THE BIG INTERVIEW
must perform in his assigned costumes. An answer can sometimes be one word – like the immediate but judicious choice of a garment. In a recent email I sent him asking whether he objected to something or the other, the answer flew back. ' None,' he said as if to continue a sentence when even the odd pleasantry would be wasting time.
When it comes to a choice of simple clothes, he cites the indispensable but often elusive black T-shirt he has yet to find with a neck“ the higher the better”. It is the kind of basic T shirt that many Japanese designers( like Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto) and label Cop Copine understand so well. He here also speaks admiringly of Uniqlo ' s underwear –“ Fantastic!” he enthuses. Such garments are basic but important foundations. And this reminds of the ultimately architectural nature of clothing. The basics are ideal elements for those who are too busy to fret over details. Put your clothes on with care – and then forget all about them opined Sir Hardy Amies. It really is a perennial lesson for all.
How times have changed. He recalls the norm of rehearsing a play in three-piece suit, similar to the unseen
announcers of Radio 4, even up to the 1950s who donned black tie behind the mic. Even unseen, formality was regarded as essential, the better to deliver a voice with gravitas.
Callow, with a lifetime of costume memories, loves and has always done the effortless revolutionary style of Mario
“ My favourite suit? The one I was married in – oatmeal flecks, beautifully cut. It is transformative”
Fortuny and Paul Poiret.“ I ' ve always liked flow,” he says.“ Oh and Coco Chanel of the 1960s for women was amazing but whether real human beings can wear it is another matter.”
Callow worked with the designer, Jasper Conran on My Fair Lady and found the experience compelling.
“ Jasper, at the time, was at the height of his existence as a couturier and famously dictatorial – and mercurial – which is always a tricky combination,” Callow remembers.“ He was an emperor in his own sphere. He would be pushing people about the place and yanking bits of cloth. The costumes were exceptional. When we talked together, we got exactly what I wanted. Jasper and I understood each other immediately.”
When it does come to suiting( and apart from the chic ensembles of Zegna) Callow hugely admires tailor Tom Lutwyche.“ He made a most exquisite suit for me when I played Oscar Wilde. I love watching the art of the cutter. My grandmother was a seamstress – wonderfully good – and used to make fancy-dress for me.”
So, as might have been suspected all along, threads are part of his performing DNA. And as to the suit he would choose if he had only one choice?“ The suit I was married in – oatmeal flecks, beautifully cut. It is transformative.”
And that is surely the essence of any element of fine tailoring. Indeed, it does transform but without subsuming any of the individuality of the wearer. Q
48 SAVILE ROW STYLE MAGAZINE