 Tailors started doing business in the area in the late 18th century ; first in Cork Street , about 1790 , then by 1803 in Savile Row itself . In 1846 , Henry Poole , later credited as the creator of the dinner jacket or tuxedo , opened an entrance to Savile Row from his tailoring premises in Old Burlington Street . In 1969 , Nutters of Savile Row modernised the style and approach of traditional Savile Row tailoring ; a modernisation that continued in the 1990s with the " New Bespoke Movement " , involving the designers Richard James , Ozwald Boateng , and Timothy Everest . The term " bespoke " as applied to fine tailoring is understood to have originated in Savile Row , and came to mean a suit cut and made by hand . 
