Ritchie Charlton by Andrew O’Hagan, author of Mayflies. Editor at Large, Esquire Magazine.

The greatest English tailoring is beyond fashion. To own a first-rate suit is to walk around in a work of art made especially for you. Ritchie Charlton, to my mind, is the 21st-century star of Savile Row, a craftsman steeped in beautiful tradition. Owning a bespoke Charlton suit and coat is a mark of modern confidence and style. The man himself is full of discretion, humour, self-effacement and everyday charm, but the work is mysteriously perfect and the purest embodiment of quiet elegance in men’s tailoring today. 

Knowledge and instinct: bred in the bone. Ritchie is a fourth-generation tailor. His grandfather was Head Cutter at Simpsons of Piccadilly just before the War and his father was a master of alterations at the heart of the East End. Straight out of school, Ritchie spent his youth sewing and tapering, before attending the London College of Fashion, studying Gentlemen’s Cutting & Pattern Construction. He is a handcraft tailor to his fingertips and in 1986 he joined Norton & Sons, 16 Savile Row, as an apprentice coat-maker. We sometimes forget, when considering that famous street of magic threads, that the great businesses were built on the talent of single individuals working in good company. Ritchie was a natural fit from the start, and he moved, in good time, from Norton to Maurice Sedwell, then to Hartnell in Bruton Street, under Marc Bohan, who was previously Creative Director at Christian Dior. Ritchie also worked for Hardy Amies and then at Kilgour, where he technically supervised the building of that company’s amazing ready-to-wear business and became a go-to name for the finest bespoke, with a roster of superstar clients.

The Charlton style is a matter of beauty and restraint. I think of him as master of the strong and fluid line, an architect of effortless grace, enduring style. You can’t really put your finger on that old-style, human gift; it’s in the DNA. But Ritchie knows how bodies move and how fabric works and he has an instinct for how to improve the body, as well as a talent for enhancing the personality of the client. That’s the gold standard. Ritchie would be pulling the pen out of my hand by now, saying ‘it’s not about me’. But it is about him. It’s about lessons learned and experience gained, about a talent for seeing and cutting, for building and perfecting, which has made him the first-class tailor he is.  

I first got to know him at Alexander McQueen. Tuning in to the cool aesthetic of that brand, Ritchie, as Head of Tailoring, built a bespoke business from scratch, and the suits he made were soon the envy of every young actor and royal in the country. I used to see some of these guys on their way to Hollywood or a GQ magazine shoot, and what they wanted to be wearing was a Ritchie Charlton suit for McQueen. He was there for eight years. I had three bespoke suits made by him in that time, and wearing them, just putting them on, is a good day in itself. People always say, ‘You look really well,’ What a suit,’ Who made it?’ in that order, and that’s how Ritchie likes it. He doesn’t do bells and whistles; he just invisibly stitches you a complete self, a better you, and in his clothes you just happen, in a very reliable way, to look the best you’re ever going to look. He has mastered today’s best materials and is informed by several lifetimes of experience, that’s all. 

And so, we’re here: 2022. Ritchie Charlton has launched on his own. I’m biased, I’m in love with the work. He’s turned his back for a minute so I can whisper what I want: it’s the biggest moment in English tailoring since Richard Anderson emerged from Huntsman or since Ray Stowers set up on his own. Charlton has the reins. With no-one to answer to but himself (and four generations of family experts!) he is now meeting the demand for precise English tailoring done with meticulous passion. It’s in the craft, it’s in the history, all in the particular eye of the ultimate beholder – Ritchie Charlton, bespoke.