Jeremy Hackett - The Mr Classic Blog

On a not so sunny spring Saturday morning, I went to the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. As Hackett is the official supplier of clothing to the Boat Race and sponsor of the London Rowing Club, the captain of the 155 year old club Steve O’Connor very generously gave over their historic dining room for us to entertain our guests. The room was decorated in typical club style, with panelled walls and mahogany cabinets overflowing with cups and trophies from past victories.

I was thrilled to be invited to join the judging panel for the annual Golden Shears Award that took place last Monday, at the historic Merchant Taylors’ Hall in Threadneedle St in the heart of the city of London, which remarkably has been at the same site since 1347.

The Golden Shears award was set up in 1974 to recognise the talent of young tailors and to assess their skills in cutting, fit and style, with the tailoring firm with the highest overall score being presented with the award. One of my fellow judges was Deborah Meaden of Dragons’ Den fame who in reality is far removed from her television persona, and to whom I am eternally grateful for coming to the rescue of the illustrious woollen mill Fox Bros when it faced closure last year. Its future is bright and Hackett will now be assured of stocks of grey flannel for many years to come.

Last Thursday I flew to Tokyo for a personal tailoring event at our shop in Marunouchi accompanied by Graham Simpkins, my very capable tailoring manager. We landed at Haneda airport at about 5.30 am on Friday morning and went straight to our hotel for a shower and breakfast, before heading off to the Hackett shop.

It was to be a busy day with many appointments having been arranged. It was all going to plan, with our Japanese customers clearly enjoying the process of having a suit made and deliberating over the finer points of buttons and linings.

At about 3pm, I suddenly felt faint and giddy which I put down to not yet having had lunch when one of the shop staff exclaimed it was an earthquake and quickly pushed me under a table. Everything in the shop began to shake violently and the shop windows vibrated menacingly. The first tremors lasted a few minutes and passed.

An enquiring reader writes:

Hello there Mr. Hackett,
I read somewhere that you carry round your glasses, diary and keys in a camera bag. Would it be possible please to see a picture of the bag to give me an idea of what style you use, as I always find "man bags" a difficult look to get right? Thank you.