Bespoke tailors Anderson & Sheppard in Hong Kong for trunk show of their traditional British men’s tailoring
Anda Rowland, daughter of buccaneering British businessman ‘Tiny’ Rowland, talks about preserving the bespoke menswear tradition while staying relevant in luxury fashion today
Anderson & Sheppard senior jacket cutter Leon Powell parades proudly in his perfectly fitted dark blue wool suit. “It comes down to the softness around the shoulders,” says Anda Rowland, owner of the bespoke London-based tailor.
Powell cut his teeth at Anderson & Sheppard and is in Hong Kong with Rowland and senior trouser cutter Oliver Spencer for the brand’s first trunk show in the city at Attire House, while also taking appointment-only fittings.
Founded in 1906 by Per Gustav Anderson of Sweden – then bought by the late Roland “Tiny” Rowland in the late 1970s – Anderson & Sheppard began life on London’s Savile Row as a bit of a renegade. Anderson trained under Dutch master cutter and tailor Frederick Scholte, who pioneered the English drape style in menswear, a style that was considered then a reaction against the more common and restrictive Victorian military tailoring. “Our cut is very soft,” says Rowland.
Rowland was given the task of reviving Anderson & Sheppard in 2004 when her father died. Armed with her experience working at Estée Lauder and Parfums Christian Dior, Rowland aired out the fusty brand and refurbished the store with Jérôme Faillant-Dumas, who runs the boutique design agency L.O.V.E in Paris.
“I was fortunate because I came in at a pivotal time when the boutique was about to relocate,” she says. Rowland exceeded expectations by putting Anderson & Sheppard back on the map of bespoke menswear not only in England, but the wider world. “Our team is extremely modest. It is a very British thing. If someone less discreet comes in and starts talking about it, that puts the name out there. And that was my job,” she says with a laugh.
