Birmingham tailor Robert Hill showcases Black Southern style at 83 – WVTM

Robert Hill, an 83-year-old tailor from Birmingham, is featured in a Vogue digital article showcasing Black tailors from different regions ahead of the Met Gala, celebrating Black Southern style and cultural expression through menswear.
“We have a tendency to create stuff and just put it together different,” Hill said.
Since opening Robert Hill Custom Tailors in 1983, Hill has been suiting up some of Central Alabama’s most well-known people, not all of them African American, including former Alabama coach Gene Stallings.
“And I worked with Paul Finebaum when I got started in business. I helped him for a long time when I was downtown. And Mayor Arrington,” Hill said.
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Even when it’s on the conservative side, Hill adds an extra flair to his designs.
“It just comes natural. And, I just have a tendency to change it to make it look different. Take a conservative suit, put a different color tie with it, different pocket square, different shirt, and it may change the whole appearance,” he said.
Hill’s enduring presence in Birmingham began after studying under master tailors in Chicago in the 1960s, building on skills honed growing up in Montgomery, where he often struggled to find church clothes that fit him.
“I’ve been small all of my life, and I fell in love with suits and trying to dress. And I just picked up the knack of learning about how to dress,” Hill said. “A good-looking suit on a man, it depends on the fabric. The quality of the fabric, the fit, the cut and its design.”
Hill’s business has survived recessions, the pandemic, and the move away from more formal dress standards.
“Changing their dress code, relaxed Fridays. That was really a downfall in the clothing business, especially in custom clothing because men went more to a casual attire,” he said.
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He maintained a downtown shop for years, and now a picture of it hangs in his new shop in Birmingham’s Lakeview District, alongside ties, a wall of fabric swatches and his first display table.
With every hemmed trouser and the hum of sewing machines, Hill is keeping what he says is a dying art on life support.
“It’s a patience job. You got to have patience to do it. And you got to be particular about it and proud of what you do,” Hill said.
Hill credits his faith in God for all he’s accomplished and prays someone will follow in his fashionable footsteps.
“You know, I don’t want to retire. I’d like to be in a position where I can come in a few days, a week. Maybe a day or two a week. Just when I like. I would like to have somebody I can have trained to carry on my business, you know? I don’t want, once I’m gone custom tailors to fall by the wayside,” he said.
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