Fine news for American readers – the remarkable Davide Taub, Gieves & Hawkes’s bespoke Head Cutter – will be making a flying visit to New York towards the end of this month in order to visit existing American clients and receive new commissions.
Heralded as one of the up-and-coming generation of British bespoke masters, with several years at both Maurice Sedwell and Edward Sexton under his belt, Davide joined Gieves & Hawkes in 2012 in order to develop a distinguishable house style for the brand’s bespoke service. Some three years later, said house style is known as one of the most contemporary and salient on the Row. This is due in no small part to Davide’s unique approach to the tailor’s craft; he is one of relatively few British tailors who places an emphasis on innovation, rather than tradition in his work: ‘Gieves & Hawkes bespoke house-style is not frightened to innovate, both technically and creatively […] I try not to limit our vision of fit, cut and silhouette to something that is easily definable’.
This rather enigmatic approach nonetheless seems to work; Gieves & Hawkes has one of the largest and busiest bespoke workshops in the world. Nevertheless, if one was to attempt to point out some of the hallmarks of Davide’s work, one could suggest a form-fitting canvass with some fullness thrown forward around the ribs to create an expressive but relatively slim, modern chest, usually accompanied by an arrow-straight shoulder-line and a strong roped sleevehead. Even so, Davide and his workshop at Gieves & Hawkes make a notable effort to ‘keep an eye firmly fixed on what is relevant to our varied, international and very knowledgeable customers’. The house works continually to provide customers with whatever they wish – nothing is off-limits.
Working with American customers has a particular appeal to Davide for this reason; ‘American customers tend to be particularly knowledgeable and discerning, so rising to the challenge is satisfying – US customers are really fascinated by all the little details’. For those other readers out there who might be interested in proffering Davide a bespoke challenge of their own, please note that he will be at The Mark in New York between February 25th and 27th. Appointments and inquiries should be directed to Mr. Jolyon Bexon, jolyonbexon@gievesandhawkes.com