Twee Fashion: Tommy Nutter, Rebel Tailor

Ringo Starr in a Prince of Wales check suit designed by Tommy Nutter.

Tommy Nutter, former plumber and architecture student from Middlesex who turned to tailoring at age 19 and created a Savile Row bespoke style that quickly became favored by the rock and roll glitterati of the 60s. Most famously, one the album cover for the Beatles; "Abbey Road," three of the four Beatles are wearing Tommy Nutter suits.

All the Beatles wear Tommy Nutter but George Harrison, dressed in jeans on the left.

Nutter often favored outrageous neo-Edwardian designs, but our interest is in his take on the traditional Savile Row look -- very plummy, very tweedy, and very English. He took this look into outrageous dimensions, combining contrasting patterns with oversized collars and nipped waists.

Tommy Nutter himself, modeling one of his suits.

Despite his avante garde sensibilities, Nutter was fastidious about traditional standards of masculine elegance, a subject he could discuss with great erudition thanks to his long apprenticeship in traditional Savile Row tailor shops.