A stone’s throw from Berkeley Square, Bourdon House may be nestled amidst the crowds of 21st-century Mayfair (tourists taking selfies outside Louis Vuitton and Annabel tearing apart the club’s latest dazzling display), but it’s a lively winter The mood of the morning is completely different. Beyond those shiny black doors (the same doors that greeted the Duke of Westminster when he lived here) lies a secretive private members’ club that will never bother to reveal its fees, all luxurious burgundy interiors and patrician attire. But where the real action happens is upstairs.
Unlike most tailoring shops, whose studios are often below street level, the nerve center of Dunhill’s bespoke and made-to-measure operations is on the upper floors of Bourdon House. A few modest rooms line the rails, where canvas sheets dotted with the tiny print of each bespoke jacket and trouser, and a whiteboard charting the progress of each item in the system and who it’s for – commanding a sort of sartorial war. Its lofty location at Bourdon House means light floods into rooms ready for Dunhill’s new life under recently appointed creative director Simon Holloway.
‘There’s a sense of responsibility in looking after the legacy and future direction of a house like Dunhill,’ says Holloway. French holding company Richemont, which counts Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Alaïa as its crown jewels, acquired Dunhill in 1998. Holloway, who cut his teeth at Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren, also came across historic British outfitter James Purdey & Sons. It belonged to Richemont in April 2023. ‘But I like to think Alfred Dunhill would approve of the direction we’re taking things,’ says Holloway, who replaced former creative director Mark Weston, and before him John Ray, who was previously Gucci’s head of product development. Men’s clothing. It’s fair to say there have been a few ups and downs over the last 15 years, but Holloway’s focus is a distillation of Dunhill’s: focusing on the impeccable tailoring that’s most sought-after at home and better known for its sportswear and accessories. .
‘We’ve seen a significant increase in suit sales and I think that’s due to the pendulum swinging towards a more tailored silhouette from a fashion perspective. “I think it’s become so commonplace that people get bored of just piling around,” says Holloway. His initial focus on arrival was the bespoke arm of the house, appointing Savile Row’s secret weapon, William Adams (a tailor who had worked at some of the top houses, including Ede & Ravenscroft and Kilgour) to run the tailoring department and realize Holloway’s sophisticated vision. upgraded suit.
Bourdon House’s nerve center consists of three cutters, a trouser maker and two jacket makers; the latter being the traditional term for the intricate art of making a suit jacket. The focus here is on production excellence. First, a client will sit for a consultation in one of the beautiful rooms that rise like mushrooms above the central staircase, and browse through samples of fabrics, especially from British mills; Adams points to the large area of navy blue pinstripes reserved for a single-breasted suit. The process involves consulting with the tailoring team about details such as fabric, style and cut; Anywhere from one to three meetings to fine-tune the details, but repeat orders can be placed from anywhere in the world as long as you have your measurements at Dunhill. Once the uniform and construction has been decided (single-breasted or double-breasted, jacket or something sportier) the whole process will take around 10 weeks; costs depend on fabric choice and details, but a significant four figures can be expected.
The most adventurous garment the bespoke studio has worked on to date was a distinctive fleece jacket; Polyester fabric has been replaced by cashmere and nylon accents have been replaced by suede. But as a rule, this is the place for extraordinary tailored suits for events and serious business meetings. They work on up to 80 suits at a time.
‘I wanted to develop the feeling that this was the pinnacle of British craftsmanship, the sense of craftsmanship and careful curation,’ Holloway says of his interpretation of Dunhill’s tailoring. Connoisseurs can spot signature stylistic flourishes from a mile away: Anderson and Sheppard’s soft fabric, Edward Sexton’s pointed lapels. What does Holloway have planned for Dunhill? ‘It will be a male silhouette,’ he says. This would be welcomed; After years of sleek, oversized shapes at Zegna and Versace, or slim, gender-fluid cuts at houses like Celine and Saint Laurent, the proportions of men’s suits have been avoiding plain old “classic” for some time now. ‘Fabrics with structure but lightness, a very English look and a very English color palette and texture,’ says Holloway, who works with heritage yarn mills in Hawick, Scotland, to formulate specific fabrics. ‘Dunhill has a quintessentially British feel.’
One of the few British-born luxury houses, Dunhill has perhaps always been about innovation and doing things with courage and initiative more than most. Alfred Dunhill was a pioneering young man who started as an apprentice in his father’s saddlery business at the age of 15 and took the reins in 1893, aged 21. As technology changed, it responded by equipping the new world of automobiles; In his own words, ‘everything but the engine’. Bertie Wooster, a dashing young man, could see his Morgan decked out in Dunhill leathers, have Jeeves pack his white tie in his smart suitcases, and light his cigarettes with a Dunhill lighter in his twenties.
In a sense, the Dunhill man has always had a rather flamboyant streak. Opting for the Dunhill suit meant opting for something actively racy rather than the rather staid Savile Row; sports jackets, driving accessories and eventually a flashy eveningwear collection became his calling card. Fleming’s Bond liked his lighters, and Truman Capote wore Dunhill’s black tie for his black-and-white ball in 1966.
Nestled above Bourdon House, tailors focus on the finer details of the robe effect on the shoulder or the alignment of lines on the collar. ‘In this new era, it’s important to try to thread the needle for more than a century at Dunhill,’ says Holloway. A reliable suit is a solid place to start.