The Mirror Mag

Britain’s queen of cool has to be Cat Deeley. Does that girl never make a fashion blunder? Was she born with a wardrobe to die for? Can you just buy style like hers or has she cultivated it, like a bumper crop of tomatoes?

Whatever her secret, she can obviously spot a trend when she sees one. When she bought a ‘Hackney’ T-shirt from Savage London in Soho, she didn’t realise just what she’d started. The same shirts have now been spotted on the likes of super-cool actress Saffron Burrows, telly babe Gail Porter and Skin from Skunk Anansie. And the infamous Peckham logo cropped up on Sophie Ellis Bextor of Spiller in a dig at Posh Spice Victoria Beckham, when Spiller beat her to the No. 1 slot.

As fellow Hackney residents, we felt it was only right to meet Kaveh Savage, the designer, face to face.

We wanted to thank him personally for turning our borough into cool central. And we were a little bit intrigued about the man who’s turned a simple logo-ed T-shirt into a must-have item for any self-respecting fashionista.

Within minutes of talking to the feisty, tanned, jewellery-laden designer, it’s plain to see how he did it. Iranian-born Savage has a master’s degree in genetic engineering but has been in the music and fashion biz for years, and he knows what’s what. He produced the London posse-style T-shirts as a backlash against the South London boys who he’d spotted wearing Bronx, Brooklyn and Michigan logos – he reckoned it was high time the Brits had something of their own. How right he was. His client list reads like a who’s who of popular culture. Top Shop can’t get enough of his T-shirts and Spirit at Selfridges is selling them by the bucket load. But Savage takes global domination in his stride. He’s more than happy to chill out in his Newburgh Street store and log on to his website with a beer in hand to see how sales are doing.

You can choose from Dalston, Hackney and Peckham – and there’s even a Manchester selection, including Moss Side and Salford. Savage is also happy to take commissions for £10 extra, but don’t ask for Belgravia cos you won’t get it. As he says. ‘What the hell’s that got to do with London?
It hasn’t exactly got a minority population has it?’

Left: Hoxton. Soho. Brixton… what, no Knightsbridge? What’s an It girt s’posed to wear? Above: Amber and Erica wear their London logos with pride – in diamante. Right: the T-shirt man himself. Kaveh Savage – can we safely assume he’s proud of his achievements?

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