Tony Blair had only been prime minister for two months when Britain handed over Hong Kong to China, but he still keeps the colony close to his heart — and closet. This past November, the newly dubbed envoy to the Middle East dropped in on his friend and tailor of 15 years, Manu Melwani, better known as Sam, for a pair of suits, four jackets, and a dozen shirts, in lightweight materials — appropriate for looming trips to desert climes. Blair, who places an order with the shop every six months, flew into town for one day only. But Melwani's team of 55, skilled in both men's and women's wardrobes, had no trouble piecing things together before the former head of state took off for the mainland. "If you know the job," Melwani says, "it's easy to do the work." In fact, Blair's order was hardly a record. That distinction belongs to a member of the Saudi royal family who, two years ago, purchased 60 suits and 168 shirts, granting Sam's Tailor a mere 48 hours to deliver. It's hard to say exactly where this unnamed buyer might fall in the spectrum of Melwani's client list, which sprawls from the conservatively clad Thatcher and Reagan to the more (sartorially) liberal Clinton and Bowie. As Melwani claims he learned from his master, "Every tailor is like a doctor: You treat customers the same."