From Cigarettes & Alcohol to Cufflinks & Class: How Savile Row’s Richard James gave Oasis a sartorial masterplan

We speak to Design and Brand Director Toby Lamb of the tailors that dressed Oasis and helped define '90s Cool Britannia

The Richard James shop sign, next to photos and magazine covers from the Britpop era
(Image credit: Gerald Lynch | Future)

Whether it’s mod, punk, glam or New Romantic, London’s been the creative hub at the heart of most of the major musical movements of modern times. And though it was Manchester’s Oasis that may have been the rough-and-tumble figure heads of the 90s Britpop scene, the call of one of the Capital’s most supersonic sartorial streets still brought the Gallagher brothers to the Big Smoke time and time again.

Savile Row has attracted the great and the good in men’s tailoring for centuries, but in the early '90s it was felt to have lost its way a touch — particularly when it came to bespoke tailoring.

Enter Richard James: founded by designer Richard James and business partner Sean Dixon in 1992, its slim silhouettes and exciting use of colour brought life back to the district. Today, its Design and Brand Director is Toby Lamb — but back in the mid-90s he was a fresh-faced Central Saint Martin’s graduate working as a design assistant.

Toby Lamb of Richard James with Liam Gallagher

(Image credit: Toby Lamb)

It was an exciting time for the brand's star to be rising.

“There was a lot going on culturally in London with the whole ‘Cool Britannia’ thing, the Britpop period,” he tells Shortlist as we meet in the Richard James bespoke store on 19 Clifford Street.

“I suddenly found myself in what felt like the epicenter of a really cool creative hub, where everybody was at the top of their game, and our customers were the best in their respective fields.

“We had fashion designers, restaurateurs, artists, photographers — Gianni Versace was a customer, Manolo Blahnik. We had artists like Damian Hirst and Sam Taylor Wood. And then we had Oliver Peyton, who had the Atlantic restaurant at the time, and Jeremy King from The Ivy — and we we dressed their staff, comprising of tailoring, shirt and ties.”

From St. Tropez to Savile Row

“It was fantastic that the brand attracted high profile customers. There was no social media, so everything was word of mouth,” explains Lamb on the rising popularity of Richard James. But it was a chance encounter with the Gallaghers that sent Richard James’s brand stratospherically into the mainstream.

“I was in the store one Friday afternoon, on the shop floor, and a black cab pulled up,” recalls Lamb.

“Liam and Noel literally fell out of it. It was early afternoon, and they burst through the doors. I was amazed. Noel just came straight up and said, ‘I’ve just got back from St. Tropez and I've seen this guy wearing this amazing blue striped shirt. I plucked up the courage to ask him where he got it from and he said, Richard James, so here I am.’

“I remember it like it was yesterday. I said, ‘yeah, we've got that shirt right here’. This was what we called our multi stripe shirt back then. And that summer, it seemed like everybody was just wearing it from Jarvis Cocker to Elton John.”

A selection of items from the Richard James A/W 25 collection

(Image credit: Gerald Lynch / Future)

It was the start of a long-standing relationship between Oasis and Richard James.

“Liam was standing there watching one of our customers being fitted for a bespoke suit standing in front of the mirror with the cutter there, with a tape measure around him,” remembers Lamb.

“And I could see it really piqued Liam's interest. The penny probably dropped with Liam which got him thinking what the possibilities were with bespoke.”

Though both had an eye for fashion, it was Liam who became most involved in the art.

“Liam came in a few days later on his own, and he wanted something quite British,” says Lamb.

“He wanted a chalk stripe suit. I showed him some fabrics, and he selected one, but I said, ‘You do realise that this isn't quite the colour of a chalk stripe, it's quite yellow in tone?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, the colour of champagne!’ Okay, yeah the champagne stripe! Great. And then from then on, that fabric was called the Champagne stripe.”

The menswear masterplan

Richard James would go on to tailor for the Gallagher’s both publicly and privately: dressing Noel for his meeting with Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street, working with Liam and his then-wife Patsy Kensit on their wedding outfits — and then Noel and Meg Matthews for their nuptials —, as well as with the entire band for stage-wear and their Beatles’ inspired looks for the psychedelic All Around The World music video.

Oasis - All Around The World (Official Video) - YouTube Oasis - All Around The World (Official Video) - YouTube
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Richard James became a quite literal oasis for Liam and Patsy Kensit too, with the pair hiding out in the store’s backroom to evade the eager lenses of the army of paparazzi photographers that followed their every move in their tabloid-taunting heyday.

Liam and Noel remain customers of Richard James. And while the world fights over money-can’t-buy tickets for their ongoing Oasis reunion concerts this summer, Lamb’s favourite Oasis encounter was truly priceless.

“Their management called on a Thursday or Friday afternoon and said, ‘You've got an opportunity. Everybody's together, if you come over to Wembley Arena but you need to be over here in 10 minutes,” laughs Lamb.

“We shot over there in a black cab, myself and a cutter at the time, James Levitt, who was quite a bit older than me, and he was kind of a bit nonplussed by the whole thing.

"We walked in, and we were greeted by the management. Then the PR team led us into the arena, completely empty, and then we walked straight down the middle. The band were already on stage, and Liam sort of clocked us, ‘Come right down. We're going to be a few minutes’. And then that was it - access to a breath taking, 90 minute behind the scenes soundcheck, for James and I! It was so cool.”

Dressing the rock ‘n’ roll stars of today

Richard James’s popularity with the in-crowd continues to this day — recent clients have included Tom Hardy, Stormzy, Daniel Radcliffe, Andrew Garfield, Sir David Beckham, Mark Ronson and Hugh Grant. It’s a who’s who of cover stars.

Inside Richard James Bespoke

(Image credit: Gerald Lynch / Future)

And the '90s revival boom that’s seeping into everything from music to clothing isn’t passing by Toby and the Richard James team, who are finding fresh inspiration from the era in their new autumn/winter collection, while recognising the modern desire for a more relaxed fit.

“What we did captured the Britpop and Oasis imagination,” says Lamb.

“At the time, they had their look, that Beatles inspired look with a mod revival mix and '80s terrace casual. That still endures today, and is still very much a staple of contemporary menswear.

“Now everything's getting a little fuller, a little more relaxed, whether it's tailoring, whether it's casual wear — it's not a case of going up a size, but just wearing things a little bit more roomy,” he explains.

A selection of Richard James Autumn / Winter 25 outfits

(Image credit: Gerald Lynch / Future)

And like the generation baton-passing of Britpop that’s happening down the front of every Oasis reunion gig between fathers and their sons, so too is the Richard James look becoming a generational exchange.

“There's longevity with the products that we create — we've always worked with the best manufacturers, the best mills,” enthuses Lamb.

“I'm serious — we have customers come in with a suit they bought here 30 years ago, saying ‘Look, I love this, but I've grown a little bit since then, can we work on it and alter it?’ And we've also had older customers asking for their old suits to be altered to fit their sons.”

Well — if you and I are gonna live forever, we might as well have a suit to last, too, and Richard James is happy to provide.

Gerald Lynch
Editor-in-Chief

Gerald Lynch is the Editor-in-Chief of Shortlist, keeping careful watch over the site's editorial output and social channels. He's happiest in the front row of a gig for a band you've never heard of, watching 35mm cinema re-runs of classic sci-fi flicks, or propping up a bar with an old fashioned in one hand and a Game Boy in the other.

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