Hackett London: Store Tour & Interview with Jeremy Hackett

Celebrated for its exceptional craftsmanship, Hackett has become a hallmark of timeless British menswear. But what is the story behind founder Jeremy Hackett’s journey from second-hand clothing to sartorial excellence? Join us for an exclusive tour of the store as Jeremy Hackett shares his expertise on classic style and the craftsmanship that defines his legacy.

Video Transcript [Lightly Edited for Clarity]:

Raphael: Welcome back to the Gentleman’s Gazette. I’m here with Sir Jeremy Hackett.

Jeremy: No, no, no. Jeremy. Jeremy will do.

Raphael: Jeremy is good?

Jeremy: Yeah, we’ll go with Jeremy.

Raphael: Jeremy Hackett, thank you for having us here. It’s such a lovely space.

Jeremy: Yeah, I’ve given up my Sunday to be with you.

Raphael: Thank you so much. Now, when I think of Hackett, I think of the quintessential British suit. When was the first time you remember seeing or wearing a suit?

Jeremy: The first time I wore a suit, I was probably about eight years old, and I had to have one made for either confirmation or first Holy Communion. My parents took me to the local school outfitters, and they had a tailor there. They wanted me to have this really heavy gray worsted suit, but I didn’t want that. I had seen this sort of tweed—I didn’t know at the time, but it was Donegal tweed in gray—so we compromised, and I had that made. Then I noticed that the tailor had a ticket pocket on his suit, and I thought, “Oh, can I have a ticket pocket?” And I tell you, to this day, probably at least 60 years later, I still have a ticket pocket on my suit. Bit of nonsense, but anyway.

Raphael: That’s super interesting.

Jeremy: And the suit didn’t fit me anymore.

Raphael: So as an eight-year-old, that’s quite a kind of sartorial awareness at that age. Did you have anyone in your family who wore a lot of suits?

Jeremy: Not really, no. But my mother had her clothes made and liked good things. She was a dressmaker, and my father was in the upholstery business, so there was always cloth lying around. Whether I picked up on that, I don’t know, but I was always into clothes. When I was about 16, I was a bit of a mod. Had a scooter, all that sort of stuff. The whole mod thing is quite a neat look, and I liked all that. When I left school at 16, having failed all my exams, I remember my father saying to me, “If you don’t pull your socks up, you’ll end up working in a shop.” Like it was the worst thing that could possibly happen to you.

Raphael: And that’s exactly what you did.

Jeremy: And so I did. I already had a Saturday job in this tailor’s shop, and fortunately, they gave me a full-time job. I was brought up in Bristol.

Raphael: What were you doing at the shop?

Jeremy: Oh, making tea, dusting. I wasn’t really allowed near any good customers. It was just, you know, learning the ropes.

Raphael: But you grew up in Bristol yourself?

Jeremy: I grew up in Bristol, and I came to London when I was about 19 or 20. I worked in the Kings Road in a few boutiques. Then I got poached by somebody because I was quite a good salesman, and I was approached by someone to come and work in Savile Row, just a few doors down, a really modern gentleman’s shop run by a very inspirational retailer called John Michael, who was a big name at the time. I’m talking like ’73, something like that, ’72, somewhere around those years. All the shops along here were closed on a Saturday, but he was open, and it was the best day of the week for us. All these shops were missing out on it. Most of them now open on a Saturday. Soon they’ll be opening on a Sunday, you’ll see.

Raphael: But you were also, when you started out as Hackett, you had an interest in second-hand clothing, is that right?

Jeremy: Yes, well, originally, I had a partner, Ashley Lloyd Jennings, and we opened a shoe shop in Covent Garden—long before Covent Garden was what it is today, and the street was deserted. We bought this old warehouse, converted it into a shop, and used to go to America to buy Alden shoes. We went up to Massachusetts to Alden and bought the tassel loafers, the cordovan loafers, and had specials made. We also stocked Belgian shoes and Gurkha luggage.

Raphael: Oh, nice.

Jeremy: And Coach belts.

Raphael: Coach belts. And what else?

Jeremy: And the main English shoes were Edward Green. So it was a beautiful shop, beautifully laid out, but nobody was in Covent Garden. We then realized why it was so cheap to be there—because there was no one there.

Raphael: Interesting.

Jeremy: We did that for about three years. In the end, we had a little shop on Bond Street, and it was just tough.

Raphael: But were you in business together?

Jeremy: Yeah, yeah, we were partners. So we closed that down, but during that whole time we had the shop, we were also dealing in second-hand clothes. We’d go to all the markets in London and buy up really good second-hand clothes. One day we bumped into a French guy who had a stall in the market in Paris.

Raphael: In Clignancourt?

Jeremy: Clignancourt, yeah. And he said, “Well, why don’t you buy stuff for me, and I’ll come over every month and buy it off you.” And so we did that for quite a while, and we’d also go to Paris. Car packed with secondhand clothes and shoes, but only the best stuff, real good British clothing.

Raphael: I mean, it was like, there was like the old England there and—

Jeremy: Old England was there. In fact, we had a shop in Old England for a while, a Hackett shop. And anyway, we decided that, well, why sell it to him? Why don’t we sell it ourselves?

Raphael: Yeah, cut out the middleman.

Jeremy: Yeah, cut out the middleman. Oh, terror, that sounds awful, doesn’t it? So cutthroat. Anyway, we did cut him out. And we opened this little shop in Fulham, on the New Kings Road. Our bank manager lent us a couple of thousand quid, and we had a couple of thousand quid ourselves, so we opened the shop. The first thing he said to us was, “You do realize this is a retailer’s graveyard?” Which wasn’t a very auspicious start.

Raphael: But he still gave you money!

Jeremy: But anyway, we opened the shop, and it just took off from day one. It was unbelievable.

Raphael: Did you know why?

Jeremy: Well, it was, it was well laid out. You know, the whole area at the time was full of young guys who worked in the city, doing quite well, but they didn’t want to buy a ready-made suit from one of the high street shops. So they would much rather buy a good second-hand bespoke suit, probably for, say, 150 quid, that I might have picked up in the market for a tenner (£10).

Raphael: That’s exactly what I did when I was young.

Jeremy: I mean, the margins were huge. Everything was beautifully laid out, everything was on wooden hangers, sized, and repaired if it needed to be repaired, and shirts laundered. So it was really well done, and even though I say it myself, it was like no second-hand shop. You know, I’d go to the market, and I’d be shown a rail of old suits. A lady might say, “Oh, this is a really good Marks & Spencer’s suit.” I’d say, “No, I’ll take this one.” And I’d get it out, and it would be an Anderson & Sheppard flannel, double-breasted, in perfect condition. It’d be the same price, a fiver (£5).

Raphael: Excellent.

Jeremy: Take it back, sell it for 150 quid.

Raphael: You know, I remember I started selling fountain pens. And the one I could have sold a hundred times, I had once.

Jeremy: Oh, I know, that’s the thing. And then people would come and queue on a Saturday morning because they knew we’d been to the market, and they wouldn’t even give us a chance to get it to the cleaners. So I’d say, “Okay, well, you can have a look,” and we’d just make up our prices.

“It’s the thrill of the chase, for me and for the customers, you know, going to the market, never knowing what you’re going to buy.”

Jeremy hackett

Raphael: Yes!

Jeremy: It was fantastic, and I also used to buy leather goods and accessories. One time, I dabbled with buying watches, which was an absolute nightmare because we used to give a guarantee. And by the time somebody brought it back two or three times, any money you’d made on it was gone.

Raphael: It was gone because you took repayment.

Jeremy: So we stopped doing that.

Raphael: But yeah. Do you still care about vintage or second-hand clothing or second-hand items that you’re really fond of?

Jeremy: Well, I don’t go to the market much anymore, but I’ll tell you a funny story. I was in the market not so long ago, and there was this rail of old tweed jackets. I saw one that looked familiar, and I just pulled it out and said to the lady, “Why is this one more expensive than all the others?” She said, “It is Hackett, you know?” I thought it was brilliant. I didn’t say who I was, but I thought it was brilliant. I didn’t buy the jacket; it was too expensive, but yeah, it was funny.

Raphael: That’s lovely.

Jeremy: Yeah.

Raphael: And so then you decided to make new clothes because the demand was too high?

Jeremy: It was just getting really difficult to keep up the quality, and I didn’t want to have to go down-market. I said, “Well, let’s try and make things that are similar to what people really like second-hand.” So I took a few examples up to Leeds where, at that time, there were probably around ten factories you could go to get stuff made. I gave them a couple of jackets or suits and said, “This is what I want.”

You know, this sort of look, which was completely different from what was on the high street—three-button, tailored look. And they’d say, “Oh gosh, we haven’t made anything like this for years,” but they liked the challenge. We got on really well. I also used all the same cloths that I would use here today, all from the best mills. The whole look, the idea really, was Savile Row ready-to-wear.

And we were a little nervous at first. We had the shop at 65B New Kings Road. We couldn’t afford the A bit. We just had the B. But eventually, we bought the shop next door and knocked through. That’s where we started doing new clothes. We were nervous, you know, people would come in looking for second-hand and say, well, we may find something next door with a good tweed jacket.

And eventually, the secondhand just died away, and the new clothes took off.

Raphael: What was the most popular item from the new clothes?

Jeremy: Tweed jackets, corduroy trousers, moleskins. And at the time, I don’t think there was anywhere where you could buy what you’d call chinos. We used to call them “cotton drill trousers” because we wanted them to feel more British than calling them chinos.

Jeremy: And they were pleated, had side adjusters, and Americans would come and buy them all the time. You know, and then the English started buying them, and we would sell thousands. At the end of the day, you’d have a massive stack of alterations to take.

Raphael: Oh, you also had the red trousers, right? Tell me more about those.

Jeremy: Oh, there’s a whole thing about red trousers, isn’t there? And yet, we sold a ton of them. I always used to say to people, “Don’t send them to the dry cleaners, wash them so that they fade, so you get that sort of Nantucket color.” They look really good.

Jeremy: Don’t make them look too pristine.

Raphael: Nantucket pink.

Jeremy: Yeah, I love it. And it comes from old sailcloths, doesn’t it? I say, “You don’t want them to look too pristine, otherwise you get the Red Trouser brigade propping up the bar in the golf club with a blazer.” I like them worn in, and I always say, “Your clothes should be worn in, not out.” They get better.

And then, of course, the hipsters got onto red trousers, and everybody in Hoxton was wearing red trousers. So suddenly, it was okay. I haven’t worn a pair of trousers since, you know.

Raphael: So, if you look back at the style and the stylistic evolution of Hackett when you started—

Jeremy: Yeah?

Raphael: Yeah. Talk to me, let me know what it was then and how it evolved.

Jeremy: Well, as I explained earlier, we sold the company in ’92, which then gave us the capital to expand the business on a firm footing. So, we opened up a big shop in Sloane Street and closed all the shops in Fulham because nobody wanted to go to Fulham anymore.

Raphael: How many shops did you have in Fulham at the time?

Jeremy: We had five shops, all within about 50 yards of each other, and they all sold something different. One sold formal clothes—dinner jackets, morning dress. Another one sold shirts and ties and accessories. Then we had a little barber shop that sold accessories as well, which was an absolutely beautiful little shop.

Raphael: It was a heck of a journey. I would have loved to be on that journey.

Jeremy: Well, we never thought of it as a journey. It was just a lot of fun. And we introduced a cologne that was made by Floris for us. It was beautiful. Everything was fabulous about that shop. And then we had our tailoring shop. And then we had the original shop, which sold the more casual stuff. All within 50 yards of each other. So people will be popping from shops. It was, and … the taxi drivers used to call it Hackett cross….

Whenever I was in a cab, I’d say, “Can you take me to Hackett?” And they’d say, “Oh, you mean Hackett cross down in Fulham?” Yeah, that’s it. Thanks. Get the cab drivers to know, you know.

Raphael: So, the silhouette—if you describe the silhouette of a jacket or a suit back then—what would you say were the hallmarks? Was it like a built-up shoulder? Was it more military? Was it softer?

Jeremy: In the early days, it was strictly classical. It was much more structured than it would be today, and heavier. I particularly like heavier fabrics.

Raphael: Because of the drape? Or why?

Jeremy: They look so good when they’re made. They’re difficult to wear today because of the climate, but I still love it.

Raphael: So do I.

Jeremy: All the suits at the time were three-button or double-breasted. All the trousers were made with pleats and side adjusters and made to wear with braces. They were all a 16-inch bottom, well, graded up according to size, but roughly about a 16-inch bottom. And we encouraged customers to have turn-ups. I remember telling the boys in the shop, “Turn-ups have to be an inch and five-eighths.”

That is the correct size because the only reason I said that was, I probably had about 100 secondhand suits with turn-ups, and I measured them all. Ninety-five percent of them were an inch and five-eighths. I said, “Right, that is the size of a turn-up at Hackett. An inch and five-eighths. Forget anything else you’ve learned or heard about. Inch and five-eighths.” The whole thing was, this is how you dress. This is what you do. It was very much like what in the military they call mufti. That’s what we were selling, really. Ninety-five percent of the shirts were double-cuff.

Raphael: Did you have a lower gorge? Higher gorge?

Jeremy: Slightly higher because the slightly lower ones were a bit more ready-made looking. So we based everything on the bespoke look. Whereas our customers’ fathers had been shopping in Savile Row, their sons couldn’t necessarily afford it.

Raphael: And it was something slightly different.

Jeremy: It was good. It was great. I’ll tell you, one of our good customers in the secondhand days was Ralph Lauren. He used to come in and buy tons of stuff.

Raphael: He himself would come in?

Jeremy: Yeah, he’d come in himself.

Raphael: Did you recognize him?

Jeremy: Yeah. He was very quiet, would wander around, and I’d say to him, “Well, we’ve got some stuff in the basement if you’re interested.” So I’d give him a black bin bag, and he’d go down into our basement, come back later with a whole bag full of stuff, and take it out for a hundred pounds, two hundred pounds, or whatever. And I knew he was going to copy it. I’m sorry—be inspired by it, I should say. But he was great, and you know, I have a lot of admiration for him.

He’s built a fantastic business. But the difference is, and I was at a luxury summit being interviewed by Susie Menkus, and she says to me, “Well, what’s the difference between you and Ralph Lauren?” And I said, “Well, Ralph is New England, and Hackett is Old England.” I thought it was just a neat way of saying it—without being rude, but you know, he is New England, and he does it very well.

Raphael: I think the other interesting association is polo, right? There’s Polo Ralph Lauren, and Hackett has a strong association with polo.

Jeremy: Yeah, I think at the time we had a stronger association with polo, the sport, than Ralph did, because I don’t think he did any polo. And that’s the funny thing.

Jeremy: The whole polo shirt thing we got into quite by accident. We had two army officers come in one day to our first shop in Fulham and say, “Our commanding officer has told us that if we want to play polo, we have to get a sponsor because the army’s not going to pay for it.” So these two army officers came in and said, “Would you sponsor us to play polo?”

It was very cheap, so we thought, well, that might be fun. And they said, “You have to make polo shirts with your name on them so that everybody knows on the field who they’re playing against.” So we said, “Oh, okay.” This was the first time we’d put our name overtly on anything because in the old days, I mean, in a suit, we put the label inside.

Jeremy: On all the ready-made suits and jackets, there was no Hackett label anywhere because we wanted that feeling of it being private and specially made. So putting our name—we went from one extreme to the other, you know, massive. But it was a huge hit.

Raphael: Because you would sell the shirts?

Jeremy: Well, we didn’t at first. But then the boys in the shop said, “Oh, can we have some of those?” I thought, well, make a few up. The boys started wearing them out and about, and then their friends wanted them. So I made up 50 and put them into the shop one Saturday morning. By the end of the day, they’d all gone. And that was the beginning of something that was hugely successful. So it came with a few problems.

Raphael: So you never played polo yourself?

Jeremy: No, no. I’m left-handed. That’s my excuse. But I tell you, we sponsored a thing called the Rundle Cup, where the army played the navy, and William and Harry were playing for the Hackett team—Prince William and Harry, sorry. After the prize-giving, I was chatting with William, and he said, “Do you play polo?” I said, “No, I’m left-handed.” He said, “Oh, that’s no excuse. I’m left-handed, but I learned to play right-handed.” Put me in my place. Anyway, I could never afford to play polo, you know.

Raphael: Yeah, I was surprised because you have to exchange the horses every chukker, every two minutes.

Jeremy: Yeah, every seven minutes.

Raphael: Seven minutes?

Jeremy: Yeah, I think seven, seven and a half minutes a chukker.

Raphael: Incredible.

Jeremy: Yeah, but that polo shirt was phenomenal, but we sold it because we had the credibility of having a polo team. If we didn’t have a polo team and we just put our name on a shirt, there would have been no credibility or integrity.

Jeremy: So that was our excuse for why we sponsored polo.

Raphael: But one thing I really liked—you had the idea to take the polo club and make it into a stick umbrella.

Jeremy: Oh, yeah, I’ve got one upstairs.

Raphael: Oh, I want to see.

Jeremy: Yeah. Yeah.

Raphael: That’s a brilliant idea.

Jeremy: Yeah, I’m sure it’s been copied in China now and all over the place.

Raphael: Of course.

Jeremy: Oh, yeah. I think we made seven out of all—pair of six—and I always say, you never know, Prince William may have played with that stick.

Raphael: So you kept that?

Jeremy: Always a salesman. I kept one. I kept the first sample. Yeah, I take it with me when I go to watch polo. So, you know, everybody is intrigued by it.

Raphael: So, how has your wardrobe changed over the years, would you say?

Jeremy: Not dramatically. I think things, you know, because of the whole weather thing, things have gotten softer. My shoulder line has gotten softer. Everything is much more relaxed than it used to be. I mean, I only wear one-button suits now. Whereas before, it was three-button.

Raphael: Three-button?

Jeremy: Now I just feel a bit too restricted, and it’s all a bit too heavy.

Raphael: Did you ever like—how much did you love it? Three-roll-two or two-button? Was it ever a thing for you?

Jeremy: No, I never did two-button.

Raphael: Okay.

Jeremy: No. And in fact, have you read my Mr. Classic book?

Raphael: Ah, not yet.

Jeremy: Do. I did a book years ago. I used to write for The Independent magazine, and I was having lunch with the editor one day. He said, “Why don’t you write for us about—” And I said, “Well, I’ve never really written anything before.” He said, “I don’t know, just write anything about style or whatever you like.”

So I went away, wrote five little short stories, and sent them in to him. He called me up and said, “These are great, we’re going to publish them all in one section of the magazine.” And so they did. A couple of weeks later, he said, “Would you like to have a column called Mr. Classic?” He said, “You just have to write it every other week.”

And of course, I said, “Okay.” But it had to be in on the Monday every other week. Sunday night, I’d finally sit down and write it because I knew it had to be in the next day. It was really like when I was at school, you know, leaving everything to the last minute. But it sort of focused the mind. I’d think, “Oh, come on, what are we going to write about this week?”

Anyway, one of the stories I wrote for Mr. Classic was about button placement, you know, and about three-button, two-button, and one-button. I think I recommended, “Why not have one button? You don’t have to worry about which button to do up.” Because so often, you know, I’m watching television, and I see a newscaster or presenter wearing a two-button suit with both buttons done up, and I just want to go and undo it. When I see it with customers, I undo the button for them if they’ve done both up. It drives me mad. It’s a first-world problem, of course, you know.

Raphael: Great solution!

Jeremy: It saves worrying about which buttons to do up.

Raphael: Nice. So, I mean, we’re in the former premises of Hardy Amies here.

Jeremy: That’s right.

Raphael: So whose brainchild was this idea of J. P. Hackett on Savile Row?

Jeremy: Well, first, Hardy Amies—when I used to work down the road—he used to come in. And when we had the Jermyn Street shop, he used to come in and buy stiff collars from us. He was a real charming, old-school gent. Absolutely delightful. Anyway, the whole J. P. Hackett thing came about because the landlords on the Row wanted it to appear more like an individual shop than a chain of shops.

So we suggested, why don’t we call it J. P. Hackett? Even though officially my name is J. V. P. H., it sounded a bit like Louis Vuitton, LVMH. I didn’t want to sound like a luxury goods company. So I said, “We’ll drop the V and just have J. P.”

Raphael: So what do the V and P stand for?

Jeremy: The V is Vincent Paul, Vincent hyphen Paul, Vincent de Paul. Well, Vincent de Paul—it’s a very Catholic name.

Raphael: And was it your vision to start that and go into bespoke? Was that something that you always wanted to do?

Jeremy: We’ve done bespoke before. When we had Sloane Street, we had bespoke. I mean, for me, bespoke is my passion. I love bespoke, you know. It’s ruined me, of course, because you can’t have anything else once you go bespoke.

Raphael: What’s your favorite, or what was your first bespoke suit that you paid for yourself?

Jeremy: What, actually paid for? Me? Let me think. I have a feeling it was probably a grey flannel. Gosh, I’ve never been asked that question. Can I come back to that later? This is what I usually say when somebody asks me an awkward question, and then everybody usually forgets about it. But anyway, I’ll try and think of one.

Raphael: Sounds good.

Jeremy: Yeah. Oh, I’ll make one up anyway. Good.

Raphael: So, the vision for the brand—because it’s a sub-brand within Hackett and Brava—was different from the main brand. Is that right?

Jeremy: Yeah. Everything here is either bespoke, or the ready-to-wear is made at a different level to the ready-to-wear in the general Hackett shops.

Raphael: It’s all made in Italy here, correct?

Jeremy: It is, but most of the cloths are either English—generally English—but yeah, it’s made in Italy. I’d make it in England, but there’s nobody to go to anymore to make at the level.

Raphael: Chester Barrie was—

Jeremy: That’s gone. We used to work with Chester Barrie a lot, but that’s gone. They were great. I mean, they were fantastic. Everything handmade in Crewe, next door to Bentley.

Raphael: And nice and soft too. I liked their make.

Jeremy: They were very good, yeah. They were one of the few people in England who could make very lightweight cloth. Because a lot of the others struggled—they’re used to making heavy worsteds and tweeds. When it came down to lightweight stuff, they struggled.

Raphael: So, if you had to describe the house style on the bespoke level, what would that be?

Jeremy: Here, generally, a more relaxed, sort of Brit-meets-Europe look. So you have a British cloth, but then you make it more relaxed-looking. The lapel might be a slightly different shape to everybody else’s. Technically, you’re probably better off asking JC those sorts of questions because I’m not a tailor. I’m a retailer.

Raphael: And a salesman.

Jeremy: Yeah. I try my best.

Raphael: Good! So, would you mind taking me around the premises and showing me around? Maybe tell a few tidbits here and there about the photos and the objects that came along?

Jeremy: Yeah, a few things in my office that you might find interesting.

Raphael: So tell me more about the toilet here.

Jeremy: Well, the story I was told was that when Hardy Amies had the building—he was the Queen’s dressmaker—she would come here for fittings, and this apparently was her bathroom, strictly for her only. So when we took over, it’s been completely restored. But I asked them, “Why don’t you write ‘On The Throne’ here?” I thought it’d be funny, you know. Anyway. Yeah, well, that’s pretty much a tribute to Hardy Amies.

Raphael: These weren’t here originally? You had those put in here?

Jeremy: We just put these in as a little reminder. Following in very good footsteps.

Raphael: Yeah, he dressed the Queen for how many decades?

Jeremy: A long time, yeah. But you see number 14, and these are a few little old bits and pieces. We’ve got a lot more that I’ve picked up over the years that never sold.

Raphael: At the flea markets?

Jeremy: And this is also a reminder of, you know, how it all started.

Raphael: This is a beautiful opener here.

Jeremy: Yeah, it’s like a deco. Yeah, and the bottle top.

Raphael: Are you more of an Art Deco person?

Jeremy: I do like Art Deco, but I like Georgian as well.

Jeremy: Because of the simplicity of it. I like all sorts of things, really. You know, this room is our ready-to-wear room, and it’s also where we do our made-to-measure.

Jeremy: So we have three elements to the business here. Most of it is bespoke—that’s what most people come for. But the ready-to-wear has been doing very well, indeed. And then there are people who shy away from the cost of bespoke, or they want it quicker, so they go for made-to-measure, and that’s going very well.

Raphael: Or they just want a J. P. Hackett on Savile Row. So if we look at the jackets here, is there one that you’re particularly fond of?

Jeremy: Yeah, in fact, I think it’s out there. We’ll come to it in a minute. So we have a good business in formal wear because historically we’re well known for morning coats and white tie.

Raphael: Have you noticed a decrease in morning coat purchases?

Jeremy: Not especially, because most of what we do is bespoke.

We do a little bit of ready-to-wear, but most of it is bespoke. One of our very good customers, Roger Varian, he’s a top trainer at Newmarket. We made his morning coat for this year. I was with him at Ascot last year, and I said, “Come on, Roger, you’ve got to do even better than that—you’re a top trainer.” So he came in and ordered the whole bespoke.

I invited a couple of customers to join me at Ascot this year. They said, “Oh, we haven’t got any of the kids. We’ll have to come in and get it made.” I said, “Oh yeah? Okay, come and get it made.” And they did.

Raphael: So, I’ve seen morning coats with different lengths. Some are a little longer, some end at the knee. Some are a little more open, some are a little more closed in the front. What’s your kind of preference?

Jeremy: Well, I don’t think they should be too long.

Raphael: Yeah, I agree. I like it a little shorter—more elegant.

Jeremy: I don’t mind it a little more open. But I like it with a high-notched lapel.

Raphael: Peak?

Jeremy: Peak, definitely peak.

Raphael: But wide or slim?

Jeremy: Yeah, wide. In fact, mine is based on a secondhand one that I bought in the market, I don’t know, 40 years ago, with the silk-edged, taped edge.

Raphael: Piping?

Jeremy: Yeah.

Raphael: That’s what I wore for my wedding. It’s like an old one.

Jeremy: And it’s also piped here as well.

Raphael: Nice.

Jeremy: And the trousers are—I don’t like the busy stripe, I like the sort of block stripe one. If you’ve ever seen a picture of me wearing striped trousers, the block stripe is just more striking, I think. And everybody has the busy stripe, you know. I was like, when people are doing one thing, I think, “Well, everybody’s doing that. Let’s do something different.”

Raphael: It’s like with your turnup, or cuffs, as Americans would say, style, right? You have an interesting little detail, and then you have a little more spacing between your ….

Jeremy: And you know, both of these relate to the military—the two and two buttons, which I didn’t realize at the time when I did it, probably back in the early ’90s. I thought, how do I distinguish a Hackett suit from everybody else? So I thought, well, let’s do two and two buttons. So whenever I saw that, I’d think, “Oh yeah, it’s a Hackett suit.”

Jeremy: One day, I was out somewhere, and a guy said, “Were you in The Coldstream Guards?” I said, “No, why?” He said, “Well, your button placement is the same as The Coldstream Guards.” So, flying under false colors. And this gauntlet thing comes from the military. It would have been a metal guard in this shape that protected the wrist.

Jeremy: And it translated from that into clothing, much the same as on a smoking jacket where you have frogging. That would have originally been on a uniform as the metal decoration across the front, so that when they were attacked with a saber, it would just slide off the metal.

Raphael: Interesting.

Jeremy: It all sort of goes back to something.

Raphael: But when you were showing me your cuff, I noticed on your watch, the kind of angled dial.

Jeremy: Yeah, yeah.

Raphael: It’s a Vacheron Constantin.

Jeremy: It’s a very eccentric watch. Yeah, it’s all slightly offset, and apparently, it’s a motorist watch, so that when you’re driving, theoretically, you’re supposed to be able to read the time. The thing is, you have to drive like this to actually see it, but I just love the eccentricity of it. And it’s beautifully made, you know.

Raphael: Is there a story behind that watch?

Jeremy: There is. There’s a long story.

Raphael: Do you care to tell it?

Jeremy: No. Well, it was—it is a pretty expensive watch. I had to, you know, remortgage the house or sell some things at home. And then a friend of mine, who was connected to some Russian, somebody or other, said, “Well, why don’t you sell some of those Russian paintings? I’ll sort it out for you.”

Raphael: And?

Jeremy: So I sold three Russian paintings for 10,000 quid that I’d picked up in the market many years ago for next to nothing. So then I thought, well, I can treat myself now.

Raphael: Nice. Excellent! So here are the fabrics just for made-to-measure?

Jeremy: Made-to-measure and bespoke, yeah.

Raphael: So bespoke, too?

Jeremy: Yeah. So they’re all here, all the famous mills. One that’s a favorite of mine is Fox Brothers. I’ve worked with them.

Raphael: Douglas Cordeaux?

Jeremy: Yeah, Douglas. In fact, I introduced Douglas to Fox Brothers when Fox Brothers was about to go bust. I said, “Why don’t you have a look at Fox Brothers?”

Raphael: Are you two friends, or how did you—

Jeremy: I met him because he used to work with the group in another brand. And then he went off and was looking around for something to do. I suggested a couple of names to him, and then Fox Brothers. I said, “I think they’re having trouble, why don’t you talk to them?”

Jeremy: I said to him, “Don’t buy the mill, just do a sort of retail version of it using Foxcloth that somebody else makes.” But anyway, he went—he’s from that part of the world anyway—so he went to visit them and ended up buying the factory. Okay, what do I know?

Raphael: Yeah, we went to Yorkshire and saw different areas. A lot of English fabrics are made there.

Jeremy: But I mean, they’re all good, really. Who’s this one?

Raphael: Dugdale Brothers.

Jeremy: Dugdales. We use a lot of Dugdales. Harrison’s. Most of these people I’ve used since I started making new clothes.

Raphael: Caccioppoli, yeah. Very nice. Do you still have a fondness for Donegal tweeds?

Jeremy: Not so much. I prefer the overchecks, really.

Raphael: Overchecks?

Jeremy: Yeah, or Prince of Wales checks. I mean, I’ve got quite a few tweed suits, but I don’t have a Donegal tweed. Maybe it’s a childhood trauma or something.

Raphael: You know, sometimes I think people see you, and especially Mr. Classic, with this vision in their head that, you know, when you’re at home, you’re wearing a bow tie with the tartan jacket and the monogrammed velvet slippers.

Jeremy: Well, yeah, naturally. I only dress down when I go to bed. Then I wear my pajamas, my Sea Island cotton pajamas, monogrammed. Tuck my slippers under the bed, yeah.

Raphael: So jeans and sweaters are not part of the wardrobe?

Jeremy: I haven’t worn jeans for a long time. But I’ll tell you a little story about sweaters. You know, men really like their clothes, and they get fond of a particular item. I had an old Hackett Shetland sweater. It was probably 30 years old or something. And it went into holes here. But I loved this. Nothing special, just a navy blue Shetland sweater, but I loved it. And it went into holes, and I thought, well, rather than putting patches on, I was wearing a striped shirt underneath, and I thought, well, that’s really nice, so why don’t I make some sweaters like that—with the holes, and with a striped shirt underneath? Disaster. We hardly sold any. But, you know, I think it was more Comme des Garçons than Hackett. I don’t know if customers understood it. “Why would I go around with holes in my sweater?” But it just looked nice.

Raphael: Yeah, but it sounds like you have different ideas, and some are a hit. It’s okay. It’s how it goes.

Jeremy: Yeah, I’m not bothered.

Raphael: One thing I noticed is, I think I’ve seen many pictures of you, and you always wear French cuffs, double cuffs.

Jeremy: Oh, most of the time, yeah. I do have some single-cuff shirts, but when I wear a suit, I usually wear a double-cuff.

Raphael: What I also noticed was, in Britain, I’ve seen a lot of men wearing pinky rings, but I’ve never seen you wear one. It’s not your thing?

Jeremy: No. Less is more. I do wear this, and the only reason I wear this is because it’s my dog. And so, when I haven’t got my dog, I’ve got my tie pin.

Raphael: So here we’re in a pink room.

Jeremy: Yeah, and this is where we introduce and meet our bespoke customers. And here are some of the patterns. This is where we would initially talk to them about cloth.

Jeremy: That’s a very special cloth we had made. Fifty meters.

Raphael: Is there cashmere in there?

Jeremy: No, it’s alpaca.

Raphael: It’s alpaca?

Jeremy: Yeah. Oh, it’s long, yeah.

Raphael: This is going to be quite warm.

Jeremy: Yes. Yeah, this is probably about 500 grams.

Raphael: And also, I think alpaca is hollow on the inside, so it insulates really well.

Jeremy: Yeah, it makes up beautifully. It’s a joy to wear. I didn’t have one myself, but it’s enormously expensive. But we sold 90 percent of it almost immediately. We had a little event here with our bespoke customers. Nearly every customer ordered either a jacket or an overcoat.

Raphael: So, is this a typical house-style silhouette where you have the pocket here slightly curved?

Jeremy: Yes, yeah.

Raphael: Single button. And this is quite a long button hole.

Jeremy: Yeah. Bespoke.

Raphael: The person sewing it has to have long buttons.

Jeremy: Yeah. It’s a proper, proper thing. Horn buttons, of course.

Raphael: And this is your classic double-breasted silhouette?

Jeremy: Yep.

Raphael: Frock coat?

Jeremy: Yes, yep. Tuxedo. Do you know, I have an old book at home—or it might be upstairs—I think it was around 1936 when it was printed. It was about packing to go on a cruise. And it says, “You must never wear your white tuxedo until you pass port side.” I mean, today, if anybody’s actually got—

Raphael: I’ve got to see those! My wife’s—

Jeremy: So you must learn from this. Not until you pass port side.

Raphael: Yeah, yeah. I wear it because I’m like, why not? This is a great place to do so. And people always say, “Wow, this looks great,” but they’re not [formally dressed] themselves.

Jeremy: And this is one of our tweeds. It’s made in Scotland. It’s from a firm called Lovat.

Raphael: Lovat Mill? Yes. Beautiful products.

Jeremy: I’ve used them for many, many years. They make a lot of our exclusive tweeds.

Raphael: And look at that hand.

Jeremy: And this is a proper weight.

Raphael: It springs right back, right?

Jeremy: This is really the sort of stuff we sold in the early days. But it has sold very well here. And it’s made up of all the different colors in the various rooms. So we call this—there should be a label.

Jeremy: No, maybe it’s not because it’s bespoke. But it’s a townhouse tweed.

Raphael: Beautiful. I like this idea. Was it your idea to match the colors of the fabric?

Jeremy: Yeah.

Raphael: Oh, there’s your pattern. Look at that!

Jeremy: There’s my pattern, yeah. The short and fat.

Raphael: Well, the metabolism changes. So you’ve got to adjust a little bit here and there.

Jeremy: Yeah, well, they say that for every million you make, you put on an inch. It’s not true.

Raphael: I love it. So you have Juan Carlos?

Jeremy: Yeah, Juan Carlos. He’s fantastic, yeah, he’s great. Because he understands the British element and the European element.

Raphael: He’s from Madrid, right?

Jeremy: He’s from Madrid, yeah. Well, we don’t hold that against him. Yeah, no, he’s fantastic. He’s probably told you he’s three generations of tailors. His grandfather worked down the road at Kilgour.

Raphael: He told me that story. That’s why he came here and everything.

Jeremy: I mean, he makes the best white tie and morning dress. Because it’s a very skillful job to make morning dress properly.

Raphael: It’s a fitted body coat. I mean, here is kind of a—

Jeremy: It’s a wool pocket coat we’re making for somebody there.

Jeremy: Now, if that was, again, if that was Comme des Garçons, that would be showing. But obviously, we won’t. It’s the same in a way.

Raphael: Peak lapel. So there it says Hackett number 14 bespoke limited edition.

Raphael: Shall we take a look at—

Jeremy: Oh, I’ll show you something that’s quite new. It’s new for autumn—it’s denim. Wool denim.

Raphael: It looks like denim.

Jeremy: It does look like denim.

Raphael: But it’s actually wool, which is much nicer.

Jeremy: Yeah.

Raphael: Because it—

Jeremy: It’s quite a decent weight as well.

Raphael: It is, it is.

Jeremy: But I’m having this made at the moment, and what I’ve done is—

Raphael: In a jacket or a suit?

Jeremy: A suit. With the trousers, I’ve had the turn-ups turned up so it looks like on a pair of jeans where you’ve turned it up. So, the inside of the cloth—well, you can’t see it, but the inside of the cloth rather than the outside. Just a bit of fun. And I’m going to have some sort of metal button that reminds you of rivets.

Raphael: The rivets?

Jeremy: Yeah, yeah.

Raphael: So, the good old Levi’s.

Jeremy: Just playing with it, you know. And this is classic gun club, but I put it with my dog. So, it’s gun club check, gun dog tie.

Raphael: What’s the dog’s name?

Jeremy: Harry. Sussex Spaniel.

Raphael: Yeah, nice!

Jeremy: Yeah, rarer than a giant panda. Only 50 born a year.

Raphael: Good hair, too.

Jeremy: And, you know, from when we were looking at the—

Raphael: The art?

Jeremy: Yeah, Art. We made them into pocket squares.

Raphael: Ah, from Hormazd?

Jeremy: Yeah. Very nice. And you’ve probably seen the Coronation pocket square. The Coronation pocket square.

Raphael: I mean, that was a big thing here.

Jeremy: And that’s something I did with Mr. Slowboy.

Raphael: Nice. He does the illustrations, right?

Jeremy: Yeah.

Raphael: Did you find him also through Instagram?

Jeremy: I don’t know. I think I contacted him. I saw one of his postcards in Locke when he first started, and I contacted him and said, “You know, would you fancy having coffee or something?” And we just became friends. He made the hoarding for us outside the shop before it was open. And originally, Hackett was saying I would put navy and white: “Hackett opening.” I said, “Well, it’s going to be out there for a long time. Let’s have something a bit more interesting.” So, I got him to do a whole collage of builders work. I’ll show you a picture of it upstairs.

Raphael: Oh yeah, I’d love to see it. Would you like to go upstairs first or downstairs?

Jeremy: Yeah, let’s go downstairs. We were doing a photo shoot there, and I just snapped that. Yeah, okay. We’ll go along this way. We have coat makers in that room on the end and a waistcoat maker, but obviously, it’s Sunday, so they’re not working.

Raphael: Was it always a dream of yours to have your bespoke department, as someone who’s enthusiastic about bespoke?

Jeremy: Ah, yeah. This is, as I said earlier, my favorite part of the business.

Raphael: Hello!

Jeremy: So, morning.

[Unidentified woman]: Morning, how are you?

Jeremy: I’m good, thank you. So, this is where it happens. This is where JC is.

Jessica: Hi! Jessica.

Raphael: Raphael, nice to meet you.

Jessica: Nice to meet you.

Raphael: Raphael.

Jeremy: So, we brought you in today. Sorry.

Jessica: Yes. Oh no, it’s okay. I didn’t mind.

Jeremy: Let’s see if somebody can find JC. Is JC in the room?

[Unidentified Woman]: Yes, he’s just coming. He’s at the top of the cockpit.

Jeremy: So, we have a ties we’re making here, and JC there, cutting—well, both cutting.

Raphael: Nice commercial ironing table with vacuum suction.

Jeremy: Yeah, yeah, I have one too at home because it’s just nice.

Jessica: Which is a little bit noisy.

Jeremy: Do you know, when I first came to London, the thing I hated most was ironing my shirts? At the time, I smoked cigarettes, and I thought, “If I give up smoking cigarettes, I could have my shirts laundered.” I haven’t ironed a shirt since, you know.

Raphael: That sounds like a fantastic trade-off. Just cigars now?

Jeremy: Yeah, just cigars, yeah.

Raphael: So, this is where the magic happens.

Jeremy: Yeah, yeah. Or the headaches, I’m not sure which.

Raphael: The Hackett hangers!

Jeremy: Yeah. Oh yeah, this is through William, of course. Yeah. Serious hangers.

Raphael: Do you have those at home as well? Beautiful. It’s a nice piece.

Jeremy: Everything just feels so good when you have it made.

Raphael: See, here’s your house with a little bit of tweed.

Jeremy: We’re making that overcoat for a lady, yeah.

Raphael: Is it men’s and ladies? Is it even? 50:50?

Jeremy: No, no, it’s more men. But funny enough, I think the first two customers who came in on the day we opened were two ladies who ordered tweed jackets.

Raphael: So were you like, “Oh!”

Jeremy: And they’ve been shopping with us ever since.

Raphael: That’s wonderful.

Jeremy: But you know, it’s a very different business dealing with ladies to men. Because a man will come in and say, “I want a blue suit.” A lady will come in and say, “Well, can you show me what’s new?” Anyway, it’s just different. I mean, it’s a huge business if you’re doing it, but we’ve pretty much stuck to menswear.

Raphael: So, is that sort of worsted when you talk about Prince of Wales check? I mean, it’s not quite one, it doesn’t have the overplaid, but that’s something that you would go for.

Jeremy: Yeah, this is a glen check. And this is a slightly enlarged one, but it’s incredibly light. I’m not sure whose cloth this is, but it must be six or seven ounces.

Raphael: Very crisp, high-twist kind of thing?

Jeremy: Yeah, I prefer those sort of drier cloths, actually.

Raphael: And then, is the oval armhole something you’re typically going for?

Jeremy: I think you’d better talk to JC about that. As I said, I’m a retailer. Anyway, I’m not sure, but I found it in my attic. And if you believe that, most people say, “Gosh, he must have a huge attic.” I don’t know who it is.

There’s one of my dogs as a puppy. Yep, just walking the dog.

Raphael: You took that too?

Jeremy: No. And I’m in here.

Raphael: Oh, lovely. Oh, Rowing Blazer. It’s Jack Carlson.

Jeremy: Yeah. I had lunch with him a few weeks ago. He’s very nice.

Raphael: He’s a nice guy. I never met him. Very early on, he sent me his book, and we wrote about it. And he’s talking about collaborations—phenomenal what he did. Mr. Classic. This is fantastic.

Jeremy: Yeah, so I did it as a column. And then I got approached by Thames & Hudson. Tom Davis. Do you know Tom Davis?

Raphael: Not personally, no.

Jeremy: There’s a picture of him somewhere.

Raphael: What’s the story? Bentley is my kind of shop, that’s what you talked about.

Jeremy: Talking about secondhand.

Raphael: Did you take all the photos?

Jeremy: No, a friend of mine did. Yeah. That’s William Fox-Pitt, the top three-day eventer we used to sponsor.

Raphael: Did you follow the Olympics this year?

Jeremy: These are all Hackett britches, riding britches that we used to make.

Raphael: Nice. Do you make boots too?

Jeremy: No. We did very early on with Edward Green.

Raphael: I mean, Edward Green is, what I did was, I cut all the shoes apart. You know, Crockett & Jones, Edward Green. And Edward Green, the way they use the reinforcements and everything, to me it seems like the closest to what you get in bespoke.

Jeremy: I would think they’re probably the best ready-to-wear shoes.

Raphael: It’s still a difference from a bespoke shoe, but it’s definitely—

Jeremy: I’ve had my shoes made for many years at George Cleverley. Well, that’s what I’m wearing today. My first pair was made by George Cleverley himself, who came to our secondhand shop with Terence Stamp.

And Terence Stamp was wandering around.

Raphael: So you really attracted well-known people to your shop at the time. That’s really nice.

Jeremy: Yeah, all sorts of people. That morning, I’d bought in Portobello three pairs of unworn white buckskin britches handmade by Huntsman from the 1930s, I think. And I just put them into the shop. Terence saw them, and he brought them out and showed them to George. He said, “George, what do you think of these?” And George said, “Oh, they’d make some great white buckskin shoes.” So, he bought all three pairs and went off with them. I don’t know, I never saw the shoes, but that’s what they were going to be turned into.

Raphael: Nice. So, did you furnish this room yourself?

Jeremy: Yeah. That’s a couple of my Russian paintings there. Those were the sorts of things I was selling.

Raphael: Oh, so you were selling those to fund the fashion?

Jeremy: Yeah.

Raphael: And you have the Leica there because you like street photography.

Jeremy: Yeah. And whenever we did exclusive tweeds, I would make a teddy bear. Those are a few that—this is one we made for the Jubilee tweed for the Queen’s Jubilee—Gold, Silver Jubilee.

Raphael: So, it’s an interesting aspect, like an archive. Do you have an archive?

Jeremy: No, I don’t.

Raphael: I mean, now you have photographs you can see, but the fabric—that’s not true?

Jeremy: No, I don’t. I should have.

Raphael: Nice.

Jeremy: Yeah, that was my first suit.

Raphael: Oh, nice. I would not recognize you. And note the ticket pocket.

Jeremy: Yeah, yeah.

Raphael: Ticket pocket here. That’s amazing. That’s great that you have that, but it makes sense because it was made for this event.

Raphael: And what have we got here?

Jeremy: That’s from the early days when we had the five little shops. We all used to dress for Christmas. I’d just say to the boys, “Go and find something secondhand that fits.” And we’d wear this. They’d all wear this for the week.

Raphael: Beautiful double-breasted. Nicely deep cut. Do you go for double-breasted or single-breasted waistcoats?

Jeremy: No, I always go for single-breasted. Much easier. The double-breasted is just a bit too restricting, really.

Raphael: Overcoats?

Jeremy: Overcoat?

Raphael: Yeah. Double-breasted or single-breasted?

Jeremy: Well, the last overcoat I had made was a double-breasted covert coat. And funnily enough, on that, I reversed the collar. Rather than having a velvet collar, I just reversed the collar, so it’s a slightly different tone to the face of the cloth.

Jeremy: Just a little touch.

Raphael: Just a little touch! You like the little changes.

Jeremy: And this is made of covert cloth.

Raphael: Oh yes, look at that.

Jeremy: And the cushions are like the velvet collar.

Raphael: And then Tattersall here?

Jeremy: Tattersall, because sometimes you Tattersall line.

Raphael: Oh, very cushy and comfortable.

Jeremy: Yeah, it’s good, yeah.

Raphael: Yeah, excellent. So, this is where you spend your days?

Jeremy: Yeah, these are the dogs. And this is a tweed we did a while ago called Sussex tweed, which the dogs were Sussex Spaniels, so I had the tweed made.

Raphael: With a needle?

Jeremy: That’s the polo stick umbrella.

Raphael: Oh, yes! I want to see that. Stick umbrella.

Jeremy: Yeah. So what we did was chop off the end.

Raphael: So you just, like, go to, like, Fox Umbrellas?

Jeremy: Yeah, Fox did it for me.

Raphael: Did you want to open it?

Jeremy: No, no. It’s just your bad luck, of course.

Raphael: But oh, you can see the full stick, and it still says Hackett. So, this was the original polo stick as they call it.

Jeremy: So, there you are. William or Harry might have been playing with that.

Raphael: Fantastic! Great idea. So, when did you have the idea to do this?

Jeremy: When I was at the Rundle Cup a few years ago, and I saw all these old polo shirts.

Raphael: Oh, has it gone wrong twice? Or did … the wrong way?

Jeremy: You know it’s called furling an umbrella? How you make it really tight. You can’t do it on this because it’s quite thick.

Raphael: Yeah, recently I was in Vienna, and I bought a—

Jeremy: A well-furled umbrella.

Raphael: I bought a vintage cane, like an umbrella cane. And you have to wrap it really tight, but it’s silk. It’s a silk umbrella. It’s very delicate.

Jeremy: They’re very fine. That’s the coronation hanky we made for the king’s coronation.

Raphael: Is it linen?

Jeremy: It’s linen, silk, and wool.

Raphael: Silk and wool?

Jeremy: Yeah. It’s made from several old ones that I’d picked up in Portobello. There’s one over there. It was for Edward VIII, of course, who was never crowned. But all the memorabilia had been made.

Raphael: See, our brand is called Fort Belvedere. Because that’s where he lived. And he was so instrumental to classic men’s style and the changes that he brought.

Jeremy: But of course, when he was doing it, it was new.

Raphael: Yes.

Jeremy: I mean, he was a bit of a player.

Raphael: And he had, you know, zippers where others had buttons and a fly. You know, he wanted the soft turndown collar.

Jeremy: There was a story that he went to see his father by appointment, to see his father by appointment. And he turned up, and the king said to him, “Well, come back when you’re properly dressed.” The thing was, he had turn-ups on his trousers. And apparently, that was improperly dressed. And now, of course, he’s very properly dressed.

Raphael: I mean, one of the first things he did was to get rid of the—he introduced the morning coats and was like, no more frock coat. Because he was like, that’s, you know—

Jeremy: And wasn’t it Edward VII who cut off the tails of his evening—of his white tie to create a dinner jacket?

Raphael: Yeah, like Henry Poole.

Jeremy: Now, this might interest you. This is a purchase I made in Portobello.

Raphael: This? Or this?

Jeremy: No, the boots.

Raphael: The boots?

Jeremy: Now, these were thrown out of the back of a furniture van into the gutter, and I picked them up. They were wrapped in some sort of paper.

Raphael: I think they’re very, I mean, the elegant shape, you know. Like the tip, how kind of pointed it is, is very elegant.

Jeremy: And there’s no toe puff.

Raphael: And the angled—you can just see that, you know, the needlework. It’s all very fine.

Jeremy: Yeah. Well, the thing is, I looked at them, and I thought, that’s a nice pair of boots. I bought them, paid three pounds for them. And then I took them to George Cleverley. I said, “George, what do you think of these?” He took one look at them. He said, “Oh, they’re great.” Because inside, it’s written H.M. the King. And he said, “Oh, Edward VIII.” And the reason they weren’t delivered was because he abdicated, and the boots remained with the shoemaker or bootmaker at home.

Raphael: It even says in there—you can probably see it—H.M. the King. It says H.M. the King.

Jeremy: But then I had them on show in the original shop, and somebody from the Metropolitan Museum of Art came in and said, “Would you lend these to us because we’re doing an exhibition called Man and the Horse, curated by Diana Vreeland and sponsored by Ralph Lauren?” So, I had to send them over, and the insurance was 3,000 pounds. This was back in 1987.

Jeremy: I was offered 10,000 pounds for them a few years ago. But what I probably will do in the end is put them into auction and give the money to charity because they only cost 3,000.

Raphael: Thank you for sharing all that. What was this?

Jeremy: This is one of my dogs, Isle of Dogs. It came out with that title before the film. So, they’re all pictures of my dogs.

Raphael: Taken by you?

Jeremy: Yeah.

Raphael: Nice! So, you like the tweed? The menswear?

Jeremy: They’re gundogs, apparently. Mine would be.

Raphael: Are you into hunting?

Jeremy: Shooting, no. I used to hunt, but I don’t anymore.

Raphael: Yeah, in the UK, hunting is horse-mounted. Shooting is—

Jeremy: That’s right.

Raphael: —on the ground. In the US, people say hunting when they mean shooting. Yeah. So, I knew the distinction.

Jeremy: I bought that in America, actually. I bought that driving back from Vermont. And there was a market in a field, so I just came off the road and went to the market, and I saw that Beatles album. Never seen it before.

Raphael: And Bernhard Roetzel’s book, The Gentleman.

Jeremy: Which one?

Raphael: Bernhard Roetzel, a German menswear writer. It’s called The Gentleman—this gentleman book here. Japanese magazines. I see that.

Jeremy: Christmas card. Ho, ho. And you know, Alan Flusser? Clothes and the Man? This was Clothes and the Man, 1930s. You have that one?

Raphael: Yes, I have that one. We actually wrote a piece about it once. This was the original Clothes and the Man.

Jeremy: Do you have this one?

Raphael: Yes, I do.

Jeremy: You do? Alright!

Raphael: I got interested in vintage books, vintage magazines. So, I went to libraries. And also, because, you know, I’m from Germany, I speak German. There were a lot of German books.

Jeremy: You have this one?

Raphael: I do not have this one.

Jeremy: Oh, and you don’t have my book.

Raphael: I will get it. I will get it.

Jeremy: Yeah, I’m sure we; I mean, it was quite a long time ago. So, we’ll look for you anyway.

Raphael: What I started doing was, I got the old books because I was like, these are going to be gone. And then if you try to keep up with the new books—my wife is like, we have enough books. So, it’s getting them all in. But I will get your book.

Raphael: I promise.

Jeremy: Okay. Oh, this was one I did in Japan.

Jeremy: They called me up and said they’d like to do a book where I write some stories. So, it’s still called Mr. Classic, but they’re all different stories.

Raphael: How often do you wear bow ties versus neckties?

Jeremy: Occasionally, not that often. I think I was doing my Ian Fleming bit there.

Raphael: Paul S. Martin. So, you said, you know, from Ashley Lloyd Jennings, it seems like he was like a mentor to you in terms of art and vintage cars.

Jeremy: Yeah. No. Yeah. I think we both shared a lot of similar things.

Raphael: Leica M6.

Jeremy: The Hackett.

Raphael: I did not. It’s a Hackett case?

Jeremy: Yes. Just set into the table.

Jack: We were at Fenton’s yesterday. A little beautiful luggage.

Raphael: That’s an interesting way—how you set it into the table. That’s a cool way to do it because you get the leather, it’s elevated, but it’s not—you know, it doesn’t slide. Bespoke piece of furniture.

Jeremy: And that’s Tanner Kroll’s case. When we used to work with them many, many years ago.

Raphael: I think they’re around again, right?

Jeremy: I think so.

Raphael: Because the old Tanner Kroll was—

Jeremy: Were they part of Chanel at one point? And they started opening shops, and I don’t think it really worked for them.

Raphael: But I always, you know, when there’s like old Asprey, old Tanner Kroll, I’m like, oh, let’s look at that.

Jeremy: Well, Mr. Kroll used to come in to see us. Every Wednesday he’d come into the shop. He’d do his rounds. 12-stripe suit, red rose, and, you know, always looking—”Do you want to order something?” You know, or, “I think you’re overdue on your last invoice,” or something like that. To be honest, I live in—I’ve got a little Georgian house, which is basically—I tell people it’s a two-up, two-down, but it has an East Wing and a West Wing.

Raphael: Sounds more American.

Raphael: Jeremy, thank you so much for having me on a Sunday. I really appreciate it.

Raphael: Time flew. It was lovely talking to you.

Jeremy: I really enjoyed it. Thank you very much indeed as well. I hope you’ll come back.

Raphael: I will. I will.

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