Sir Hardy Amies - A Century of Couture

He was Britain's most renowned couturier and dressmaker to the Queen for over thirty five years, not to mention a leading Savile Row tailor. Now the life and work of Sir Hardy Amies is to be celebrated with an exhibition on Saville Row. His career offered him an unrivaled insight into the world of the rich and famous. Now the nosy and the aspirational amongst us will also be able to peer into his world. His vast archive will be on show containing unseen photographs of the royal family, letters from Cecil Beaton and Margaret Thatcher, intimate diaries, sketches of his film costumes for 2001: A Space Odyssey and of course clothes will all be unveiled. Timed to coincide with the one hundredth anniversary of his birth, the exhibition, Sir Hardy Amies: A Century of Couture, opened this week and will run throughout November.

Amies' rule that "a man should look as if he has bought his clothes with intelligence, put them on with care—and then forgotten all about them" is one of his gems of sartorial wisdom which is timeless.

GQ recently declared that 'if there were ever a patron saint of menswear it would have to be the late great Sir Hardy Amies. He is most fondly remembered as the author of the perennials of English style, ABC Of Men's Fashion and The Englishmen's Suit. There are very few books about men’s style worth reading, but Hardy Amies managed to write two of them. Back in 1945, Hardy Amies restored the Blitz hit derelict husk of a Regency house at No 14 Savile Row and opened his doors. Amies was widely admired for his fine tailoring, attention to detail and upper crust style. Throughout the course of his life he became a true Savile Row legend and one of its greatest patrons. It is the first time a British couture house has opened its archive to the public and those who can, should take advantage of it.