Alfred Dunhill’s Spring Summer 2016 collection celebrates the idiosyncratic twists that English men bring to the most formal of wardrobes. The caddish flamboyance of David Niven, whose book The Moon’s a Balloon reveals that the actor put as much imagination into expressing himself in words as in clothing; the simultaneously aloof and chumpish charm of the British princes in their youth, in particular Charles, who inherited from his father a dapper way with the conventions of royal dress; the ability to combine checks of different scales and carry it off, so expertly demonstrated by Edward VIII.
These characters represented an enthusiasm for fashion among English men that is frequently overlooked. A style where to dress down for the weekend is to dress up; an understated uniform whose military roots still shine in the brass buttons of a blazer and whose eccentricities are expressed in the patterns of the tie and the pocket square.
“It’s an age-old cult of individuality whose heart still beats untouched in London’s Jermyn Street – home to traditional men ‘s clothing and grooming; home to dunhill, for over a century – and whose characters advertise their individual allegiances in the gang colors of the club tie.” says John Ray, Alfred Dunhill’s Creative Director.
