A Birmingham institution is now being featured in the pages of Vogue.
Robert Hill, of Robert Hill Custom Tailors, is one of the figures profiled in the magazine’s fashion feature, “The Black Tailors Who’ve Kept Dandyism Alive for Decades.”
Hill is known for serving high profile customers like former Alabama head football coach Gene Stallings, ESPN radio host Paul Finebaum, and former Birmingham Mayor Richard Arrington.
His store is filled with pictures with Stallings, Arrington, other notable politicians, and Crimson Tide football memorabilia — not to mention several colorful ties, pocket squares, and lapel pins.
Working from his 32nd Street South shop, Hill has built a reputation for being very detailed with a thread and needle. And despite running his own business over the last four decades, he said he doesn’t plan to retire anytime soon.
The Vogue piece was prepared in conjunction with the opening of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute exhibition Superfine: Tailoring Black Style and the 2025 Met Gala.
Hill said his love of suits came from going to church with his parents.
He estimates about 45% of his business comes from alterations.
“Tailoring is a lost art,” he reflects. “Young people don’t have the patience. It takes time to learn this…This kind of work, it teaches you to slow down, to be patient.”
Last year, Hill received a RISE grant from the City of Birmingham.
Tailors in Detroit, St. Louis and Chicago were also profiled in the magazine.
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