Jeremy Hackett - The Mr Classic Blog

Q. What does it mean for you to be involved with the BAFTAs?


It is a great opportunity to be on the inside track and be able to witness first hand the tension, the triumphs and inevitably the tears as the actors put on stellar performances. The whole event is worth a BAFTA in itself. Of course I shall be checking out all the outfits, I can't help myself.

Q. What other events are Hackett working on this year?

We are involved in a number of sponsorships including the Klosters Snow Polo, Dubai British Polo Day and The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race - we will be dressing the players and crew for each of these events. The biggest event of the season will be the opening of our flagship store in Milan in March.

Q. What would be your tips for any man attending a black tie event for the first time?

My mantra is formal dress is not fancy dress so keep it simple, it's all about shape, proportion, and fit. Tailored, single breasted, peaked lapel dinner jacket and white, marcella, double cuff dress shirt with studs not buttons (studs should match cufflinks) and dress watch, black silk self-tie bow tie (not ready made). It really is not difficult to tie, just think of tying your shoelaces, even I can manage it and I'm left handed.

Accompanied by my sponsorship manager Neil, his fragrant wife, Lynden and a charming Gentleman from the London Fashion Council, Jenico, we all clambered into the awaiting engine throbbing Aston Martin Rapide that was there to greet us outside the terminal in Zurich. Taking us from our economy flight, first class to Klosters for the annual snow polo event, where we are the clothing sponsor.

Despite the Hackett team having lost in Klosters, they were immaculately turned out, ensuring our brand hygiene remained intact. Job done!

Every season we make a pilgrimage to Pitti for the menswear fair. Beforehand, we always do a pre-Pitti photo shoot to photograph a selection from our Autumn Winter 2012 collection. I always take a camera with me to the studio to try and grab a few shots between the official pictures.
I took the model to one side and snapped him in a corner of the studio surrounded by plinths and poly boards. In black and white the picture feels as though it was taken in the early 1960s, of an artist in his studio - a cross between Hockney and Warhol.

The image I shot on the staircase, framed by the balustrade, reminds me of the famous and flamboyant pencil thin Dandy Bunny Rogers, who would often be seen strolling around Mayfair, dressed to the nines in severely tailored Savile row suits that he wore with extremely high stiff collared shirts and a bowler hat.

The picture with the model seated wearing a three piece suit has the look of a presenter from the 1960s television show, That Was The Week That Was. The final portrait could be an undergraduate straight out of Oxford circa 1960s.  


Clothes never cease to amaze me in the way they transform people. You can be whatever you want, which sounds like a good new year’s resolution. Happy New Year.  

I touched down in Dubai at around midnight for a Hackett shop opening party the following evening, and the oppressive heat and humidity hit me immediately. Fortunately, the hotel had laid on a limousine into which I scrambled with much relief. The driver deftly handed me a tray laid out with an ice cold towel and chilled energy drink that had been secreted in a fridge under the front passenger seat. It was most welcome and unexpected.

Slumped in the back seat, I was transported quietly and swiftly along vast deserted highways that cut through fantastically shaped skyscrapers. I passed the tallest building in the world, which reminded me of a silver propelling pencil, and a brace of towers that resembled segments of an orange. The people of the United Arab Emirates have carved a skyline from the desert which will become as recognisable as New York or London.

At the hotel my luggage was received with some puzzlement. Was that it? One bag? Indeed it was - I have finally learned how to travel light. I now cram as much as I can into one holdall, in order for it to fit in the overhead locker. Of course, my suits look as though I have slept in them for a week, but with a pressing service available at the hotel it is preferable to hanging around and waiting interminably for the luggage to appear off a halfhearted carousel.

I like taking photographs, and going on a Hackett photo shoot gives me the opportunity to take some snaps whilst endeavouring to keep clear of the official snapper. Located in this blog is a slideshow selection of my pictures taken when we shot this Autumn's brochure.

It never ceases to amaze me what a production it is to muster together thirty to forty photographs to make into the brochure - I can't imagine the numbers required when making a movie. For starters there is the photographer, lighting assistant, computer technician, film maker plus assistant and some poor guy straight out of college who has to lug all the equipment around.

Then you have the models - a couple of boys and a wafer thin girl who all need to have hair and makeup - which means there are hairdressers and their assistants. Someone has to take care of wardrobe which involves needing a seamstress and assistant, and of course you need a stylist to put the clothes together, with an assistant to add the finishing touches to an ensemble.

None of this would be possible without a production team who are tasked with getting everyone to the locations, which in this case meant the countryside one day, London the next and the following day Switzerland (which I sadly missed). There's also the job of keeping them fed and watered which entails the necessity of van drivers and catering crew, and a chap who looks after all the props - naturally with his assistant.

Mysteriously, around lunchtime the numbers seem to increase even more, but I generally have no idea who they are or what they do. I have decided that next year I too shall have an assistant, as it seem to be the must-have accessory.

After all I need someone to take off the lens cover.

All my working life I have been surrounded by wool. From my early days as a junior in a tailor's shop, and today when browsing through woollen pattern bunches, I am as excited by wool as I was then.

At Hackett we use an enormous amount of wool to make our clothing, from merino socks to worsted suits. We are famous for our tweed jackets that are made from the wool of cheviot sheep bred in the borders of Scotland and from sheep bred on Exmoor. We stock knitwear from sheep bred on the Shetland Isles for its home spun appearance, and further afield Geelong wool, (the first cut from the sheep) for making our pullovers a soft fine wool from Australia with a luxurious handle. We source from Hinchcliffe, yarn to make up into lambswool sweaters, hats, gloves, scarves and picnic rugs. Our fine knit lightweight jerseys are made from New Zealand merino.

But mostly we use wool when making up our designer menswear suits. In the Winter, nothing looks better or feels better than a woollen flannel suit, and we source the material from Fox Bros in Somerset - probably the oldest mill in the country, with which I have been doing business for more than 25 years. There is often the misconception that wool is only a fabric for Winter, but a great number of our Summer suits are made from lightweight yarns that originate from sheep bred on the grasslands of South Africa.

Unlike cotton there is an elasticity in wool that makes for far greater comfort in warmer climes. It also drapes better than cotton. Our most popular suit is The Travel Suit where we use three ply Hi Twist New Zealand merino yarns to create a suit that is both extremely lightweight and wrinkle free. When I am in the country and I happen to gaze through parkland fencing at a centuries old pastoral scene of sheep grazing contentedly I am reminded of the fact that it is part of the fabric of England.

And long may it prosper.