Suits you, sir
They symbolise the elegance of ballroom dance, are reminiscent of bygone times, and Fred Astaire even sang about them! Alison Gallagher-Hughes learns what it takes for a gentleman to look dashing on the dance floor, and how to make the perfect set of tails
It is far removed from the glamour of the ballroom. An unassuming
little shop, easy to miss, tucked away behind Dudley town centre, in the West Midlands. But some of the biggest names in dance have crossed its threshold in search of a garment that shouts sartorial elegance on the dance floor – the tail suit.
John Wood, Marcus Hilton, Jonathan Wilkins, Timothy Howson, Luca Baricchi and Mirko Gozzoli have all been customers of Arthur Ashmore tailors. For over 25 years, the firm has been at the forefront of UK dance tailoring, altering the classic garment to modern tastes, evolving dance frames and fashion statements.
If you thought that Darren Gough’s red tail suit on “Strictly Come Dancing” was a new idea, think again. Twenty years ago, owner Colin Hodgetts had a similar request from one of Britain’s leading competitors.
“When John Wood asked me to make him a powder blue suit, I had my reservations,” he admits. “Things were very conservative at that time. John was competing in the UK championships. It was being televised live and the last six had to dance a segue. John wanted his suit to match his partner’s dress and it was going to be seen by a lot of people. It had to be just right.
“They danced beautifully, looked amazing, and won the championship. It started a trend that saw dancers asking for a whole range of colours over the next few years and is still popular today for show dance presentations.”
Upstairs in Ashmore’s workroom, the remarkable is produced in an unremarkable setting. The traditions of tailoring still hold strong here. There are no hi-tech gadgets. A few sewing machines, a button-holer and plinth for inserting dressings into jacket fronts are scattered about the room. Much of the finishing work is done by hand.
Colin pulls up a stool, uses it to lift himself on to a workbench and places his feet upon it, assuming an age-old tailor’s position that allows the garment to be rested on the knees. Hanging nearby is the finished product soon to make its way to Japan. Black, shot through with a shiny stripe, it is intended for a diminutive frame – the jacket tapers neatly to the waist and the front is stiffened to hold its shape.
“You’ll notice that when it’s hanging naturally, the tails cross over each other,” he points out. “But when the dancer raises his arms they hang together. The back of the jacket should never follow the contours of the body, but instead hang straight. The posture of the dancer with his arms up in the dancing position sees the back shorten, while the front of the body lengthens. The jacket needs to balance between the neck and the armholes.
“As dancing styles change, so do the suits. Things have changed significantly over the last two years. The male dancers are projecting even more, requiring further exaggeration to the front and back of the jacket.”
Colin went into the clothes business straight from school and worked in a variety of roles in both mass manufacturing and quality tailoring. He was advised early on to serve his apprenticeship in the workroom – “a cutter is always a cutter, but if you know how things go together, you can learn cutting later”. As I watch Colin expertly chalk out and cut a pair of trousers without use of a pattern, I see that’s the case.
The founder of the business, Arthur Ashmore, was head of tailoring at Dudley Technical College, a justice of the peace and a dancer. He started the business in 1953. He came to dance late in life but, bitten by the bug, became immersed in its world and started adapting suits to meet the needs of competitive dancers.
Arthur and Colin had crossed paths on many occasions having met at the college. In 1970, Colin joined the business but their working relationship was short-lived. Soon after, Arthur became ill and died from cancer in 1972 at the age of 55.
Colin remembers, “By that time I had been running the business for a year while Arthur was ill. I continued to run it for his wife, Doris, until she reached retirement and then she asked me if I wanted to buy it.
“At that time I was newly married and had no assets. The bank would not lend me the £1000 I needed, so I borrowed the money from Arthur’s widow and paid it back over two years. Fortunately the business went from strength to strength and it became a limited company after two years.”
Eighty per cent of Ashmore’s suits are made for the dance world. Other customers include the legal profession and wedding attendees. Four to five suits are produced every week – that’s approximately 240 a year, each one taking three days of meticulous work spread over a longer period to incorporate fittings and alterations.
“The sort of tailoring we do is out of step with how most people buy clothes today,” Colin laments. “Cheap imported clothing is the norm on the High Street and can be worn once and thrown away without a second thought.
“We produce quality tailoring for people who are prepared to pay for a quality suit that will last for years. The dance world still wants that and that has enabled our name to become known all over the world.”
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