Professor Andrew Ramroop, founder and principal of the Savile Row Academy, is sharing his knowledge and experience from London’s fashion capital with the Hong Kong Fashion creators and professionals by coming to town for the first time in 2022.

 

Professor Andrew Ramroop is one of the most respected names in bespoke tailoring. As CEO of a tailoring group Maurice Sedwell since 1974, Ramroop has received multiple awards for his work and training commitments. In 2008 he was awarded an OBE for services to bespoke tailoring and training and his educational work with the Savile Row Academy, from none other than HM Queen Elizabeth II. Ramroop has been making clothes for more than 50 years, the past 30 of those years have been as the sole owner of Maurice Sedwell, a house with an 85-year history in the men’s tailoring industry. Ramroop went on to found The Savile Row Academy in 2008, the same year he was awarded an OBE. His achievements truly make an impressive list.

 

Ramroop has extensive knowledge and experience in teaching pattern cutting, fitting and tailoring, as well as having taught at the London College of Fashion for many years.He has received many awards and accolades and on two occasions his apprentices have won the Golden Shears competition.The string of accolades recognising his talents also includes the Mayor of London Trailblazer Award, alongside his work as chief advisor to the World Federation of Master Tailors.

 

Today Ramroop is amongst the world’s most sought out ultra-bespoke master tailors. Self-made, he is just one of three bespoke tailors left on Savile Row. Fostering next generation of elite tailors is key to his vision of the company’s future. The Savile Row Academy is the only professionally staffed school on Savile Row.The objective of the academy is to protect, enhance and develop the value of bespoke tailoring by training aspiring tailors to the highest attainable standards.

 

 

The McQueen Connection

 

Alexander McQueen, the British luxury fashion house founded by designer Lee Alexander McQueen in 1992, has its first dedicated menswear flagship shop on Savile Row. After dropping out of school at the age of just 16, the late McQueen went straight into an apprenticeship at Savile Row tailor Anderson and Sheppard between 1984 and 1987. He then gained experience at neighboring tailors Gieves and Hawkes as a junior trouser maker from 1987 to 1988. His experience on the Row greatly influenced how he approached designing the rest of his iconic and turbulent life. 

 

McQueen’s tailoring always notably drew on the dual influences of tradition and modernity. “The construction and architecture of the pieces employ the core techniques I learned during my four-year apprenticeship on the Row,” McQueen famously stated.

 

“You have to fully understand the construction of the clothes before you can fully manipulate them. What I’ve done is to take these traditional techniques and inject modernity.” McQueen made subversive tailoring an art form. 

 

 

Savile Row comes to Hong Kong

 

Now Ramroop is bringing his skills to Hong Kong. 

Launched by the Hong Kong Fashion Designers Association (HKFDA), this very first Fashion Atelier Certificate Programme (FACP) will be available to cultivate the current and future generations of fashion creators and practitioners for the Hong Kong fashion industry. Funded by CreateHK, the aim of the FACP is to fully upgrade the Hong Kong fashion industry by revitalising professionals’ awareness and skills from world renowned masters such as Ramroop.

 

Professor Ramroop will deliver practical training programmes aiming to cultivate the current and future generations of local fashion professionals, thus upgrading the Hong Kong fashion industry onto a high-quality plateau.“For me, it’s really a sharing of my knowledge, my experience and protecting, enhancing and developing the work force of Savile Row in the future,” Ramroop says.

 

The training programme will include customised measurement, precise fitting techniques and pattern cutting on designs, focusing on menswear and womenswear. It will be taught on-site by Ramroop, including face-to-face teaching and consultations, tutorials and hands-on workshops to small selected groups. The core programmes will be delivered from end May to June 2022 at the Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI). Stay tuned on HKFDA & FACP official Facebook and Instagram pages.

 

HKFDA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HKFashionDesigners

FACP Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FashionAtelierHK