A Cut Above - The Tailored Look

The series exploring what makes British fashion and style distinctive continues with the tailored look - from Savile Row to Paul Smith, Fred Astaire to James Bond.

It is a story of elegant craftsmanship, where a bespoke suit takes 40 measurements and weeks of cutting and stitching by hand to complete. Yet British tailoring has often been better appreciated abroad than at home. We travel to Japan with designer Paul Smith, whose colourful, 'classic-with-a-twist' formula has created a global style brand. Back in Savile Row, actors Michael Caine and Roger Moore take us around the tailoring houses that dressed them for the screen.

At the heart of this very British success story is shown to be an ability to combine centuries of heritage and tradition with creativity, imagination and a defiant sense of individuality as seen in the 60s psychedelic tailored designs of 'Granny Takes a Trip', the flamboyance of Tommy Nutter's suits for women and the modern cuts of today's mavericks like Ozwald Boeteng and Timothy Everest.