Monte Lys : Our History

The story of several generations

In the year 1944, the journey of Monte Lys began in the hands of Don Manuel Benito, the pioneer of the Benito family house style.

Despite Don Manuel's Spanish roots the origins of our house style can be traced directly to England. It was in Dover Street, Mayfair where Don Manuel trained at the infamous tailoring house of Kilgour French Stanbury. Throughout the 1930s Don Ramon would spend eight years honing his skills and perfecting the art of English tailoring in its most golden age.

Now a fully trained tailor, Don Manuel returned to Spain and founded his own tailoring house, Monte Lys, in the Salamanca neighbourhood of Madrid. In the years to come Don Manuel would come to establish himself as one of the most renowned tailors in the entirety of Spain.

The creation of a unique style

Almost twenty years later, now famed and firmly established , Monte Lys would see the introduction of its second generation Don Manuels’ hijo, Ramon. At only 14 years old, Ramon would begin to work in the family workshop under the guiding and masterful eye of his father. He continued to do this throughout his youth.

After a duration of time Ramon branched out from Monte Lys to work for Mogrovejo brothers in the Plaza de la Independencia, who at the time were one of the greatest exponents of Spanish tailoring. By doing this, young Ramon was able to build upon his fundamental sartorial knowledge passed to him by his father, learning new and alternate influences which he would eventually bring back to Monte Lys.

By 1987, Ramon had returned to Monte Lys and felt sufficiently prepared to take the reins of the family business building upon his father's legacy and leading Monte Lys to further levels of notoriety.

The tailoring house now boasted beautiful premises, a generational history and most importantly a unique house style, combining the sober and preferential cut of English tailoring from Don Manuel and the lighter, softer Mediterranean characteristics introduced by Don Ramon.

Picking up the shears

In the same essence as his father before him, the third generation of Monte Lys, Juan Carlos, would begin to work in the family workshop. At only fourteen years old, Juan Carlos would begin to learn the disciplines of knitting, stitching and handling of the shears. By the time he was sixteen, Juan Carlos was already entrusted to develop customer patterns alongside his father.

After spending years working with his father, Juan Carlos decided to take a step in his professional career and seek new tailoring experiences outside of Monte Lys. This move would take Juan Carlos on a journey to the best workshops in Madrid, specifically with Don José Alonso Romero, a sartorial eminence and considered one of the best tailors in Spain.

In what can only be described as a full circle, Juan Carlos later decided to relocate to London, the very same place in which his grandfather had learnt his craft upon which the Monte Lys house style is based.

Back to the origins

Juan Carlos came upon the opportunity to work for a renowned tailoring shop in Chelsea, Sloane square, where he found a London home in which to showcase his prodigious levels of talent and introduce to his family style of tailoring

Prior to his arrival the company was not known for bespoke tailoring but with Juan Carlos at the helm as head cutter the business soon began to thrive and the client base grew exponentially.

Individuals, businessmen, politicians and royals alike would come to experience the style offered during Juan Carlos' tenure - a time in which Juan Carlos and his team would become the official partners to Royal Ascot. A responsibility which saw Juan Carlos inundated with orders for Morning wear. A challenging attire to cut and master but now Juan Carlos favorite commission to tailor due to this experience.

Savile Row Head Cutter

Finally in 2019, Juan Calos’ notable success and skill could not be resisted any longer by the tailoring houses of Savile Row. At this time he was offered the unique opportunity to spearhead the opening of a new tailoring house in the famed no.14 townhouse, formerly the home to Sir Hardy Aimes.

Juan revealed at the chance to build yet another tailoring house and most importantly further imprint his family style on the London tailoring scene. Being given full autonomy over the bespoke department of the brand, Juan Carlos sought to amalgamate the Benito craft with British heritage of the Row.

As the first ever head cutter on Savile Row not to be of either British heritage or subject to training on Savile Row, Juan Carlos exceeded all expectations and established a thriving tailoring house and a legitimate and highly respected member of the Savile Row Bespoke association.

Tailoring for a broad spectrum of individuals including British Monarchs, Hollywood actors and even world renowned sport stars , Juan Carlos has clearly reached the heights of the tailoring world and proven his family house style to be a roaring success and loved and respected by all who have walked in his respective tailoring houses over his career.

A new home in St James's

The opening of our first location outside of Spain marks the start of a great new chapter in Monte Lys 80 years of history.

22 Bury Street is the pinnacle of our heritage and our new opening is a proud moment for all involved.

A true full circle moment bringing Monte Lys back to London where the Benito family craft began.

Our space offers away from home for our clients who can visit as often as they choose to enjoy our tailoring and our lounge space.

We look forward to the years ahead here and look forward to welcoming you though our doors soon!