clients along the way.

With the blessing of Terry Haste, I have now taken on Pratt & Prasad as my full time venture. I am able to have more customer contact than before which I love! I take care of customer consultations, drafting patterns, cutting and making. When work load requires, I employ freelance tailors that also make for Savile Row.

Pratt & Prasad give clients the opportunity to explore Savile Row bespoke tailoring at a more affordable price as we do not have the same overheads of the Row. As a client of Pratt & Prasad, you will be at the forefront of supporting a new, local, sustainable and independent business.

What got you interested in tailoring?

I was a very petite teenager. Growing up it was very difficult to find clothes to fit, often having to settle for the limited xxs section. I decided the way around this was to learn to sew my own clothes. At the age of 21, I worked as a restaurant manager in a Warwickshire hotel. Once a week, on my day off, I would attend a local college for a 12 hour day of tailoring. I was persuaded to take on a level 3 City and Guilds Diploma in fashion and tailoring. During the course, with guidance from my tutor, I entered the ‘Golden Shear Awards’ hosted by the Merchant Taylors Guild, and reached the final! After a taste of what life might be like on Savile Row, I decided that tailoring was exactly what I wanted to go into as a career.

What’s the thing you enjoy most about tailoring?

I am forever in awe of the process. Every garment starts off as an idea and a set of measurements! I take a flat piece of card and create the pattern. I take a flat piece of cloth and cut out shapes. After moulding, shaping, stitching and fitting, a beautiful garment has been created that someone will then wear to live their life in. Our client selects us from their wardrobe on the happiest days of their lives, closing big deals at work or just going about their day to day and it gives me a real buzz to think that Pratt & Prasad have crafted this individually for them, to do just that!

I also love meeting our clients and getting to know them individually. Each person has a different story and I always learn something new each time.

Why did you choose Dashing for your wedding suit? 

I chose Dashing Tweeds for my wedding suit because it was different. I love a classic cloth but sometimes you just need something that will make a statement. Having worked with Dashing Tweeds cloth in the past I knew it would be the company to turn to. Dashing Tweeds produce these cloths that make you look and think ‘I’ve never seen that before’. Whilst we were with our wedding photographer in New York there were quite a few passers by stopping to take photographs of us. 

I love the designs and I can’t wait to make myself something else from their collection! 

Why do you want to showcase the Dashing Tweeds cloth to your clients?
 
Bespoke is about having what you want and if you are going to have something made, you might as well have fun! Clients love looking through the Dashing Tweeds bunches! It’s different, it’s interesting and the clothes always evoke a reaction. 

What new things are coming up?

With Pratt & Prasad being a fairly new venture, we have a very exciting journey ahead of us. We want to open the doors of bespoke to a wider demographic. It’s a common misconception that bespoke tailoring is just about suits. The process starts from an idea so the sky’s the limit! We aim to educate clients in the process of bespoke and encourage a move away from fast fashion and throw away culture.

Having matured the brand from its Etsy beginnings, we plan on developing a more permanent shop on our website and upgrading our accessories, so even if you are not currently in the market for bespoke you can still add a little piece of Pratt & Prasad to your attire.

How can people find you?

Visit us on our website www.prattandprasad.co.uk There you can see examples of our work, make an appointment with us, read about our cloth suppliers (including the wonderful Dashing Tweeds – I made my wedding suit using their Parsec design and it is probably my favourite suit!) and sign up to our bi-monthly newsletter.

You can also find @pratt_and_prasad on Instagram and Facebook for live updates of what we are working on.

We have worked with Andrea for many years, she tailors exquisite kilts using a wonderful range of textiles.

We thought we would share more about what she does and why…

Tell us about yourself?

I studied graphic design in the early 90s at Central St Martins and the Royal College of Art, back in the early days of Apple, when typesetting was still a tactile experience with hot metal and wood blocks. In the letterpress departments at both schools I developed a passion for print that grew into a love affair with traditional crafts. 

After graduating I leaned naturally towards environmental graphics and in 1999 founded the design collective Acme Studios, bringing traditional craft practise into contemporary interpretive experiences within museums and heritage sites worldwide. It enabled me to connect curious minds and craft makers hands to tell the stories of people and places and create a very personal epilogue to each, which was the making of a kilt—a garment that historically associates its wearer with a place, or a people and something that had been a familiar part of my wardrobe since childhood. Each kilt was made to commemorate each project and it grew into a long-standing personal tradition. 

After more than 20 years that personal tradition became my profession. Re-training in 2018 in traditional kiltmaking at the Keith Kilt School, not far from where I now live in North East Scotland. I combine the heritage craft skills of kiltmaking and printmaking with those of contemporary design, promoting the traditional hand-stitched method, whilst exploring more possibilities for construction techniques and textile creation. It continues to provide a means to collaborate with other craft practitioners and to tell stories with textiles, they are now other peoples more often than my own and it is a privilege to be commissioned for personal events that mark moments in time that are passed onto generations of a family in the way kilts have always been.

Tell us about your latest work?

The O’Leary of London was a particularly special commission, as it came from a lady who wished to commemorate the life of her aunt, a particularly glamorous and well travelled lady with an excellent taste in accessories—particularly sunglasses! My client, a ceramicist and designer herself, Pat O’Leary, is an Irish born Londoner married to a Scot. Pat briefed me with photographs of her aunt, Terry, taken in the 50s and 60s, posed in a variety of glamorous, global locations, wearing a series of even more glamorous outfits, accessorised by a collection of stylish spectacles, shoes, bags and occasionally an exotic looking male, or the odd classic car.

Pat wanted a kilt that recalled her style, but allowed for the ease of everyday wear, taking its owner from informal to formal occasions in an understated, but individual manner. Dashing Tweedsend of roll collection came up trumps again, providing two pieces of modern merino wools woven in Scotland, that both use a slate grey base incorporating a rainbow flecked Irish Donegal yarn, one checked, the other striped, the Square Kink and Straight Kink.

They cloths both jointly reflected the wearers heritage perfectly, whilst being easy to wear, but unique in design. Pat chose my side pleat design which uses a traditional Kinguissie pleating formation that creates a deep inverted box at each hip. Here we added a bold coral orange feature in a lambswool deadstock cloth from my local mill Johnstons of Elgin. Creating a deep inset that offered a flash of hidden colour that would really sing when she walked.

The lining was designed by Pat, as a digital print onto cotton that records the places and phrases of special memories that encapsulate a life well lived. The kilt carries her memory as a modern family heirloom and I feel very privileged to have played a part in her remembrance. When I was searching for just the right kilt pin, as I always do as a gift given to clients with their kilt, it normally takes some time to find something to support the story of the kilt, or client. This vintage pin caught my eye and couldn’t be better suited to honour the lady of stylish spectacles.

We hope you enjoyed reading about Andrea’s work. To find out more, and to see more of her work, do visit her website.

Since pagan times, festivals around the Spring Equinox have celebrated birth and the general joy of being alive. Now this seems more relevant than ever. As from Monday a bright new world of open shops and getting our hair cut greets us all.

We will be allowed to stroll the high street, greet friends, drink outside pubs and go to buy fresh new clothes at Dashing Tweeds.

Joie de vivre is an essential element of Dashing and spreading a ‘little happiness as you go by’ to quote Mr Cinders is a personal mantra. Now you too can bring joy to yourself and others around you; ‘Keep out the gloom, let in the sun, that’s my advice for everyone’.

We will open from the 12th, Monday to Friday 11am to 6pm and by appointment on Saturdays.

As an extra enticement we are offering a 30% discount to the first 3 people to book a made to measure appointment once we reopen.

If you are in the area, then Marylebone is a great place to explore. Below are some links to some great directories compiled by Portman Marylebone, supporting their local and independent stores, restaurants and hotels.

We are excited to see all our customers again, and if there is anything in the meantime you need, do get in contact: Guy@DashingTweeds.co.uk.

Stay safe everyone, and we look forward to seeing you all soon.

As I start to write an amusing missive to you I was thinking of heading it ‘Coming Out’ thinking of a parallel of young debutantes deciding what to wear when entering society for the first time after years of being locked down, but then I suddenly thought our woke readers would worry I was potentially mocking the dilemmas that the LGBTTQQIAAP community face every day they dress amid a confusion of gender specific clothing stereotypes that society has imposed on us over the years. So, to avoid any offence or confusion I’m going to talk about what to wear when we can at last all re-enter society and go out for the first time in months; and of course we are more than happy to dress you without prejudice to any sexual predilections.

Dressing for freedom is an interesting topic with many examples throughout history. Perhaps Europe’s most famous image of freedom is Delacroix’s Liberty Leading The People. The French Revolution was indeed a turning point towards modern dress as we know it; revolutionaries were known as sans-culottes, literally ‘without knee breeches’. They turned away from the clothing of aristocrats and started wearing trousers with hip-length woollen jackets in a style that we easily recognise today. They also tried to tone down the colour palette associated with the dandy elite but this still gave them plenty of scope for Tricolore striped pantaloons and beautifully coloured woven wools that we would appreciate as elegantly colourful today.

The freedom we are looking forward to now is from a tyrannical virus rather than a dissolute king but the need for joyous revelry is just as important and expressing this joy through clothing and colour is undoubtedly what we all need. In many ways the last year has been revolutionary, we’ve freed ourselves from the shackles of the office and as a consequence from the business suit. Now that we are almost liberated, it will be interesting to see if the wearing of more personal styles persists in the work place. 

However, work is not on our mind at the moment, it’s all about socialising and enjoying the company of others. This is where Dashing Tweeds comes to the fore, we relish a chance to enable you to bring joy to yourself and others through the medium of dress. We tailor clothes for all occasions, but I like to think that everyday should be a time for enjoyment, after all we now appreciate just how short life can be. 

As spring blooms, it’s ideal weather for an unlined tweed jacket with matching trousers or possibly even shorts. If you would like to get the ball rolling and are an existing customer of our made to measure service then we can post you fabric samples and send your choice to our tailors without delay. As an added bonus we can offer you a discount on the price if ordered by the 30th March.

Click here if you an existing made to measure client and you want 15% off your next order

We have all got used to video calls and I’m always happy to offer you advice over the phone until you are able to come into the shop in person from Monday 12th April.

Now is also a good time to start thinking about your summer wardrobe. A pair of elegantly cut trousers worn with a crisp shirt is always going to look good and I find that including back pockets is very useful. Our fine Merino wools drape perfectly and do not cling or crease in a way the cotton can, ensuring an effortless elegance at all times.

We design new fabrics and tailor small collections twice a year to inspire you. Now is a perfect time to ask yourself if your clothing fulfils it’s emotive purpose, are you using your clothes to extend a visual portrayal of who you are or who you want to be? Are you ready to show yourself when we are again allowed out into society? Indeed, are you treating yourself with respect or wearing undeservingly poor clothing because you think no one really cares?

Due to the current lockdown rules in London our store will not be reopening at the moment, however we are able to host video consultations to talk through the made to measure options and we can take measurements this way too. 

If you wanted to order something from our made to measure, then we are happy to offer you 10% off until 30th March, drop us an email to arrange a video consultation: Guy@DashingTweeds.co.uk.

Choosing a role model is one of the crucial pillars to growing up. At various ages you ask yourself, who do I admire and how can I be more like them? I remember being given a bright blue shiny mac as an 8 year old, not really my thing, and handing it to my younger brother. He took to it instantly, wearing it only by the hood and charging around pretending to be a caped super hero; such is the power of clothing when combined with imagination and inspiration. Styling your hair, finding your voice and practicing your signature are often a start of any young persons voyage to the ego, but I think clothing is by far the most important facet. 

Growing up in the 70’s there seemed to be a larger choice of role models to follow in terms of style. The internet had yet to homogenise looks globally and it seemed that creating a niche look with your peer group was the thing to do. 

The most interesting aspect of experimenting with clothing was how you are perceived by others. Social interactions happen on so many levels but first impressions based on looks are always the most immediate; we all form opinions in split seconds whether they are right or not.

For many this is where the fun starts, and you can so easily create entirely different versions of yourself depending on what you wish to achieve.

However, creating your clothed persona is harder than you think and so many people try to avoid the subject by hiding in a bland obscurity. This in itself can be fascinating to study and I find it amusing to see photos or interviews of people in the 1970’s having to don floral kipper ties and mustard flares in order to blend in with the masses.

Society has created rules and dress codes to help or hinder personal aspirations depending how you see them. Over the years the English have probably established the most complex set of dress rules globally, but in my view this allows the English to be the most creative dressers, without rules there are no rule breakers.

At the moment we are enjoying watching period dramas and clothing is usually the first thing people discuss; after all the action involving boys and girls chasing each other has not really changed over the centuries. It comes as no surprise then that Regency-Core is one of the latest style trends. There is simply nothing as fun as experimenting with your style.

We created Dashing Tweeds for the enjoyment of the fluent dresser. Once a man or woman has learnt the fundamentals, the primary scales of dressing, then they often want to sing their own song rather than hum the tune of others. We know and love all the standards, to extend the musical analogy and they all have a time and place but it is fun to broaden creativity and experiment with new ideas. If you have the ideas then we can help orchestrate them, adding colour and timbre to your melody.

We design new fabrics and tailor small collections twice a year to inspire you. Now is a perfect time to ask yourself if your clothing fulfils it’s emotive purpose, are you using your clothes to extend a visual portrayal of who you are or who you want to be? Are you ready to show yourself when we are again allowed out into society? Indeed, are you treating yourself with respect or wearing undeservingly poor clothing because you think no one really cares?

These are all huge questions and now is the perfect time to consider them. We are surrounded by flux and uncertainty there’s no better time to adjust. Role models and personal identity can continue to develop and there is nothing so liberating and exciting as deciding who you really are and how to cloth yourself next.

To see our full collection of made to measure visit our Tailoring page: https://www.dashingtweeds.co.uk/made-to-measure/

Or to find out more, drop us an email at info@DashingTweeds.co.uk

For me colour is one of the great joys of life. I started my creative life as a photographer shooting rolls and rolls of black and white film, as it was cheap and easy to process. I concentrated on light and chiaroscuro when taking portraits learning the art of condensing life onto a negative.

But then a friend showed me prints he had made using a new high colour Agfa film and my photography work suddenly changed. I invested in a full colour darkroom and never looked back. Composing colour shots was just so much more exciting. A tiny dot of red could change a whole composition, it was fascinating to learn about the weight of different colours and how they could clash or complement each other in so many ways. I lapped up all I could from the masters and was especially intrigued by the work of the pioneering colour photographer Madame Yevonde. 

This was in the 80’s, an era awash with primary hues when men seemed to have free rein of a much larger palette than in the decades to come. The hallucinogenic ‘70s had opened peoples minds to colour and mens dress had perhaps not been so chromatic since Regency times, when coloured wools and silk jacquards were much more prevalent.

Skip to the present day and we are now in desperate need of colour and all it can do for us. Over the last couple of decades working life has accelerated to a tremendous speed, tech kids in there dark hoodies have been cranking up the speed of life’s treadmill, we’re responding by scrolling our mouse wheels ever faster. Work has become increasingly consuming and serious; colourful clothing was one of the prices we’ve paid. Why would you need anything other than a navy suit to transition from home to work and out in the evening?

Now everything has changed. Colour has actually been making a comeback for a few years now, sportswear influences and young designers referencing colourfully high times such as new romantics and rave are bringing us much needed relief from the black, beige and navy monotony that has prevailed really since Queen Victoria went into mourning over Prince Albert’s death in 1861 and society followed suit.

Colour is complex and can scare men in particular. Over the years we’ve lost some of the social codes colour conveys. Before the invention of cheap synthetic aniline dyes in the mid 19th century people were aware of the richness and actual cost of certain colours. Crimson used for military Redcoats for example, was derived from crushed cochineal beetles hand picked off prickly pear cati in South America. By weight, the powder was more expensive then gold and even floated on the stock exchange.

Purple has an interesting story. In Roman times the dye was so expensive it was decreed by law that only emperors could wear purple robes. The secretions of over a quarter of a million murex snails was needed to provide enough purple dye for a single outfit. It was understandable that royal decrees were placed to protect supplies and elevate your status as a purple clad ruler.

Obviously gold has always been highly valued, the metal leaf is wrapped about silk yarns to create thread and has been used in military embellishments for centuries. Not all natural colours were vastly expensive, blues from woad or indigo plants were more affordable and have been used for the masses for thousands of years. Indigo dyed jeans are still incredibly popular the world over. The German company BASF really revolutionised the cost of colour dyes for clothing, taking the work of British chemist William Perkin, the inventor of a synthetic purple know as Perkin’s Mauve and industrialised production of  a whole new palette of hues. 

Choosing colours to wear can be a fraught business and it’s not surprising that many take refuge in monochromatic obscurity or only follow trends forced upon them. Choosing your own colour scheme is not even encouraged by the fashion industry, they like to have control, dictating what’s in and out to shift more stock. A huge element of the fashion industry is colour forecasting and vast profits are generated by companies such as WGSN who charge for their colour predicting services.

Now that our lives are becoming increasingly prescriptive, with AI empowered search engines positioning your whole digital perception towards someone else’s gain, it’s high time to empower yourself with a personal choice.

At first this may not be easy, but I suggest you start playing around with colours yourself. Fearlessly experiment with colours you haven’t considered before, even if it involves wrapping a curtain around your neck and looking in the mirror. Of course not all colours will suit you, but when you find new ones that do your life can be magically enriched, more than you can imagine. Colour can change your mood instantly and also the perception of yourself by others around you, making your life far more interesting.

One of the maxims of Dashing Tweeds is to enrich your life with colour. Tweed and woven wools are the traditional way that British men and women are allowed to experiment with colour, it gives us a legitimate chance to experiment. 

We offer a huge variety of cloths and are always experimenting with new colour combinations for you. Luckily wool is a natural fibres that takes on dyes very well and our skilled dyers can match pretty much any colour we throw at them. Many of our customers eulogise to us about how much more fun they have had wearing our clothes as opposed to something dull. This needn’t be a crazy leap to psychedelia but just a small shift to something a little more joyously chromic.

As the painter David Hockey is quoted “I prefer living in colour” and I think you will as well.

“Dashing Tweed’s brilliantly woven cloths are my Peacock’s Tail.

In any colour as long as it’s purple.”

Robin Wight CVO CBE

Due to the current lockdown rules in London our store will not be reopening at the moment, however we are sending out orders during the week, so if you have a need for tweed, do get in contact:
Holly@DashingTweeds.co.uk.