MARK POWELL has a glint in his eye and his handshake is firm when he greets me in his Marshall Street shop. As one would expect from a man born in Poplar, east London, he has a no-nonsense attitude. At 50, he remains one of London’s most iconic and influential bespoke tailors, having made suits for Mick Jagger, Ronnie Kray, David Bowie and Harrison Ford.
Seated behind a wooden desk on an antique chair, a silk scarf tied around his neck, he sends Shivaun – his number 2 in command – to the Old Coffee House across the road to fetch pints of lager to oil the chat.
‘My mother was a theatrical costumier, having worked for Charles Fox, just before and after the war,’ he begins. ‘My dad was in the textile game. I got this shop [on Marshall Street] for the first time in 20 odd years. Between then and now, I’ve built up my name having studios and ateliers all around Soho and the West End. Which is phenomenal, I think you’ll agree.’
I do. This is the man to whom the great and the good of music and film, not to mention London’s underworld, have gone for their suits.
Clearly, Powell is a man who has been a style visionary for a long period of time. ‘I had my first pair of Levi’s Red Tag when I was 7 or 8,’ he says. ‘By the time I was 11, I was a suedehead. I’d go down to West Ham at 12 in tight Frenchy jumpers, love beads, long hair parted in the middle. I was dressing like very stylish older guys on the street.
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