Nyerere Haynes
Millhouse menswear is considered a dominant force in the regional fashion market, and the name itself evokes visions of elegantly tailored men’s clothing. Since Gregory Mills graduated from the Saville Row Academy and his wife Coline Baptiste-Mills graduated from the London College of Fashion in 2012, the Millhouse team has aimed to raise the bar in menswear.
Fit and functionality mean a lot to the aspiring master tailor and his lead designer wife. And their relaunch initiative, Made To Measure, aims to showcase fine tailoring.
“The initiative is based on selling 150 suits,” Mills said.
“We are undertaking a task that nobody has ever done and we will be inviting 150 leading men to purchase a made-to-measure suit from our Blue Label Capsule Collection. We’ve partnered with Brydens so they will also receive a bottle of luxury alcohol and an invitation for two to Millhouse’s gala event at Brian Lara’s house on November 19.”
What sets Gregory Mills apart from the average tailor is his training at the Saville Row Academy in London, attention to detail and the understanding of every client’s anatomical differences. He says that it’s no longer about knocking out as many suits as possible or measuring a guy and telling him to come back in two weeks. The approach starts with a consultation where he not only finds out what kind of suit the person wants but assesses the best way to make that suit specific to the needs of the wearer.
As a tailor, he is able to reveal body differences to clients, such as having one arm slightly longer than the other, or their having a curve in their back, or a “drop” in one shoulder. When all these considerations are factored in, the suit truly becomes an extension of the wearer.
“Part of the training I received was looking at people and the way their clothes fit. So it starts from the strength of your observations because that will inform recommendations and overall fit,” Mills said.
“The Saville Row experience for me was one of culture shock in terms of leaving what I knew behind and absorbing everything. Everything I knew about making a suit has changed and I can’t go back to that old thinking—it’s like learning a new way to walk. Anytime I deviate, I start feeling uncomfortable. Imagine, on the first day I was given a piece of cloth and was told I had to come with a thimble.
“Normally, I don’t use a thimble, so I had to train my finger on a piece of cloth and an unthreaded needle, just practising the same thing continuously for a day and a half, but eventually I got the hang of it. A lot of emphasis was placed on the training of our fingers. That is the foundation that is needed in bespoke tailoring because 70 per cent of a suit is done by hand.”
When asked if graduating from institutions like the London College of Fashion and Saville Row Academy added a boost to their confidence, his wife and partner Baptiste-Mills said that certainly did.
“Our work can stand up to scrutiny. We know what we are doing, we aren’t just figuring out things,” Baptiste-Mills said.
“This is not about showing off, it’s about maintaining a professional focus. When it comes to fashion, men have become more engaging and selective with their own purchases, what they want to look like and where they want to buy, as opposed to women doing it for them. Now, with online shopping and the privacy of it, men are really getting into doing their own thing and styling themselves.”
Investment has been one of their greatest challenges, as it is needed to push the brand to make it palatable to the markets they want to serve.
“The government tries in their own way in terms of education by facilitating supportive industries (manufacturing, production, graphic design, etc) that are linked to the fashion industry, but not in any real tangible or cohesive way to bring the result that I know we have the potential for,” Baptiste-Mills explained.
“As far as design and aesthetic is concerned, we have it here. It’s not as if what is presented abroad is beyond what we are capable of doing, it’s just that we don’t have the resources to do them.”
According to Baptiste-Mills, the success of the local fashion industry is dependent on important factors.
“Understanding the needs and uniqueness of the fashion industry is definitely a challenge. If we’re looking at the designer himself, I think it’s an understanding that we need to have that fashion is big business. We’re still too small minded as far as the way we were introduced to fashion in the Caribbean as the—for lack of a better term—the less educated, or duncy head children who couldn’t pursue academic study were the ones sent to learn to sew,” Baptiste-Mills said.
“We have to understand that it is a discipline within itself that is very valuable and viable commercially as a potential business offering. We need to really understand that and get it into the psyche and the culture of the persons who are creative. Socially and culturally the privilege we have in terms of understanding the fact that we come from a culture of people who go to a seamstress or a tailor to make clothing, that is the kind of thing that Europeans consider elitist but we take for granted. So we need to understand what we have as well culturally and how we could really market and bring it to a high level.”
Moving forward, they envision a bright future for the brand through a focused approach to the business side of fashion. With over 18 years of experience and the right training, the potential is there to take Millhouse regionally and internationally.
“We want to be defined as the premier choice for menswear in the region. We want to maximise the lead time that we have because it’s an open market, it’s a competitive market, the next best thing could come up too but we really think that we have something that is superior and superb to offer the Caribbean man,” Baptiste-Mills concluded.
HOW TO REACH MILLHOUSE:
• Millhouse - The Normandie Hotel, Office #4, 10 Nook Avenue, St Ann’s Port-of-Spain. • Millhouse - The Hyatt Regency Hotel, 1 Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain. • Gregory Mills: 736-5009, Coline Baptiste-Mills: 685-5176 • By appointment only.