MilliOnAir Magazine July/August | Page 113

Mark

Powell

Mark Powell is nothing less than an institution who, long ensconced in Greek Street, is the universally acknowledged King of Soho. Hailing from Romford, he began with a small shop in Archer Street in 1985 selling ready to wear but as more customers requested custom made garments moved to Brewer Street where he turned to bespoke tailoring and made garments for half of groovy London including countless celebrities such as Mick and Bianca Jagger, George Clooney, Harrison Ford, Mick, David Bowie, George Michael, Bryan Ferry, Naomi Campbell, Tom Jones and Jonathan Ross. A few years back he moved to his current address in Marshall Street from where he has kitted out, among many others, Usher, Morrissey, Keira Knightley, and Sean Bean and, more recently, Sir Bradley Wiggins, Martin Freeman, Jude Law and Paul Weller. London’s most unique, most out spoken and well dressed tailor Powell lives and breathes his craft and thinks about little else which is perfect if you are buying suit from him so perhaps not so clever if you’re his wife.

I went to speak to him over a jar or two at his Soho premises.

How would you describe the Mark Powell style?

MP- My style has always been drawn from nostalgia- whether it be from the 30s, 40s or 50s- but I think what I’ve managed to do over the years is make the look my own and create a modern contemporary look from taking all those elements and giving them a twist. And from what we know at the moment things are going very much in the vintage direction. Vintage as a style has become la fashion. And the difference with what I do, is it doesn’t look like vintage style because it doesn’t look like costume. A lot of people at the moment really are doing the vintage look, but they’re doing it in the sense of the textbook idea of what things are. But I take these different elements, and make them my own. I’m obsessed with keeping it contemporary and current. There was a Mark Powell look I had back in the 1980s, which was very much, that sort of Neo-Edwardian and then in the 90s the 20s and 30s influenced me. But now I’ve managed to create a style that combines lots of different influences and my client base is very diverse. I’ve enjoyed a renaissance with that 60’s mod crowd because of the suits O did for Paul Weller, Bradley Wiggins and Martin Freeman- the three main guys from that scene - as well as a lot of really interesting people who aren’t in the public eye.

What do they come to you specifically?

MP- I think it’s because I’ve got as a personality and I give them the whole Mark Powell experience. I am able to interpret what they want while still leaving a Mark Powell fingerprint. When Paul [Weller] came back to me, he hadn’t actually been wearing suits for years, and then suddenly he had another big moment with people being interested about his style again. I mean, without being big headed, it did happen for him when you wrote that piece about him in my suits for L’uomo Vogue because he was wearing suits again. I think Martin [Freeman], is just a very stylish man who is very much into that 60s thing. I did a Miles Davies inspired late 50s double breasted suit for Martin that he’s seen on an album cover but gave it the Mark Powell treatment.

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