|
fashion: feature
Adventures in stitching
Stanley Moss visits Grover Cloth
House, a New Delhi tailor which boasts President Bush and Chelsea
Clinton as clients
photographed by the author
A TO-DO LIST
in Delhi runs not very long. Guides will drag you to government
buildings, monuments, craft markets set up for the tourist trade
and where the guides collect commissions, tombs, mosques, temples,
gardens, and old Delhi, all easily ticked off in two to three days.
You can spend time in the world-class art museum, home to an astounding
and exhausting amount of traditional artifact, but fatigue from
so much good stuff quickly sets in. People go to the Indian capital
city for government business, or just “passing through”
en route to other destinations in the north. So, how to spend the
long zones between running here and there, mostly confined to private
vehicles? Eat, shop, or visit the tailor.
Tailoring is a bargain in India, owing to the
low cost of labour, or what is locally referred to as ‘stitching’.
India also boasts remarkable, reasonable home-grown textiles, excellent
silks, linens, wools, fine cottons and cottage industry cloth of
traditional woven patterns. Recently producers even introduced new
ayurvedic fabrics, infused with therapeutic herb dyes.
Typically the tailoring customer buys the cloth
first, then pays additionally for the stitching. The prices beat
Hong Kong, Thailand and Korea by miles,
|
Grover’s client list includes top Indian
politicians, Chelsea Clinton and family, Chérie Blair,
CNN correspondents, and even President Bush and his entourage
|
with the level of skill often on par. While one needs to look carefully at the
aspect of workmanship—specifically thinner threads used for the
finishing—the fast turnaround and Savile Row style of cutting
makes New Delhi a sweet surprise for the sartorially sensitive. Most
top-tier hotels have in-house tailor shops, but prices there can be
competitive to similar establishments in other big cities in the world.
The best strategy is to find an established local tailor at one of
the traditional markets. The other insider trick: copying your own
favourite garments which you bring along for the ride.
Perhaps the best custom-made clothing value in
Delhi can be found at Grover Cloth House, located at the Khan Market.
A family business for over 30 years, Om Prahesh Grover, his brother,
son Bobby and nephew operate a low-key shop with an excellent reputation.
For surprisingly reasonable prices most garments can be made up
overnight.
Grover’s client list includes top Indian
politicians, Chelsea Clinton and family, Chérie Blair, CNN
correspondents, and even President Bush and his entourage. A recent
price list for stitching: gentleman’s jacket, Rs 3,000 (US$72);
suit, Rs 3,500 (US$84); trousers,
Rs 550 (US$14); shirt, Rs 300 (US$7·20).
The shop stocks a fine assortment of cloths for shirting and suiting—remember
that this is an additional charge to the stitching! Material for
suitings can cost $16 per metre and up, shirtings begin at $10 per
metre. Figure a length of 3·25 m for a suit, 1·25
m for trousers, 1·8–2·5 m for shirts, depending
on the width of the cloth.
One other lovely detail at Grover is a vast selection
of silk and pashmina scarves, all at excellent prices. These low-cost,
low-weight, low-volume items make superb gifts, easily transported
home in the bottom of your travelling bag. But it is the custom-made
garments that really satisfy, both for their uniqueness and quality.
In a world of mass-production, what greater pleasure than wearing
something made specially for you, to your own measurements in a
matter of hours, an enduring souvenir from a romantic and exotic
foreign capital? •
Grover Cloth House
47A Khan Market
New Delhi 110003
India
91 98100 26-788
grovers_tailors @yahoo.co.in
Stanley Moss is travel editor of Lucire.
Add
to Del.icio.us | Digg
it | Add
to Facebook
|
|
/ 
/ 
/ 
/ 
/ 
/ 
/ 
