Hardy Amies opens new London flagship

The late Sir Hardy Amies was one of London’s leading lights, at the vanguard of the city’s swinging sixties (he held the first ever men’s runway show at the Savoy in 1961) before moving on to dress the Queen for many years. His brand’s traditional Savile Row home at Number 14 is still in place, but the new flagship at Number 8 will add a more contemporary twist to proceedings with design director Mehmet Ali describing the brand as “modern traditionalists,” selecting the best bits from the past and the present.

“Modern men curate their lives,” explains Ali. “They pick and choose things they like to have, not out of blind head-to-toe brand loyalty, which is a concept I feel is very dated now, but instead based on an informed preference for the things themselves.” In this spirit, the store has a special area featuring the best of British design with a range of specially selected goods including bicycle saddles by Brooks, haberdashery from Merchant & Mills, and Abbeyhorn shoe horns and clothes brushes. 

There are also separate zones for ready to wear, and a plush area for evening and formalwear. Universal Design Studio were tasked with the decor, which features traditional wood paneling reinterpreted in Portland stone, display counters in bush hammered Welsh limestone with brick and concrete countertops. The shop’s tiles and other fixtures and fittings all come from British industrial and trade designers.