E. Tautz: Going Postal

The email: so quick, so simple, so… boring. As we head into its fifth decade (the first emails were sent in the 1970s) you have to wonder how many “lol”'s humankind can withstand. This month, E. Tautz is attempting to revive the lost art of considered communication—i.e., pen and paper—by launching its new website on August 26 with a series of handmade postcards scrawled with aphorisms, style tips, illustrations and anecdotes about gentlemanly style. The first batch, which we preview exclusively today, have been written, anonymously, by a series of notable fashion critics from publications such as The New York Times, Esquire and Monocle (guessing who wrote what is part of the fun). It’s the first step of an open call for submissions from E. Tautz’s dashing owner Patrick Grant, who relaunched the brand (formerly a bespoke sports and military tailor) as a seasonal ready-to-wear collection, made and sourced in Britain, in 2008, after buying E. Tautz’s parent company, the 200-year-old Savile Row tailor Norton & Sons, in 2005. “I miss the tangible pieces of communication,” says Grant, who keeps a trunk at the end of his bed, stuffed full of cards and letters. “They’re so much more treasured than anything electronic.” In designing the website (and some of these postcards), Grant has transformed a corner of the E. Tautz workspace with a pile of old ads and meticulously cut-out photographs of former products and clients, including Winston Churchill and the eccentric, boxing-mad millionaire Anthony J Drexel Biddel Snr. After its launch, the site will show the best (and worst) postcards sent to the studio on Savile Row.

Read more about Patrick Grant’s refreshing take on modern luxury here.