New book topstitches a Savile Row master tailor’s Indian heritage

Despite being identified as Black on several occasions, including on the news, in films and even on Maurice Sedwell’s official website, Ramroop never attempted to correct the narrative. “I never felt the need to,” he shrugged.

Recalling a BBC documentary from 1998, titled Black Firsts, that introduced him as the “first Black tailor on Savile Row”, Ramroop told The Indian Express, “To be described as black… I always regard it as only my colour as opposed to being African.”

Andrew Ramroop signing the book Bespokenv. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)

“Ashok Bal has given me an opportunity to correct this in an important way. A media interview or any other format is not deep enough. It may or may not get read. It is short lived. The book is permanent,” he added.

Bespoken happened serendipitously both to Ramroop and Bal. The author, in early 2023, needed a suit stitched for the wedding of a close friend’s son. He landed at a shop in Mumbai’s Kala Ghoda. On the wall was a certificate from Savile Row Bespoke Academy (SRBA) that bore Ramroop’s signature. “I knew about Savile Row but had no clue about Andrew. The tailor at the shop spoke to me for nearly an hour detailing Andrew’s achievements. My interest was piqued,” Bal said.

Soon after, he found himself digging deep into Ramroop’s life history. He discovered Luchmin — a 26-year-old widow from Lucknow. She travelled to Calcutta with her nine-year-old son Munnao to board the ship for the unfamiliar Trinidad as indentured labourers. They finally left the country in 1889. On the voyage, she met Bhairo Prasad, a fellow labourer, whom she went on to marry. Luchmin and Prasad were Ramroop’s great grandparents. They chose to stay back in Trinidad after completing their indenture, setting forth a timeline that would some day yield one of the finest tailors in the history of bespoke tailoring.

The more Bal discovered, the more eager he became to speak to Ramroop, whose private personality refused all requests to tell his “life’s journey”. The latter never felt his life was interesting enough for other people and couldn’t “see or visualise what everybody from outside is looking in”.

It took Bal 36 cold emails and the right angle — his Indian ancestry — to convince Ramroop. In the mail accepting Bal’s offer of a book, he wrote, “…your narrative that my Indian heritage will be an integral part of the introduction to my career. Many, in African countries, and African Americans, think that my heritage is African — I need to correct this perception”.

Ramroop is the grandson of Roopkalia — one the 10 children of Luchmin and Prasad — who married Ramroop (his grandfather); and the son of Junadge Ramroop (Roopkalia’s son) and Baby Ramkisson.

Born Madan, Ramroop was the fourth of the five siblings, and grew up in Maingot village in Trinidad’s Tunapuna. Andrew was added to his name after he was baptised at the age of 9 with the belief that Christianity would alleviate generational stigma and societal limitations. Although Andrew became his official name, he continued to be known as Madan, until he was asked to use an anglicised name to fit in. But that was much later, once he started working at Maurice Sedwell in 1974.

In the book’s foreword, Ramroop writes that he knew he wanted to be a tailor at the early age of 11. He dropped school at 14 to apprentice under a local tailor. When that fell through, he went to Port of Spain where, after several failed attempts, he landed an apprenticeship with Kissoon Singh, a tailor of great repute in the area.

“It was Mr Singh who first planted the idea of Savile Row in Ramroop’s mind,” Bal writes, “Singh often sang lyrically about this almost mythical place in London where Presidents, Prime Ministers, Hollywood stars, royals and the rich and famous gravitated for the final word in British tailoring.”

When Ramroop landed in London in 1970, he was 17, and his dream was as far as it was close. He wanted a job as a cutter — structural creation, fit and pattern — but nobody wanted a man that looked like him on the front. Despite being repeatedly passed over for white men, Ramroop persevered until he landed a sewing job at Huntsman, and then enrolled at the London College Fashion, where he completed a three-year course in two.

Then came a month-long trial as an assistant cutter at Maurice Sedwell, which quickly turned permanent. He worked through the ranks and 14 years later, he bought the company from its eponymous founder in 1988, becoming the first person of colour to own a business on Savile Row.

One of Ramroop’s biggest contributions to the fashion industry has been the ‘ultra bespoke’, a philosophy he trademarked and introduced at Maurice Sedwell in 2008. The same year, he was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire).

“Fashion is about seasons. Ultra bespoke outlasts fashion. I stitched the suit I am wearing in 2002. It is about sustainability,” said the artisan whose most unusual assignment has been to design a three-legged suit for an airline advertisement promoting extra legroom.

Perhaps, that’s why Ramroop insisted he be called a tailor, not a designer. “Fashion designers get all the publicity. They have runway shows. But for me, the design is just an idea, which the tailor brings into a three dimensional form. A great idea can be destroyed by a bad tailor. But if you have a mediocre idea, a good tailor can make it look better than what it really is,” he said.

Ramroop gestured with his thimble-adorned hand, as if to present himself as his work’s best advertisement, “Gotta look good.”