And that’s the beauty of bespoke shirts, bespoke suits, bespoke shoes, bespoke, bespoke holidays ….. bespoke anything! The items are created to suit your every anomaly whether in terms of style or size or shape.
“Every shirt I’ve owned didn’t fit,’‘ explains the 6 ‘ 7” Merchant. “So I did a bit of research and found Emma Willis. I remember thinking, ‘she is the only female shirt maker on Jermyn Street –the all male bastion of English elegance - so she has to be good.’
To begin Willis made the comedian writer three shirts black, white and blue and so enamored was he that he rotated them constantly.
“But recently, because people are strangely interested in what I wear,” he continues appearing rather baffled.“ I’ve got a few more and I love them. A shirt that fits is an exciting new development for me and I get immense satisfaction in getting one made, to my exact spec, in the fabric I choose and, because I’m obsessed by value for money, I’m happy to spend a lot of money on something that I wear all the time, but, if I spend excessive amounts on an off the peg shirt that isn’t right then I am absolutely furious. I feel that the designer has deliberately conned me out of my money. But the bespoke experience could not be more different. They really want your business, treat you like a King, the clothes fit and you get a free cup of coffee. And I must say that it sounds pretty cool when you say, ‘Sorry I’m busy tomorrow - I’ve an appointment with my shirt maker! ”
And so, as I’d always coveted a shirt with a long pointed collar (sort of Hollywood film noir circa 1949) that betrays just a sliver of tie and whose collar points creep down past one’s collar bone. I went in with a still from a film and dared them to reproduce it. Subsequently, just a month later, I received the shirt I’d desired for over a decade made, from the most exquisite Egyptian cotton, replete with my initials emblazoned on the breast pocket.
Now that’s what I call a service.
Bespoke Shirts start from £190.00
Emma Willis, 66 Jermyn Street, London SW1Y
www.emmawillis.com
T+44(0) 20 7930 9980
Emma Willis Bespoke Shirt
“We have our own range of designs or will make any shirt you want,” says bespoke shirt maker, Emma Willis, whose clients include actor Rhys Ifans BBC newsman Jeremy Bowen and comedian Steven Merchant. “ In fact, the more unusual the better, as we love a challenge. Just as long as you bring in some kind of reference for us to copy- like a picture, a good drawing or even better, an old shirt for us to replicate.”
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