If Savile Row is the heart of bespoke tailoring, designers such as Caroline Andrew are most definitely its soul. At just 33 years old, Andrew has already established herself as one of the go-to names in London for custom-made suiting and high-end ready-to-wear garments. But the road was never going to be an easy one — all the more so in an environment that can be elitist and particularly unwelcoming to women.
Growing up in rural Scotland, Andrew would tinker with her grandmother’s sewing machine, turning upholstery fabrics into creative projects of her own design. She quickly fell in love with menswear for its attention to detail, sturdiness and symmetry — the draping and fluid fabrics of haute couture never held the same appeal. “I’m quite organized and I like structure,” she says, “so that reflects in how I make things.”
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In her final year of study at the storied London College of Fashion, Andrew was assigned to produce a small collection. She plied several grumpy, veteran tailors in the basement of a Savile Row shop with coffee and croissants for the privilege of watching them work. After two weeks, she brought in her own garments and managed to get some personal guidance. Working for free at several of these establishments, she made her way through Savile Row, putting in time at storied houses such as Edward Sexton and Henry Poole before leaving the Row to work for a tailor in the City of London. “You can’t just sit on your backside and be like, ‘I have a degree,'” she says, “’cause in the creative industry, no one really gives a shit.”
Five years in the City gave Andrew a window into a working environment less constrained than that of the highly traditional West End houses. Realizing that there was an opportunity for someone younger, more dynamic, and open to trying newer cuts while working at a faster pace, she returned to her old stomping grounds. She began designing and cutting garments in her own flat in January of 2018, and by July, she had opened a store on St. George Street in affluent Mayfair.
Caroline Andrew
Caroline AndrewWhile it took some time to establish a customer base from scratch — the starting price for a two-piece Caroline Andrew suit is just shy of five grand — business was brisk. Word of mouth certainly helped, as did her social media savvy. “I never paid for PR or that kind of marketing,” Andrew says, “but I had Instagram. At the beginning stages, getting to a thousand followers felt like a million.”
