A Savile Row Master Tailor’s Indian Heritage
For years, Andrew M. Ramroop OBE was described as the first Black tailor on London’s Savile Row. But the world-renowned Trinidadian tailor, owner of Maurice Sedwell, has now set the record straight: his ancestry is Indian.
Bespoken: From Tunapuna to Buckingham Palace, by Ashok Kumar Bal, explores Ramroop’s remarkable journey from poverty in Trinidad to becoming one of Savile Row’s most respected master tailors.
Andrew Ramroop’s Indian roots can be traced to his great-grandmother Luchmin, a 26-year-old widow from Lucknow who travelled to Trinidad as an indentured labourer in 1889. Decades later, her descendants would produce a tailor whose clients include cricket legend Brian Lara and actor Samuel L Jackson.
“I always regard it as only my colour as opposed to being African,” Andrew told The Indian Express, reflecting on the way his heritage had long been portrayed.
Now, through Bespoken, he has an opportunity to tell the story properly — connecting his Indian heritage, his upbringing in Trinidad and his extraordinary rise on Savile Row.
