Tyson Fury’s Suits: The Gypsy King Origins Story Through Fashion with Fashion House Claudio Lugli

In the scorching August of 2015, a day I will never forget with an unexpected phone call from a member of Team Fury, asking me if I knew who Tyson Fury was. Without hesitation, I responded with a resounding “Of course, The Gypsy King!” As a keen follower of the Klitschko and Fury build-up on Sky Sports, the opportunity to potentially style the future Heavyweight Champion of the World was a dream come true.

However, I wasn’t prepared for the time constraints involved in creating an outfit fit for a king. With only 18 hours to spare, the daunting task of finding a three-piece suit for the colossal Tyson Fury was enough to make anyone anxious. But I already had a vision in my mind of how I wanted to execute this look, drawing inspiration from iconic mafia figures such as Tony Soprano, Don Corleone, and Al Capone. I wanted to create a style guide that screamed boss, head of the family, and a mafioso figurehead.

My choice was a three-piece grey suit with bold Burgundy checks running down the garment’s body, complete with a bowled-cut waistcoat that allowed the crisp white shirt underneath to showcase the signature Claudio Lugli details on the inside pocket, featuring a blood-red fabric with a cream floral print. Within four hours, I had selected my favorite looks and two alternatives, just in case Tyson had a change of heart. I then called upon my go-to cameraman, Shaz Salimian, and asked if he was up for driving up to Morecambe at 6 am the next morning, to which he readily agreed.

After an almost five-hour car journey up to the Fury abode in Lancaster, we finally arrived. As soon as Tyson ducked underneath his own living room doorframe, I realized that things might not go according to plan! While I was aware of Tyson’s height and stature, I hadn’t anticipated his freakishly long arm length and wingspan. He welcomed us, shook our hands, rubbed his own, and said, “show me what you got.”

As I began to unzip the suit bag to reveal the garments, I could see the excitement in Tyson’s eyes as he threw on the trousers, followed by the shirt and waistcoat. But as he put on the suit jacket to complete the look, I could see that sleeve length was going to be a major problem. He looked down at his outstretched arms and exclaimed, “I love the suit, but what are we going to do about the sleeves?”

There was a whopping 3.5 inches of distance between Tyson’s sleeve cuff and wrist, and I knew that this issue had to be rectified in time for the conference. Thankfully, Claudio is a master tailor, and we were able to have the sleeve length adjusted to specification in time for the event.

As for the rest of the story, you can hear it exclusively on TalkSport. I recently spoke with James Savundra and Ade Oladipo and shared my first encounter with Tyson, detailing how it has impacted his unique iconography to this day. Click below to check it out!