In an article by Robin Dutt in London Portrait, entitled 'Major Tom', Gilbey recalled that 'the sixties was a decade of intense brilliance and horrific mistakes-in those days everybody was a somebody, and somebody was nobody'[3] Of his early days as a young designer Gilbey in a BBC documentary entitled Going to Work, The Rag Trade, states...'I started in a small, bespoke workshop in South London, and learned cutting and tailoring...all the practical and technical side'...’from there I attended Shoreditch Clothing college'.
Emphasising at a young age, the practicalities of producing an actual garment Gilbey sagaciously advises potential designers…'it's all right doing sketches and things on paper, but you've got to sit down and get your form and get your line, and this is what you've got to convey to a machinist'…[4] Described as an iconoclast in the book, The Savile Row Story by Richard Walker, Gilbey describes the world into which he entered in 1968; 'It was a gentleman's world, a gentleman's club'.
"[6] Putting down an early marker as to his design philosophy in the 1967 book by Rodney Bennett-England, entitled Dress Optional; the revolution in menswear,[7] Gilbey says "More people than ever are working, and harder too.
[11] Later the same month, Men's Wear magazine reported in an article entitled ‘Gilbey for every occasion’, ‘This was, above all, a collection of really wearable designs without sacrificing originality.
I will be surprised if the couturiers in Rome and Paris between them, produce anything better.’[11] In the early 1970s, the snooker player Alex Higgins wore a Gilbey outfit whilst playing a match in a packed hall in Bombay.
[12] In 1995 one of his bridegroom's outfits was chosen, along with a Catherine Rayner wedding gown, to represent the Dress of the Year for 1995 in the Fashion Museum, Bath.
[6] Reminiscing to Joshua Sims in Rock Fashion in 1999, Gilbey recalls a number of anecdotes from his long career: ‘It wasn’t until Bill Haley came to Britain that Teddy Boys became the archetypal ruffian.