Savile Row Gets Its First Female Tailor Shop

London: London's Savile Row, which has been a destination for fine men's tailoring for 213 years, last week saw Kathryn Sargent became the first female tailor to open her own store on the historic street.

The 41-year-old tailor is the first female in the street's 213-year history to have her name ‘above the door’.  She said just 20 years ago it was “very unusual” to see a woman working on Savile Row. She said: “As a tailor, it has been a long-held ambition of mine. I am thrilled to be making history, although for me being a woman is incidental — I am a tailor first and foremost. There’s more and more women coming through now and doing the training. Sixty-five percent of the newly-qualified tailors last year were women. It is more diverse. ” “But Savile Row has always been diverse. People from all over the world work in Savile Row and clients are from all over the world as well. It is a global destination for tailoring and it is the best in the world,” she further added.

Sargent began her career at royal tailor Gieves & Hawkes. In the 15 years she spent there, she became the first woman to be made head cutter at a Savile Row tailor in 2009.

The road was developed in 1695 on land owned by the Earl of Burlington, with Savile Street named after the Earl's wife Dorothy Savile.

The store will open for spring and summer as a seasonal residency and tailor for both sexes. Bespoke two-piece suits made by Sargent cost from £4,200, with made-to-measure suits from £1,500.

Hopefully, Sargent is the first of many women to open up a shop in Savile Row in times to come.