The stingray at Kilgour
Posted by Danielle Radojcin at 16:50 on 15 Oct 2007 Kilgour
Kilgour, the traditional English men’s tailor on Savile Row whose trademark is the polka dot, has recently added another shop next door. It’s been created to sell Kilgour Unstructured, a new range of less formal, unlined (read: more lightweight and slimline) clothing, and accessories. (It’s also set to become the first stop for any girl
looking for a stylish present for her man.) Whereas the original shop has a modern fireplace with a live fire blazing away (as opposed to the old, traditional fireplace at Hunter, another tailor a few doors down) the new shop, called No.5 (after its number on the Row), houses a large fish tank, which itself houses a large stingray.
The stingray, a freshwater creature indigenous to the Amazon, whose technical name is a potamotrygon leopoldi, also goes by the name of ‘spotted ray’ because of the white spots on its back.
The Kilgour stingray, about two feet long and sourced in Derby, has been named ‘Mimi’ by the sales staff, and swims up and down his stylish minimalist tank, which is about 2 feet high and 12 feet long, flashing his brilliant white Kilgour-esque polka dot back.
When I visited the store last week, a Kilgour photo shoot was taking place. In between shots, I chatted with the model, who, like Mimi, hails from Brazil. He was perplexed at how a stingray had managed to get into Britain, but a propos rainforest wildlife, he went on to tell me a story about how his dog was killed on a hunting trip by a giant anaconda (in Brazil, not England – although I don’t doubt one can source those here, too), which he then shot and draped for posterity along the wall of his bedroom, presumeably as a token of his manliness.Â
Incidentally, Kilgour No. 5 also sells a sleek range of wallets and card holders made from stingray skin – let’s home Mimi hasn’t noticed.
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