Hardy Amies (fashion house)

Hardy Amies, Ltd.

File:Hardy-amies-logo.png
Company type	Privately Held
Industry	Luxury goods
Founded	1946
Founder	Sir Edwin Hardy Amies
Headquarters	Savile Row, London, England
Key people	Claire Malcolm (CD), Tony Yusuf (MD)
Website	Hardy Amies Official

Hardy Amies, Ltd. is a British-based fashion house established in 1946, specializing in traditional men's bespoke tailoring.

History

Sir Edwin Hardy Amies

Sir Edwin Hardy Amies, KCVO (17 July 1909 - 5 March 2003), was a British fashion designer, best known for his official title as dressmaker designer for HM Queen Elizabeth II.

Born in London, Amies was the son of a civil servant and a saleswoman at a firm that made clothing for members of the Royal Courts. Amies was educated at Brentwood School, Essex, leaving in 1927.[1] Although his father wanted him to attend Cambridge University, Hardy trained as an English language teacher in Antibes, and then travelled to Europe, where he spent three years in France and then Bendorf, Germany learning the languages.[1]On return to England in 1930, he secured a trainee position with W & T Avery Ltd. Ltd. in Birmingham. At the age of 25, in 1934 he became managing designer for Lachasse, 1934.[1]

World War II

At the out break of World War II, with his language experience Amies was called up to serve in the Special Operations Executive. Amies suspected that SOE's commander Major General Colin Gubbins did not regard a dressmaker as suitable military material, but his training report stated:

This officer is far tougher both physically and mentally than his rather precious appearance would suggest. He possesses a keen brain and an abundance of shrewd sense. His only handicap is his precious appearance and manner, and these are tending to decrease.

Posted to Belgium, Amies adapted names of fashion accessories for use as code words, while managing some of the most murderous and ruthless agents in the field. Amies rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, but outraged his superiors in 1944 by setting up a Vogue photo-shoot in Belgium post D-Day. In 1946, he was Knighted in Belgium, being a Named Officier de l'Ordre de la Couronne.

№14 Savile Row

In 1946, Amies established his very own couture fashion house business, Hardy Amies Ltd, after buying the bombed out shell of a house that was №14 Savile Row. Although Savile Row is the home of English bespoke tailoring, the Hardy Amies brand developed to become known for its classic and beautifully tailored clothes for both men and women. Amies was vice-chairman of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers from 1954 to 56, and chairman from 1959 to 60.

Commercial Success

Amies was successful in business by being able to commercially extract value from his designs, while not replicating his brand to the point of exploitation. Amies was one of the first European designers to venture into the ready-to-wear market when he teamed up with Hepworths in 1959 to design a range of menswear. In 1961, Amies made fashion history by staging the first men's ready-to-wear catwalk shows, at the Ritz Hotel in London.

Amies also undertook design for in-house work wear, which developed from designing special clothes for the England 1966 World Cup team, the 1972 British Olympic squad; and groups such as the Oxford University Boat Club and London Stock Exchange. In 1974, Amies was entered into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.

File:Hardy amies a space odyssey.jpg

2001: A Space Odyssey costumes designed by Hardy Amies.

2001: A Space Odyssey

In 1967, Edwin Hardy Amies was commissioned by director Stanley Kubrick to design the costumes for his film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The collection offered a spectacular glimpse into futuristic fashions, providing what some may describe as the ultimate artefact in sixties archived fashion. In 2001, the standard attire was a business-as-usual approach to the corporate world of fashion. There were no ties for men's suits since they were not needed in zero gravity. The Russian women scientists wore dark conservative clothing, reflecting their own conservative values. Although Kubrick's 2001 wardrobe was practical, it still reflected the mid-sixties slender look, now outdated. But fashion comes and goes and the world of 2001 has not arrived. The military and spacecraft uniforms were as common in the sixties as they are now, with no dramatic changes in 30 years. American women of the year 2001 still retained roles they held in the 1960s as Hilton Hotel receptionists and Pan Am stewardesses. The women wore space-age traveling hats while carrying hand bags. According to Setting the Scene by Robert S. Sennett (Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1994), many of the design elements of the middle narrative portion of the film now seem to be reflections of swinging London circa 1968, rather than the imagined near future. The stewardesses' uniforms, designed by British fashion house Hardy Amies, look like the uncomfortable unisex pant suits that were being foisted on the innocent public in the late sixties. An epic science fiction film, it demonstrated the immense range in Amies' design ability, and was unsurprisingly nominated for four Academy Awards - receiving one for visual effects. In 1991, it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Queen Elizabeth II

Amies is best known to the British public for his work for Queen Elizabeth II. The association began in 1950, when Amies made several outfits for the then Princess Elizabeth's royal tour to Canada. Although the couture side of the Hardy Amies business was traditionally less financially successful, the award of a Royal Warrant as official dressmaker in 1955 given his house a degree of respectability and resultant publicity. One of his best known creations is the gown he designed in 1977 for Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee portrait which, he said, was "immortalized on a thousand biscuit tins."[1] Knighted in 1989, Amies held the warrant until 1990, when he gave it up so that younger designers could create for the Queen.

ABC of Men's Fashion

Having written a regular column for Esquire magazine on men's fashion, in 1964 he published the book ABC of Men's Fashion. Amies's strict male dress code – with commandments on everything from socks to the summer wardrobe – made compelling reading: When in July 2009, the Hardy Amies designer archive was opened on Savile Row, the Victoria & Albert Museum reissued the book.

A man should look as if he has bought his clothes with intelligence, put them on with care and then forgotten all about them.

Hardy Amies' Growth

In May 1973, Hardy Amies Ltd. was sold to Debenhams, which had already purchased Hepworths who distributed the Hardy Amies line. Amies purchased the business back in 1981. In May 2001, Amies sold his business to the Luxury Brands Group. He retired at the end of the year, when Moroccan-born designer Jacques Azagury became head of couture. In November 2008, after going bankrupt, the Hardy Amies brand was acquired by Fung Capital, the private investment arm of Victor and William Fung, who together control the Li & Fung Group.

Further Reading

• Here Lived…, Cambridge, 1948.
• Just So Far, London, 1954.
• The ABC of Men's Fashion, London, 1964.
• Still Here, London, 1984.
• The Englishman's Suit, London, 1994.

External Links

• Hardy Amies Official Website
• Hardy Amies Official Facebook
• Hardy Amies Official Twitter
• Hardy Amies designer profile at [Vogue]
• Hardy Amies Style Advice article at [The Guardian]
• Hardy Amies abandons to its heritage article at [The Telegraph]
• Hardy Amies Guide Mens Fashion reviewed inside [The Guardian]
• Hardy Amies at the Victoria & Albert Museum
• The Hardy Amies Exhibition review at [The Independent]
• Hardy Amies profile at [Famous Why]
• http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2LAd2R/www.gq-magazine.co.uk/style/articles/2011-02/23/gq-catwalk-news-hardy-amies-autumn-winter-2011-mens-menswear-photos
• Hardy Amies designer profile at [New York Times]
• Hardy Amies obituary at [The Times]
• Hardy Amies at IMDb