For the chap

WOULD you pay £2,500 for a new suit? "Absolutely. It's good value," says Peter Smith, sales director of Huntsman, esteemed bespoke tailors of Number 11, Savile Row, London.

Well, yes, he would say that, wouldn't he? But then again Huntsman report the "growth of our business in Yorkshire".

So much so that, for the first time in its 152-year history, Huntsman is taking the 'unprecedented step' of offering its quintessentially English tailoring service outside London, and the choice of destination is... York.

The company already makes trips to the United States and Europe, but never before within its homeland. However, that changes on Wednesday when Mr Smith will be conducting "personal customer appointments" from 9am to 8pm at the Royal York Hotel in Station Road.

"We have plenty of customers up there in Yorkshire, and lots in York, and we wanted to offer a better service to them," says Mr Smith.

"A lot come down to London but we felt that if we could come up to York a couple of times a year, it would improve the service.

"Through next week's visit, we'll be saving clients the trip to London, as well as encouraging visits from new customers - and there'll be a 20 per cent discount on new suit orders paid in advance," he says.

On show will be a range of Huntsman autumn and winter ready-tailored clothing available for viewing and purchase and an extensive selection of materials for bespoke clothing. The Huntsman collection includes suits, sports coats, overcoats, blazers, shirts and ties: time-honoured essentials of the smartly-attired gentleman about town and country.

To make an appointment or should you have a query, contact Mr Smith pronto on 020 7734 7441.

However, do not ask him to name famous Huntsman clientele. "That has always been company policy," he says, ever so politely. "We've always felt we've not had to publicise our celebrity clients to secure business.

"We believe we don't need to make for him, him and him. The tailoring sells itself, as Hunstman is a very old established company."

It is, however, journalistic policy to name names, and so the Evening Press will reveal that among the "him, him and him" clients of the past are said to be movie stars Cary Grant, Stewart Granger and Rex Harrison; but please keep that to yourself.

Discretion is all with Huntsman. "We really wouldn't comment on what makes a suit well cut or not," says Mr Smith.

Instead, he prefers to highlight the distinguishing features of a Huntsman suit. "All Savile Row tailors have their own individual look. Our house style is a sharper shoulder, a single-button suit fastening, tapered trousers. It's something we've always done, almost based on the riding coat look, and we give the coat a slightly longer cut, for a slimming look."

The smart suit always survives changes in fashion, but it would appear to be truly back in vogue, be it in Guy Ritchie's London gangster films or Robbie Williams' new thing for Swing.

"We've obviously noted that, but even through the 'Dress-down Friday' phase, which started seven or eight years ago, we were always making bespoke suits, so we've never seen a turnaround from suits to sports jackets," Mr Smith says.

Be it the resurgence of the bespoke suit, or the return of the preppy white collar and cuffs - once the sole preserve of Liberal leader David Steel - signs are emerging that the Lad-and-lager culture may be making way for a more old-fashioned pride in appearance.

Certainly this is the wish of retro gentleman Gustav Temple and Vic Darkwood, publishers of the bimonthly magazine The Chap. Their desire for a Charm Rising - martinis at dusk, always eating out, and the renaissance of exquisite manners, civilised behaviour and immaculate David Niven dress sense - has prompted them to issue a blueprint for a social revolution. Published by Fourth Estate this week, The Chap Manifesto, Revolutionary Etiquette For The Modern Gentleman is a "survival guide for the classic bloke in post-modern confusion".

That the book takes the form, design and style of Mao's Red Book and Marx's Manifesto For The Communist Party should alert the reader to Temple and Darkwood having issued their rallying call with more than a dollop of humour.

So should the manifesto being attributed to the Confederacy of Anarcho-Dandyists, a name inspired by a bon mot by who else but the arch dandy himself, Oscar Wilde. Then add in the authors' fixation with the subtle nuances of such gentlemanly pastimes as The Semiotics of Smoking and The Trouser Semaphore, both accompanied with copious eccentric illustrations.

"We don't want to start a new 'gentleman movement' as such," says Mr Temple, who resides in a splendid set of rooms in Pimlico with an eccentric Egyptian factotum, Felicien. "The manifesto is just a way of highlighting that there are things about being a man which are good."

Dressing up, not down in the manner of a Jamie Oliver, is one such doctrine. "We're not into prescribing codes of dress per se, it's more about what men shouldn't wear," says Temple. "Trainers particularly and sportswear in general is most unsightly.

"The ideal chap, though, is someone in a tweed suit. That's not to say we're country toffs, we just like clothes."

Temple concludes: "There doesn't seem much point in dressing to blend in with people." No doubt Huntsman would concur with such a sentiment.

Well-tailored tips:

- Short-legged men should not wear trousers with turn-ups.

- Fat men, except in Coen Brothers and Godfather movies, should avoid suits with bold stripes.

- Suit cuffs should have four buttons; sports jackets only three.

- Tailors refer to the suit jacket as the coat.