February 3, 2005
all very exciting
A former colleague talks trash online about my bespoke Savile Row tailor friend, Thomas Mahon.
Thomas rips the poor chap a new asshole:
4. While I was at A&S [Anderson & Sheppard, their old alma mater], Mr Beaman was primarily an alteration tailor. But he was never an actual cutter, at A&S or any other company on The Row since, that I know of. In 1993, while I was there, he was sacked from his job for reasons of behavior I’d rather not talk about (and neither would he, most likely), but others on The Row probably will, if you asked around. Feel free.
On his website, he said he left. He did not leave. He was fired. On my website, I said I left A&S. That is true. Also, unlike Darren, I was also offered a large pay rise to stay, which I declined.
…
8. On his website, he said:
Darren has worked in Savile Row for 23 years, beginning as a 15-year-old apprentice with the renowned tailoring house Anderson & Sheppard. Devoted from the beginning to learning and excelling at his craft, he was marked out from his earliest days as possessing that ‘je ne sais quoi’ — a tailor’s eye, a feel for fabric, and an ability to communicate effectively with a client — that distinguishes the most masterful and respected tailors from their peers.Yes, Darren was a good tailor. But he was primarily an alterations tailor, he was never an A&S cutter. He certainly was never thought of a “master tailor”, nor thought of as “distinguished from his peers”.
An alterations tailor is never allowed to deal with customers, unless being invited by the cutter under very rare circumstances. Nor was the prospect of Darren ever being let into the front shop as a cutter ever considered an option for the future, even before the unfortunate behavior which led directly to his sacking. Yes, I have spoken to a former director who will back me up on this.
9. He says on his website that he worked on the suits of HRH Prince Charles. Yes, he did. As the alterations tailor. Under me. I was the cutter. I dealt directly with The Prince. Darren never met him.
As Cluetrain says, markets are conversations. Be careful when you start them.
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“Where everybody knows your name…”
Be careful what you say and who you say it about. Thomas Mahon, the hottest new blogger, was “dressed down” by one of his former “colleagues”.
Thomas then dispatches the cad with some of the sharpest words I have heard for many a year.
Bravo Thom…
Wow, there’s nothing like a bit of controversy to ignite a blog. I agree with your bottom line Hugh!
Damn… impressive reply. Love Thomas’ comment, “My work speaks for itself, and I can quite happily live or die by my reputation.” It’s nice to see a man who knows his worth without being arrogant about it. My respect just twinged up a few notches…
The man has bespoken.
If Tom’s as deft with a pair of shears as he is with a keypad, he’s the master of two houses.
Hugh,
In the future, please refrain from using the expression “rip a new asshole.” The meaning of that phrase is to rape a woman. While I understood your statement to mean “Thomas educates the poor chap:” or something of that nature, your version also refers to the subjugation and violent sexual assault of women.
I hope that is not the message you are trying to communicate to your audience.
FWIW, David, I’m a woman and wasn’t offended. I’ve actually never encountered your definition of the phrase.
100% what Katherine said.
in david’s defense [and also in truth]:
the phrase “rip him/her a new asshole” is in fact a reference to rape, although not specifically male on female. it is a reference to male on male rape.
think about the language.
not saying that anyone intended to use that as a reference, but often times we use phrases without necessarily knowing where they come from.
over & out.
Hrm.
I have since been corrected to note that it refers to male on male rape.
Honestly, either way I think it’s an offensive reference.
I guess it takes someone you care about to get offended before you realize a statement is offensive. The reason I say that is because I used to use that phrase, until someone I cared about told me what it refers to.
Hmmmm… I was checking out the backlash against Darren (the chap whoo accused Thomas) on the tailoring message boards (the main way Darren used to market himself) since Thomas made his reply.
And yeah, suddenly it’s starting to look like a prison movie.
Poor Darren is getting utterly shredded:
http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4539
http://66.170.193.77/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?s=4202789a2d37ffff;act=ST;f=1;t=8305;st=0
But he set himself up as “the expert tailor” online… never thinking that an actual, real, live, expert tailor would ever do the same (most world class tailors these days are well over 50… many have never even sent an e-mail)…
What’s interesting to me is we’re used to talking about Cluetrain/Hughtrain stuff on a corporate level… but here it is working very effectively (frighteningly so) on a much smaller, “Brand You” scale.
Oh, and the original accusation made by Darren has since been removed by the moderator.
I guess he took pity on the poor man.
Wahey! An online argument between two Saville Row tailors, it couldn’t get much more English.