Tommy Nutter – Nostalgia Central

Tommy Nutter was born in April 1943, and grew up in Edgware, Middlesex, where his father owned a café.

After the family moved to Kilburn, Nutter and his brother David attended Willesden Technical College, where Nutter initially studied plumbing and then architecture. He gave them up when they were 19 to study tailoring at the Tailor and Cutter Academy.

In the early 1960s, he joined traditional tailors Donaldson, Williamson and Ward as an apprentice. In 1969, he joined forces with Edward Sexton to open Nutters of Savile Row at No. 35a Savile Row.

They have been supported financially before Sela Black Her husband, Bobby Willis, is the company’s managing director The BeatlesApple Corps’ Peter Brown and attorney James Vallance White.

The business was an instant success, as Nutter combined traditional tailoring skills with innovative design. He designed for the Hardy Amies collection and then for the man himself. His clients included Mick JaggerBianca Jagger and Elton John.

Nutter was very proud of it, on his cover The Beatles“The album Monastery Road In 1969, three out of four wore clothes (George Harrison I chose to be photographed on a zebra crossing in denim).

In the 1970s, his bespoke business became less successful, but he branched out into ready-to-wear clothing, marketed through Austin Reed. He also successfully expanded into East Asia, establishing the Savile Row brand in Japan.

Sexton bought Nutter out of the company in 1976, and Nutter went to work for Kilgour French and Stanbury, where he ran his own workroom.

Sexton continued to run Nutters of Savile Row until 1983 when Nutter returned to the row with a ready-to-wear clothing store called “Tommy Nutter, Savile Row”. This new venture, which traded at No. 19 Savile Row until Nutter’s death, was backed by J&J Crombie Limited, which continued to own the ‘Tommy Nutter’ brand.

Nutter created the Joker’s costume for 1989 Batman film.

Tommy Nutter died in 1992 at Cromwell Hospital in London due to complications AIDS.