Oliver Brown

When I was born, “Oliver” was quite an uncommon name. I was the first one my primary school had. And even though “Brown” is a common name, the combination is still pretty rare. But not unique.

The popularity of “Oliver” has drastically increased. It has been the number one name for boys born in the UK several years recently. This has been a bit strange for me since I spent most of my life never being around other people with my name. This is obviously still true for adults, but as a parent who now spends time in playgrounds, hearing other people call “my” name is still strange.

For a long time that meant I ruled the web with regard to the name. But since then several others have cropped up.

The most prominent is Oliver Brown London, a bespoke tailor based, you guessed it, in London.

The brand has apparently been around since 1980 (older than me), and is not actually named after a real person, but named after the owner’s dog, who was called “Oliver” and was brown.

I have never visited, though I probably will if I ever get the chance. I did actually have a chance that I missed; the first shop was in Chelsea, where I used to work but I hadn’t heard of them at the time.

I would hope the staff would find that reason for a visit acceptable. I honestly don’t think I would ever be a customer, not least because they seem outside of my price range. Their whole approach reminds me of a quote from the Discworld book Maskerade about a dress shop:

This was not a shop where things were bought. This was an emporium where you had a cup of coffee and a chat. Possibly, as a result of that muted conversation, four or five yards of exquisite fabric would change ownership in some ethereal way, and yet nothing so crass as trade would have taken place.

Although suits are probably their biggest trade, they seem to have top hats as a speciality. They claim to have the largest collection of antique top hats and were initially the only company allowed to sell top hats within Royal Ascot.