Fashion

As you know, I read a book called "House of Nutter'. It's a biography of Tommy Nutter and his brother David Nutter. Tommy Nutter a.k.a the 'Tailor to the Stars' rise from a working-class London upbringing to redefining British menswear in the late '60s and '70s, set against the backdrop of gay history in Britain and the U.S.. He opened his tailoring with his brother who known as a fashion photographer's assistant at the famous street of British bespoke tailoring called Savile Row. While still using the Row's traditional bespoke craftmanship underneath, he succeeded to bringing a street-facing shop window and walk-in trade to a strip known for closed doors, and pulling in rock stars and fashion crowds rather than aristocrats and bankers. The original Nutters silhouette began when he was working with cutter Edward Sexton. Tommy dominated the Savile Row at the time with his signature techniques which includes traditional and exaggerated hacking jacket emphasizing the body. Tommy's cultural reach by his suits became visual shorthand for the era and even wore by the three of four Beatles on the Abbey Road cover, and clients ranged from Mick and Bianca Jagger to Elton John.

Through business, Nutters create a strong connection with Beatles-world in 1969. Their financial backer, Peter Brown, was a close Beatles associate, and that access helped bring the band's inner circle to Tommy's door. In early August 1969, The Abey Road shoot happened on a humid morning. The Beatles, impatiently want to go back to recording, so they only shot six frames in total. The choice of suits for the three of them made by themselves. Starr referenced as an early, semi-mythologized Nutters client ordered scarlet PVC trousers from the new shop, prompting Tommy's dry retort that they'd be "very square" ones. Lennon is the most detailed anecdote with the Nutters fitting rooms story that grew in the telling over the years. Tommy himself claimed John and Yoko Ono once stripped completely naked in the shop window to browse clothes, brushing off complaining costumers with "this was John Lennon." the other member was Mccartney but he only shows up as part of the Beatles social circle around Peter Brown. And for Harrison he wears his own jeans and open-neck shirt rather than Nutters bespoke. The resulting photograph–three sharply tailored Beatles marching across a London crosswalk–became one of the most reproduced images of Tommy's exaggerated, wide-lapeled silhouette, doing more to cement the "Nutter Look" in public memory than any advertisement could have.