– The full interview with Andrew Ramroop on
Desert Island Discs will air on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds on Sunday at 11am.
Released On: 10 Jul 2022 Available for over a year
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00193r6
Savile Row tailor reflects on creating Princess
Diana’s Panorama outfit
Andrew Ramroop created suits for the likes of actor
Samuel L Jackson and the Princess of Wales.
By Connie
Evans
10 July
2022
Savile Row
tailor Andrew Ramroop has revealed he did not know Princess Diana was going to
wear one of his designs for her now-infamous Panorama interview.
Ramroop,
69, began working on London’s Savile Row at the age of 17 after leaving his
home in Trinidad and has since created suits for the likes of actor Samuel L
Jackson and the Princess of Wales.
Speaking to
BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Ramroop reflected on one of his most famous
creations, the jacket worn by Princess Diana in her 1995 Panorama interview on
the BBC.
When asked
by presenter Lauren Laverne whether he knew Princess Diana was going to wear
one of his pieces for the occasion, Ramroop said: “I wasn’t aware.
“And all of
the photographs, and even on television, it looks as though it’s black. It
isn’t black.
“It’s
midnight blue. It’s pure cashmere. Of course it had to be pure cashmere, or
silk.
“I made the
Princess of Wales at least eight suits.
“And I had,
I think, three in progress when she passed away.”
He added:
“One was half made, one was completely made, and the other wasn’t cut yet.”
After
reaching England by boat, Ramroop managed to secure a job on Savile Row and
while also working a weekend job on the King’s Road in Chelsea, he self-funded
a degree at the London College of Fashion.
Despite
being a top graduate, Ramroop was continuously turned down for more visible
jobs on Savile Row, which he now sees as racism.
He said: “I
could not get a job at the front of the shop and this is where probably the act
of racism came in.
“But I did
not recognise it. I just felt that I wasn’t suitable. So I didn’t take umbrage
at being turned down, but one boss said our customers would not take kindly to
a foreigner.”
Ramroop was
eventually offered a job by Savile Row tailor Maurice Sedwell. After working
alongside Sedwell for a decade, Ramroop bought the business when he retired and
has since kept Sedwell’s name above the shop as a token of thanks.
Ramroop,
who was the UK’s Black British Business Person of the Year in 2017, explained
the process of creating pieces for Princess Diana.
“You submit
three designs,” he said.
“You don’t
want too many choices, swatches and designs.
“And then a
selection is made.
“It was
very much keeping it confidential from everyone. Even keeping it confidential
from staff, confidential from your own family, because you were sworn to
secrecy.”
During the
conversation, Ramroop chose eight tracks to take with him to the Desert Island,
including James Brown’s It’s Man’s Man’s World, Jimmy Cliff’s Time Will Tell
and The Boxer by Simon & Garfunkel.
Ramroop
also picked a steel pan as his luxury item.
– The full
interview with Andrew Ramroop on Desert Island Discs will air on BBC Radio 4
and BBC Sounds on Sunday at 11am.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00193r6
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