Edward Sexton, the fashion visionary who pioneered a revolution in British tailoring, has died.
With a career spanning seven decades, Sexton was one of the most important designers of the past 100 years. A working-class guy based in Elephant & Castle (long before skyscrapers and the Ministry of Sound), Sexton first made a name for himself in the design room in 1957 when he was still in his early teens. Before long he was making riding coats for designer Harry Hall by day and taking tailoring classes at Barrett Street Technical College in the evenings.
A position at Savile Row’s Kilgour, French & Stanbury followed; then a stint at Welsh & Jefferies. But it was at Donaldson, Williams & Ward in Burlington Arcade that Sexton found his true calling. Already tired of the staid ways of Savile Row, he found a kindred spirit in Tommy Nutter, who shared his dismay at the formality of suitmaking. A relationship was born, and together they became the coolest disruptors British tailoring had ever seen – and may ever again.
Sexton and Nutter opened up Nutters of Savile Row and there Sexton cemented himself as a legendary tailor. Throughout the late Sixties and early Seventies, Nutters was known for being the most radical outfitter in London, helping put the capital on the map with their charged-up tailoring and radical silhouettes. Dubbed “the wizard with the scissors” by his clientele, Sexton brought new heat to suit-making. He introduced new shapes, building on the long coat and the wide skirt of the traditional hacking jacket, while he also wasn't afraid to go big on colour clashing. Lapels and pockets were made in dizzying contrast to the fabric of the main body of his suit jackets. In short: Sexton wanted to design suits that allowed men to express themselves, and he turned the corporate identity of two-pieces on its head. Celebrities flocked to him; Paul McCartney was a fan, while Cilla Black threw her money at the brand. “The white-hot tailoring that he and Tommy Nutter created was nothing short of radical,” Simon Holloway, creative director of Dunhill, told GQ shortly after Sexton's death.
In 1975, the Dagenham-born cutter went it alone. Having built up a firm reputation in his own right, Sexton launched his own namesake label, which was based in Knightsbridge. There he focused on defined silhouettes. Snug waists. Big shoulders. Razor sharp, with plenty of attitude. He developed at would become his signature: the double-breasted suit that wrapped the body so neatly, it could in his own words make a “fat man look slimmer and can make a skinny guy look more beefy.” Holloway, who knows his way around a suit, continued: “the mind immediately turns to the modest, but pronounced shoulder, the gentle flare of a jacket from a raised and suppressed waist, with a generous curved lapel, and an elongated and flared leg all in bespoke cream cloth. It was the silhouette of the 1970s.”
Sexton was beloved by everyone. He put Mick Jagger in a bespoke clotted cream three-piece for his wedding to Bianca Jagger (who also wore Sexton) in 1971. He cut suits for Annie Lennox and David Gray, who were both wearing his suits for their 2009 "Full Steam" video, and he dressed John Lennon in head-to-toe white for The Beatles' Abbey Road cover in 1969. Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Yasmin Le Bon and Eva Herzigova all wore his suits as they mimicked a rock band for the music video Duran Duran's “Girl Panic”. The coolest people on the planet have always gone to Sexton. Tom Ford, Ozwald Boateng and Richard James have cited him as an inspiration. He was asked to create ready-to-wear lines for Hardy Amies, Chester Barrie and Bill Blass and up until thus year, he's been the guy dressing some of modern music's hottest names. Harry Styles wore Sexton for a Today Show appearance, while Mark Ronson is an über fan.
“There is no deeper creativity or beauty in this whole fashion industry more layered in craftsmanship or legacy than Saville Row, and today Savile Row lost the king,” designer Harris Reed told GQ shortly after hearing of Sexton’s death. “From the second I arrived in London Sexton’s extraordinary tailoring and Rolodex of clients in wide banana lapel jackets made me become obsessed with the craftsmanship of suit making. Sexton truly made me see suiting could change the entire way someone held themselves and their chosen persona. He was my king.”
With Sexton's death, we lose one of the vertebrae that keeps London's menswear scene standing. But as long as men in London don't want to chuck on any old corporate suit, Sexton lives on. “Sexton crafted the legendary sartorial language at the nexus of rock ‘n’ roll and Savile Row,” Holloway says.
