A simple street in Central London’s Mayfair district, Savile Row has been synonymous with the heights of men's tailoring since Henry Poole’s No. 32 tailoring premises in 1846. In the decades that followed, houses would rise and fall, but it was Nutters of Savile Row who, in 1969, disrupted tradition with a new, electric vision—infusing the street with a radical energy that would redefine its future and usher in a new generation of tailors.
A simple street in Central London’s Mayfair district, Savile Row has been synonymous with the heights of men's tailoring since Henry Poole’s No. 32 tailoring premises in 1846. In the decades that followed, houses would rise and fall, but it was Nutters of Savile Row who, in 1969, disrupted tradition with a new, electric vision—infusing the street with a radical energy that would redefine its future and usher in a new generation of tailors.
In the short span of Tommy Nutter’s career, he achieved far more than one could hope to in an entire lifetime. In just over two decades, he helped shape some of the most indelible images of Swinging Sixties London—his work as audacious as the era itself. His rise to success was unlikely, yet he tore through the quiet orthodoxies of English tailoring, managing to acquire a fiercely loyal and culturally ascendant clientele while redefining the boundaries of London’s Savile Row.
Nutter’s formative years were spent in northern London. His father was a cafe owner that served labor workers. Few signs suggested he would stray far from this working-class inheritance. However, after a brief period studying plumbing, his instincts pulled him elsewhere—toward craft, toward form, toward spectacle. At the age of 19, Nutter attended the Tailor and Cutter Academy before honing his cutting skills as an apprentice at Donaldson, Williamson & Ward, where he would stay for seven years.
The stuffy, expensive atmosphere of Savile Row did not lend itself to the rule-bending narrative of sixties counterculture. Until, that is, February 14th, 1969, when Nutter, alongside Edward Sexton, opened the doors to Nutters of Savile Row and, with it, a new chapter in British tailoring. The company was partially backed by Peter Brown and pop star Cilla Black, whom Nutter called a close friend. Almost immediately, the old guard gave way to a new aristocracy—one defined not by title, but by taste and notoriety. Nutter was known for his bold, imaginative creations, over-the-top window displays, and champagne-fueled appointments that attracted the likes of Bianca and Mick Jagger, The Beatles, and Elton John, among others.
The suiting and the experience was far from typical and led to a splendid array of outstanding fashion moments. Nutter, unpredictable in behavior, indulged his clients with irreverent criticism and playful humor, often ending conversations with the expression, “But who am I to talk?” Some of Nutter’s most recognizable commissions include Mick Jagger’s three-piece wedding suit with extra wide lapels (a signature flourish) and John Lennon’s slim wedding suit for his marriage to Yoko Ono.
Apart from a penchant for outfitting celebrity nuptials, Nutter also suited three of the four Beatles for their famous Abbey Road album cover in 1969. Bianca Jagger was an ongoing client, one whose independence of style was unmistakable, favoring the authority of men’s tailoring. For her, Nutter produced wide-leg trousers of striking proportion—images of which remain part of fashion’s visual lexicon. Another devoted client was Elton John, for whom Nutter designed an endless selection of flamboyant suits, including a now-iconic black-and-white tailcoat worn at Wembley Stadium in 1984.
At first glance, Nutter’s influence on fashion, albeit substantial, seems to have dissipated as mysteriously as the spirit of the ‘60s itself. But this reading is incomplete. After a series of unfortunate events, including losing his business (he would regain it later) and the emotional toll of his brother’s struggles, he entered the later years of his life diminished, though never entirely undone.
However, his influence on men’s fashion is undeniable. More than a tailor, he was a provocateur of form, one who expanded the language of bespoke to accommodate personality, performance, and excess. He infused Savile Row with a freedom of expression it had long resisted. Today, his spirit persists in the work of designers such as John Galliano and Tom Ford, where precision and flamboyance continue their uneasy, generative dance. Nutter died in 1992 from complications of AIDS, but his legacy endures in silhouettes, in images, and in the enduring mythology of an era that refused restraint.
WRITTEN BY Alexis Kanter
#RESERVE