Welsh tailor Timothy Everest is a keen observer who never misses people with an eccentric dressing sense. The designer who started working under Savile Row revolutionary Tommy Nutter speaks to Divya Kaushik about taking inspiration from The Beatles and redefining bespoke
Almost 10 years ago, when no international designer would have thought of India as a probable fashion destination, he was exploring the possibilities as the board member of a fashion company. After a few years, he realised that the company was making an entry rather early and that was it. But now Timothy Everest, the popular Welsh bespoke designer, is back in India and can see a host of opportunities here. “Indian market has emerged as an important destination for fashion designers across the globe.
It is much more established now. For a decade or more, we have been talking about thinking globally, which is still important for international brands, but what is more important now is to think glocally. I went around a mall in Delhi and it was interesting to see how international brands have added an Indian element in their creations. I was glad to see that.
Not just in India, but in Asia I have observed that in the last 15-20 years, domestic designers are creating their own handwriting while learning from international brands, to put something that is palatable for international markets.
It’s a two-way road, local designers have to think of going global and brands have to think locally. That indicates an upward shift in the market. I was also sitting at a café here and saw a few women and the way they dressed was speaking a lot about how much this country has changed,” says Timothy, who is known for his bespoke, formal wear but since last few years he has also been working to give a new definition to the casual wear.
Timothy is at the forefront of the bespoke casual movement which, provides individually tailored casual clothing of Savile Row quality, including casual shirts, smart-casual jackets, t-shirts and jeans. Expanding the bespoke casual concept, he offered a bespoke denim tailoring service dressing celebrities from sports, Hollywood and rock music, such as David Beckham, Kevin Bacon and Ricky Wilson of the Kaiser Chiefs. He also has been working with The Woolmark Company and creating new fabrics with wool to promote it as a fashionable fabric. last year he did a collection called Hemisphere, the line that explored what the modern wardrobe will be like.
He shares, “We were also trying to get Woolmark to think differently by bringing the collection out at the trade shows so that people could judge it and present wool as part of modern, urban lifestyle. I worked with wool denim for the collection.
I travelled to Australia to work with merino wool. When I was at the sheep station in Ferndale I noticed what the sheep shearers were wearing. It was a stretch wool denim with a cool cut. The shearers told me that there is a practical reason behind it.
If they would wear a cotton-based denim, it would remain damp whereas wool absorbs the moisture. So I did a lot of experiments with wool and while working with The Woolmark we got an idea how our casual line would be received. We launched a Timothy Everest casual line as there was interest in what we were doing. It is different from what we do but it is East london view of contemporary london.”
Timothy is in “diverse” businesses and while he is managing his bespoke house and coming up with ideas to work towards casual lines, he has been designing for big Hollywood projects like Mission Impossible and Skyfall and next is the James Bond film Spectre. “Designing for films is like designing a suit for a son-in-law when you have dad, mom, daughter and son-in-law together in a store.
You need to keep a lot of details in mind but I like that. One has to be prepared for last minute alterations. For example for Mission Impossible we had to design 24 similar jackets for these bulky guys. We got a call in the night saying that 12 have wrong lining, which was supposed to be burnt orange, and we needed to change that as those will be visible when they roll up the sleeves.
Next day they were shooting so we had to work as per requirements,” shares Timothy, who moved to london from his hometown to work with the legendary Tommy Nutter (a Savile Row revolutionary in the 1960s who designed for The Beatles and The Stones).
The designer recently created an exclusive spring/summer collection featuring wool fabrics for a show, organised by Raymond along with The Woolmark Company, in India. The collection boasts of bright colours. “After coming up with monochromatic shades, colours have come back in the last three or four years. My collection includes 12 garments, out of which six are strictly formal in cuts and structure while six have a touch of casual dressing to them.
One of the images that I saw was of The Beatles visiting India and wearing those cool jackets, so there is a hint of that in the collection. Most of my travels inspire me to create something different and after I have explored the Indian market, I hope I will be able to come up with an interesting idea,” says Timothy.
The mission for Timothy Everest for the next five years is to suggest what modern wardrobe is. “It is interesting to note that when the economies are difficult people try to be more flamboyant, they try and be more creative with their wardrobes. We need to educate people a lot about an individual style. People associate bespoke with words like elite, high-class, expensive and boring.
The idea is to add fun to it. There should be an education process, on what one should wear to create an individual statement. We can challenge what tailoring was about, not just in suits, but how should one wear clothes,” ends Timothy.
photos Pankaj Kumar