”You`ve actually tailored for Prince Charles?” asked John Simms of Park Ridge as he peered into a three-way mirror at the tailor adjusting his jacket. ”Is he nice to work with?”
”Quite nice,” replied Ray Jordan, the 42-year-old London tailor who was fitting Simms for a herringbone jacket and coordinating pants. Jordan is a master cutter (tailor) for Gieves & Hawkes, one of Savile Row`s oldest clothiers.
Visiting Bloomingdale`s here with Robert Gieve, the firm`s vice chairman, to introduce and promote their new U.S. line of clothing, Jordan gave Chicago consumers the same royal-and discreet-service he offers the House of Windsor.
While Gieve exhorted the virtues of British traditional tailoring and the new collection made in the U.S. by the Hickey-Freeman Co., Jordan was busy measuring and fitting.
The third generation of his family to be a tailor, Jordan began studying his craft 27 years ago when he was 15. He worked for a number of firms before joining Gieves & Hawkes 12 years ago.
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He describes his rise through the ranks with modesty. ”It was a slow progression,” he replies when asked about becoming a master cutter for Prince Charles and Prince Andrew. ”As the older cutters retired, I was just called in.”
Toting the heavy, old-fashioned shears inherited from his grandfather, Jordan noted that people often confuse the ”best” with the ”most expensive” when buying a suit. ”I`ve often put a customer off something,”
he allowed, ”if they asked for the most expensive when they mean they want the best value for money.”
His own recommendation for a businessman who needs good-looking, durable attire is a suit of 14- to 15-ounce worsted wool-a bit heavier fabric than that used in many off-the-rack suits. ”It keeps its crease better and sharper than others,” says Jordan, yet is versatile enough to go most anywhere. ”And always with two pairs of trousers, of course. And I always recommend a vest.”
Despite the $2,000 to $2,500 price tag for such a custom-made suit, Jordan insists that for the man with a ”tightish budget, it`s the best value for money because it has longevity, classic style, two pairs of pants and a waistcoat (vest) to dress up if he wishes.”
How long will such a suit last? It`s a matter of how often and how hard a man wears his clothes: ”I did have a lord who gave me an awful tearing out not too long ago because the lining of his jacket needed replacing. `What kind of quality is this?` he wanted to know. I asked him when he bought the jacket, and he said 1939. I said, `Sir, do you know this jacket was 7 years old when I was born?` ”