Hardy Amies
Encyclopedia
Hardy Amies, Ltd. is a British
-based fashion house
specialising in modern luxury menswear.
fashion designer, best known for his official title as dressmaker for Queen Elizabeth II
, from her accession to the throne until his retirement in 1989.
He established the monarch
’s crisp, understated style of dress. “I don’t think she feels clothes which are too chic are exactly very friendly,” he told one fashion editor. “The Queen’s attitude is that she must always dress for the occasion”.
, London. His father was an architect
for the London County Council, his mother a saleswoman for Madame Gray at Machinka & May, London; and then Madame Durrant on Dover Street, London. In his teens, he adopted his mother's maiden name, Hardy - and always cited her as the inspiration for his chosen professional path.
Amies was educated at Brentwood School, Essex
, leaving in 1927. Although his father wanted him to attend Cambridge University, it was his ambition to become a journalist
. His father relented and arranged for a meeting between his son and R. D. Blumenfeld
, the editor of the Daily Express
. His father was mortified when Blumenfeld suggested his son travel around Europe
to gain some worldly experience.
After spending three years in France
and Germany
; learning the languages, working for a customs agent and then as an English tutor in Antibes
and later Bendorf
, Germany - Amies returned to England, where in 1930 he became a sales assistant in a ceramic wall-tile factory, after which he secured a trainee position as a weight machine salesman with W & T Avery Ltd.
in Birmingham
.
It was Amies' mother’s contacts in the fashion world, and his flair for writing, that secured him his first job in fashion. It was his vivid description of a dress, written in a letter to a retired French seamstress, which brought Hardy to the attention of the owner of the Mayfair couture house Lachasse on Farm Street, Berkeley Square
, as the wearer of the dress was the owner's wife. He became managing director at the age of 25, in 1934.
In 1937, he scored his first success with a Linton tweed suit in sage green with a cerise overcheck called ‘Panic’. ‘Panic’ was to be his debut into the fashion bible Vogue
and was photographed by Cecil Beaton
. By the late 1930s, Hardy was designing the entire Lachasse collection. His second celebration creation was ‘Made in England’, a biscuit-coloured checked suit for the Hollywood ingénue Mildred Shay
. He left Lachasse in 1939 and joined the House of Worth
in 1941.
, with his language experience Amies was called up to serve in the Special Operations Executive
. Amies suspected that SOE's commander Major General
Colin Gubbins
did not regard a dressmaker as suitable military material, but his training report stated:
Posted to Belgium
, Amies worked with the various Belgian resistance groups, he adapted names of fashion accessories for use as code words, while he organised sabotage
assignments and arranged for some of the most notorious and ruthless agents to be parachuted behind enemy lines with radio equipment into the Ardennes
. Amies rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel
, but outraged his superiors in 1944 by engaging famed photographer Lee Miller
and setting up a Vogue
photo shoot in Belgium post D-Day. In 1946, he was knighted in Belgium, being a Named Officier de l'Ordre de la Couronne
.
In 2000, a BBC 2 documentary entitled Secret Agent named Amies as one of the men who, in Operation Ratweek
, helped to plan the murder of dozens of Nazi collaborators
in Europe towards the end of the Second World War, but Amies disclaimed all knowledge of the matter.
Hardy Amies was quirky, yet uncontrollably conservative, for example having his British Army
uniform tailored on Savile Row
. Years later Hardy recalled Kim Philby
was in his mess and on being asked what the infamous spy was like, Hardy quipped, ‘He was always trying to get information out of me – most significantly the name of my tailor’.
in London. The runway show was a first on many levels as it was both the first time music was played and for the designer to accompany models on the catwalk.
Amies also undertook design for in-house work wear, which developed from designing special clothes for the England 1966 World Cup team, the 1972 British Olympic squad
; and groups such as the Oxford University Boat Club
and London Stock Exchange
. During the mid-1970s, he ventured into interior design, including designs for Crown Wallpaper
. In 1974, Amies was entered into the International Best Dressed List
Hall of Fame.
to design the costumes for his film 2001: A Space Odyssey
. The collection allowed Amies to design totally futuristic fashions. In 2001, the standard attire was a business-as-usual approach to the corporate fashion. There were no neck-ties as they were in zero gravity. The Russian women scientists wore dark conservative clothing, reflecting their own conservative values. Although Kubrick's 2001 wardrobe was practical, it still reflected the mid-sixties slender look. The military and spacecraft uniforms were as common as they are now, with no dramatic changes. American women in 2001 retained roles they held in the 1960s as Hotel receptionists and air stewardesses. The women wore space-age traveling hats while carrying hand bags. According to 'Setting the Scene' by Robert S. Sennett (Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1994), many design elements of the film seem to reflect swinging London circa 1968, rather than the imagined future. The stewardesses' uniforms, designed by Hardy Amies, look like the uncomfortable unisex pant suits that were being promoted in the late sixties. An epic science fiction film, it demonstrated the immense range of Amies' design ability, and was nominated for four Academy Awards
- receiving one for visual effects. In 1991, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry
.
Amies' work was seen in a handful of other films of the 1960s: he dressed Albert Finney
in Two for the Road
, Tony Randall
in The Alphabet Murders
, Joan Greenwood
in The Amorous Prawn
and Deborah Kerr
in The Grass is Greener
.
. Although the couture side of the Hardy Amies business was traditionally less financially successful, the award of a Royal Warrant as official dressmaker in 1955 gave his house respectability and publicity. One of his best known creations is the gown he designed in 1977 for Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee
portrait, which he said was "immortalized on a thousand biscuit tins." An estimated 500 million people watched the day of events on television. Knighted in 1989, Amies held the Warrant until 1990, when he gave it up so that younger designers could create for the Queen, although the House of Hardy Amies was still designing for her under Design Director Jon Moore until 2002.
magazine on men's fashion, in 1964 Amies published the book ABC of Men's Fashion. Amies's strict male dress code – with commandments on everything from socks to the summer wardrobe – made compelling reading: When in July 2009, the Hardy Amies designer archive was opened on Savile Row, the Victoria & Albert Museum reissued the book.
, which had already purchased Hepworths who distributed the Hardy Amies line. Amies purchased the business back in 1981. In May 2001, Amies sold his business to the Luxury Brands Group. He retired at the end of the year, when Moroccan
-born designer Jacques Azagury became head of couture. In November 2008, after going bankrupt, the Hardy Amies brand was acquired by Fung Capital, the private investment arm of Victor and William Fung, who together control the Li & Fung
Group.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-based fashion house
Fashion design
Fashion design is the art of the application of design and aesthetics or natural beauty to clothing and accessories. Fashion design is influenced by cultural and social latitudes, and has varied over time and place. Fashion designers work in a number of ways in designing clothing and accessories....
specialising in modern luxury menswear.
Sir Edwin Hardy Amies
Sir Edwin Hardy Amies, KCVO (17 July 1909 - 5 March 2003), was a BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
fashion designer, best known for his official title as dressmaker for Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
, from her accession to the throne until his retirement in 1989.
He established the monarch
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
’s crisp, understated style of dress. “I don’t think she feels clothes which are too chic are exactly very friendly,” he told one fashion editor. “The Queen’s attitude is that she must always dress for the occasion”.
Early life
Hardy Amies was born Edwin Amies on 17 July 1909 in Maida ValeMaida Vale
Maida Vale is a residential district in West London between St John's Wood and Kilburn. It is part of the City of Westminster. The area is mostly residential, and mainly affluent, consisting of many large late Victorian and Edwardian blocks of mansion flats...
, London. His father was an architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
for the London County Council, his mother a saleswoman for Madame Gray at Machinka & May, London; and then Madame Durrant on Dover Street, London. In his teens, he adopted his mother's maiden name, Hardy - and always cited her as the inspiration for his chosen professional path.
Amies was educated at Brentwood School, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, leaving in 1927. Although his father wanted him to attend Cambridge University, it was his ambition to become a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. His father relented and arranged for a meeting between his son and R. D. Blumenfeld
R. D. Blumenfeld
Ralph David Blumenfeld was an American-born journalist, writer and newspaper editor who is chiefly notable for having been in charge of the British newspaper Daily Express from 1902 to 1932....
, the editor of the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
. His father was mortified when Blumenfeld suggested his son travel around Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
to gain some worldly experience.
After spending three years in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
; learning the languages, working for a customs agent and then as an English tutor in Antibes
Antibes
Antibes is a resort town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.It lies on the Mediterranean in the Côte d'Azur, located between Cannes and Nice. The town of Juan-les-Pins is within the commune of Antibes...
and later Bendorf
Bendorf
Bendorf is a town in the district Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, approx. 7 km north of Koblenz.-Structure of the city:The city has the following neighbourhoods:*Bendorf*Sayn*Mülhofen...
, Germany - Amies returned to England, where in 1930 he became a sales assistant in a ceramic wall-tile factory, after which he secured a trainee position as a weight machine salesman with W & T Avery Ltd.
W & T Avery Ltd.
W & T Avery Ltd. is a British manufacturer of weighing machines. The company was founded in the early 18th century and took the name W & T Avery in 1818. Having been taken over by GEC in 1979 the company was later renamed into GEC-Avery. The company became Avery Berkel in 1993 when GEC acquired the...
in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
.
It was Amies' mother’s contacts in the fashion world, and his flair for writing, that secured him his first job in fashion. It was his vivid description of a dress, written in a letter to a retired French seamstress, which brought Hardy to the attention of the owner of the Mayfair couture house Lachasse on Farm Street, Berkeley Square
Berkeley Square
Berkeley Square is a town square in the West End of London, England, in the City of Westminster. It was originally laid out in the mid 18th century by architect William Kent...
, as the wearer of the dress was the owner's wife. He became managing director at the age of 25, in 1934.
In 1937, he scored his first success with a Linton tweed suit in sage green with a cerise overcheck called ‘Panic’. ‘Panic’ was to be his debut into the fashion bible Vogue
Vogue (British magazine)
The British edition of Vogue is a fashion magazine that has been published since 1916.When British Vogue was launched, it was the first overseas edition of an existing fashion magazine. Under the magazine's first editor, Elspeth Champcommunal, the magazine was essentially the same as the American...
and was photographed by Cecil Beaton
Cecil Beaton
Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton, CBE was an English fashion and portrait photographer, diarist, painter, interior designer and an Academy Award-winning stage and costume designer for films and the theatre...
. By the late 1930s, Hardy was designing the entire Lachasse collection. His second celebration creation was ‘Made in England’, a biscuit-coloured checked suit for the Hollywood ingénue Mildred Shay
Mildred Shay
Mildred Helen Shay was an American film actress, most famous for her 1930s off-camera exploits. The five-foot-two actress was dubbed "Pocket Venus" by gossip columnist Walter Winchell.-Life and career:...
. He left Lachasse in 1939 and joined the House of Worth
House of Worth
The House of Worth is a Haute Couture fashion house founded in the 1850s by Charles Frederick Worth. Today the house is owned by Shaneel Enterprises, entrepreneurs of Indian descent, based in the UK...
in 1941.
World War II
At the out break of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, with his language experience Amies was called up to serve in the Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
. Amies suspected that SOE's commander Major General
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
Colin Gubbins
Colin Gubbins
Major-General Sir Colin McVean Gubbins KCMG, DSO, MC was the prime mover of the Special Operations Executive in the Second World War....
did not regard a dressmaker as suitable military material, but his training report stated:
Posted to Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Amies worked with the various Belgian resistance groups, he adapted names of fashion accessories for use as code words, while he organised sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
assignments and arranged for some of the most notorious and ruthless agents to be parachuted behind enemy lines with radio equipment into the Ardennes
Ardennes
The Ardennes is a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and ridges formed within the Givetian Ardennes mountain range, primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France , and geologically into the Eifel...
. Amies rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
, but outraged his superiors in 1944 by engaging famed photographer Lee Miller
Lee Miller
Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller, Lady Penrose was an American photographer. Born in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1907, she was a successful fashion model in New York City in the 1920s before going to Paris where she became an established fashion and fine art photographer...
and setting up a Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
photo shoot in Belgium post D-Day. In 1946, he was knighted in Belgium, being a Named Officier de l'Ordre de la Couronne
Order of the Crown (Belgium)
The Order of the Crown is an Order of Belgium which was created on 15 October 1897 by King Leopold II in his capacity as ruler of the Congo Free State. The order was first intended to recognize heroic deeds and distinguished service achieved from service in the Congo Free State - many of which acts...
.
In 2000, a BBC 2 documentary entitled Secret Agent named Amies as one of the men who, in Operation Ratweek
Operation Ratweek
-North West Europe:A co-ordinated assassination offensive against Nazi security forces in Occupied Europe was mounted in January 1944 by the Special Operations Executive , whose intention was to create confusion and trepidation at the same time as the Allies increased preparations for the...
, helped to plan the murder of dozens of Nazi collaborators
Collaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
in Europe towards the end of the Second World War, but Amies disclaimed all knowledge of the matter.
Hardy Amies was quirky, yet uncontrollably conservative, for example having his British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
uniform tailored on Savile Row
Savile Row
Savile Row is a shopping street in Mayfair, central London, famous for its traditional men's bespoke tailoring. The term "bespoke" is understood to have originated in Savile Row when cloth for a suit was said to "be spoken for" by individual customers...
. Years later Hardy recalled Kim Philby
Kim Philby
Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby was a high-ranking member of British intelligence who worked as a spy for and later defected to the Soviet Union...
was in his mess and on being asked what the infamous spy was like, Hardy quipped, ‘He was always trying to get information out of me – most significantly the name of my tailor’.
№ 14 Savile Row
On 12 November 1945; Virginia, the Countess of Jersey (erstwhile Hollywood film star and the first Mrs. Cary Grant), who had been a former client during Hardy’s days at Laschasse, financed Hardy Amies move to Savile Row. The following January, Amies established his own couture fashion house business: Hardy Amies Ltd. Although Savile Row is the home of English bespoke tailoring, the Hardy Amies brand developed to become known for its classic and beautifully tailored clothes for both men and women. Hardy’s business quickly took off in the postwar years when customers, who had been deprived of couture for the preceding years, snapped up his elegant, traditional designs. Hardy was quoted at the times as saying, “A woman's day clothes must look equally good at Salisbury Station as the Ritz bar”. Amies was vice-chairman of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers from 1954 to 56, and chairman from 1959 to 60.Commercial Success
Amies was successful in business by being able to commercially extract value from his designs, while not replicating his brand to the point of exploitation. Amies was one of the first European designers to venture into the ready-to-wear market when he teamed up with Hepworths in 1959 to design a range of menswear. In 1961, Amies made fashion history by staging the first men's ready-to-wear catwalk shows, at the Savoy HotelSavoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a hotel located on the Strand, in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the hotel opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by...
in London. The runway show was a first on many levels as it was both the first time music was played and for the designer to accompany models on the catwalk.
Amies also undertook design for in-house work wear, which developed from designing special clothes for the England 1966 World Cup team, the 1972 British Olympic squad
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....
; and groups such as the Oxford University Boat Club
Oxford University Boat Club
The Oxford University Boat Club is the rowing club of the University of Oxford, England, located on the River Thames at Oxford. The club was founded in the early 19th century....
and London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
. During the mid-1970s, he ventured into interior design, including designs for Crown Wallpaper
Crown Wallpaper
Crown Wallpaper was an agglomeration of wallpaper manufacturers in the United Kingdom in 1899....
. In 1974, Amies was entered into the International Best Dressed List
International Best Dressed List
The International Best Dressed List was founded by fashionista Eleanor Lambert in 1940 as an attempt to boost the reputation of American fashion at the time.People who have been on the list include from A to Z:-The International Hall of Fame: Women:...
Hall of Fame.
2001: A Space Odyssey
In 1967, Amies was commissioned by director Stanley KubrickStanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
to design the costumes for his film 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...
. The collection allowed Amies to design totally futuristic fashions. In 2001, the standard attire was a business-as-usual approach to the corporate fashion. There were no neck-ties as they were in zero gravity. The Russian women scientists wore dark conservative clothing, reflecting their own conservative values. Although Kubrick's 2001 wardrobe was practical, it still reflected the mid-sixties slender look. The military and spacecraft uniforms were as common as they are now, with no dramatic changes. American women in 2001 retained roles they held in the 1960s as Hotel receptionists and air stewardesses. The women wore space-age traveling hats while carrying hand bags. According to 'Setting the Scene' by Robert S. Sennett (Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1994), many design elements of the film seem to reflect swinging London circa 1968, rather than the imagined future. The stewardesses' uniforms, designed by Hardy Amies, look like the uncomfortable unisex pant suits that were being promoted in the late sixties. An epic science fiction film, it demonstrated the immense range of Amies' design ability, and was nominated for four Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
- receiving one for visual effects. In 1991, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
.
Amies' work was seen in a handful of other films of the 1960s: he dressed Albert Finney
Albert Finney
Albert Finney is an English actor. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television....
in Two for the Road
Two for the Road
Two for the Road is a 1967 British comedy drama film directed by Stanley Donen about the twelve-year relationship between an architect and his wife...
, Tony Randall
Tony Randall
Tony Randall was a U.S. actor, comic, producer and director.-Early years:Randall was born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Julia and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer...
in The Alphabet Murders
The Alphabet Murders
The Alphabet Murders is a 1965 British detective film based on the novel The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie, starring Tony Randall as Hercule Poirot. The part of Poirot had originally been intended for Zero Mostel but the film was delayed because Agatha Christie objected to the script. The...
, Joan Greenwood
Joan Greenwood
Joan Greenwood was an English actress. Born in Chelsea, she studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her husky voice, coupled with her slow, precise elocution, was her trademark...
in The Amorous Prawn
The Amorous Prawn
The Amorous Prawn is a 1962 British comedy film directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring Ian Carmichael, Joan Greenwood and Cecil Parker. General Fitzadam receives his final posting in the remote Scottish Highlands, where his wife decides to run their residence as a hotel for wealthy Americans...
and Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...
in The Grass is Greener
The Grass Is Greener
The Grass Is Greener is a 1960 comedy film featuring an ensemble cast consisting of screen veterans Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, and Jean Simmons,directed by Stanley Donen...
.
Queen Elizabeth II
Amies is best known to the British public for his work for Queen Elizabeth II. The association began in 1950, when Amies made several outfits for the then Princess Elizabeth's royal tour to CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Although the couture side of the Hardy Amies business was traditionally less financially successful, the award of a Royal Warrant as official dressmaker in 1955 gave his house respectability and publicity. One of his best known creations is the gown he designed in 1977 for Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee
Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II
The Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II marked the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other Commonwealth realms...
portrait, which he said was "immortalized on a thousand biscuit tins." An estimated 500 million people watched the day of events on television. Knighted in 1989, Amies held the Warrant until 1990, when he gave it up so that younger designers could create for the Queen, although the House of Hardy Amies was still designing for her under Design Director Jon Moore until 2002.
ABC of men's fashion
Having written a regular column for EsquireEsquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
magazine on men's fashion, in 1964 Amies published the book ABC of Men's Fashion. Amies's strict male dress code – with commandments on everything from socks to the summer wardrobe – made compelling reading: When in July 2009, the Hardy Amies designer archive was opened on Savile Row, the Victoria & Albert Museum reissued the book.
Hardy Amies' growth
In May 1973, Hardy Amies Ltd. was sold to DebenhamsDebenhams
Debenhams plc is a British retailer operating under a department store format in the UK, Ireland and Denmark, and franchise stores in other countries. The Company was founded in the eighteenth century as a single store in London and has now grown to around 160 shops...
, which had already purchased Hepworths who distributed the Hardy Amies line. Amies purchased the business back in 1981. In May 2001, Amies sold his business to the Luxury Brands Group. He retired at the end of the year, when Moroccan
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
-born designer Jacques Azagury became head of couture. In November 2008, after going bankrupt, the Hardy Amies brand was acquired by Fung Capital, the private investment arm of Victor and William Fung, who together control the Li & Fung
Li & Fung
Li & Fung Limited is a global trading group, based in Hong Kong, that supplies high-volume, time-sensitive consumer goods. Garments make up around two-thirds of the Li & Fung business which also covers the sourcing of hardgoods such as fashion accessories, furnishings, gifts, handicrafts, home...
Group.
Further reading
- Here Lived…, Cambridge, 1948.
- Just So Far, London, 1954.
- The ABC of Men's Fashion, London, 1964.
- Still Here, London, 1984.
- The Englishman's Suit, London, 1994.
External links
- Hardy Amies Official Website
- Hardy Amies Official Facebook
- Hardy Amies Official Twitter
- Hardy Amies designer profile at [Vogue]
- Hardy Amies Style Advice article at [The Guardian]
- Hardy Amies abandons to its heritage article at [The Telegraph]
- Hardy Amies Guide Mens Fashion feature in [GQ Magazine]
- Hardy Amies SS12 Campaign feature at The Fashionisto
- Hardy Amies Guide Mens Fashion reviewed inside [The Guardian]
- Hardy Amies at the Victoria & Albert Museum
- The Hardy Amies Exhibition review at [The Independent]
- Hardy Amies profile at [Famous Why]
- Hardy Amies designer profile at [New York Times]
- Hardy Amies obituary at [The Times]