Take a Vantage

Last weekend, when the sun finally deigned to come out, I had seen Aston Martin's everywhere with their hoods down. That's not to say they are common it's just that I noticed them more.

Beforehand I seemed only to hear them, as there is no mistake when you hear that tremendous throbbing, a noise so thrilling it makes your hair stand up. I wonder if anyone has considered it as a ring tone for their mobile. I have always liked convertibles and once owned a Citroen 2CV which was like sitting in a deck chair with wheels, with a lawn mower for an engine and an umbrella for a roof, but it was a fun car that was reliable and took me to Paris and back on several occasions when I was running second hand clothes to the Flea Market there.

Unlike the MG RV8 that I bought on a whim back in the early 90s, because it was so beautiful and British. It constantly overheated due to its 4 liter Range Rover engine and the canvas roof was forever leaking. I got rid of it pretty quickly and have not owned a soft top since. But these last few sunny days have been tempting me to reconsider, perhaps it's a mid life crisis although I'm getting a bit old for that or it's that sense of freedom with the wind blowing through my hair ( what's left of it).

I don't know if you have spotted the competition we are running to win an Aston Martin Vantage Roadster, I certainly have, as I tried to enter myself until it was pointed out to me that I wasn't allowed, I even thought about changing my name to Heremy Jackett, a name one of our Spanish PR girls endearingly insisted on calling me.  The winner is able to choose the colour of both the exterior and interior. Now if I had been able to enter I would have created a vintage Vantage, cream paintwork, red leather interior and whitewall tyres reminiscent of 1950s sport cars, dream on! The competition runs until the end of May all the details are on the Hackett website. As I can't take part, but you can, so my advice would be to take a Vantage!

Spring Summer 2013 Shoot

I realise that it is some time since I have posted anything, so I thought I would show you some pictures I took when we were shooting our Spring/Summer13 brochure, which has just become available in our shops. We chose a grand country house in Oxfordshire called Aynhoe Park as the location. It is owned by the record producer James Perkins and hired out to Rock stars for riotous parties, in fact I slept in the bed that Mick Jagger slept in, although fortunately for both of us it was not a case of "Let's  spend the night together".  Looking at the snaps I took, I noticed that a great many of them were of the beautiful model Alex who reminded me of Faye Dunaway, the boys barely got a look in.

                                                                              Jeremy Hackett 

HO HO HO

The piece below I wrote sometime ago for the Independent on Sunday Magazine and I thought now was the moment to resurrect the story.


"It is curious that Father Christmas has never made it on to any of the best dressed men’s lists that I know of. A man who for generations has dressed up in his best on Christmas Eve and given so generously has been totally ignored by the fashion press. I appreciate that his outfit is somewhat garish and eccentric but it is individual and for that reason alone he should be admired. He is obviously a man who knows what he likes and sticks with it. But Father Christmas has not always been wed to red, before the 1930s he wore green to symbolise the coming of spring. 

When he was approached by the marketing executives of Coca cola they convinced him that red would be much more fun and that it would raise his profile enormously: he would only have to wear it for the month of December and he would be expected to put in a number of select appearances, naturally all his travel expenses would be settled with one proviso; if he failed to appear on Christmas Eve then his contract would become null and void. At the time his astute agent readily agreed with the caveat that Father Christmas would do no television shows or motivational talks for corporate businesses on the basis that Father Christmas’s private life was his own affair and besides it would detract from the whole aura and mystery.

What appears to be the longest celebrity endorsement on record now seems ready for a make over. It is rumoured that his new agent is exploring a whole host of sponsorship deals, Guinness was mentioned but Father Christmas was adamant that he would not wear black. U.P S. tried to muscle in with a licensing deal dreamt up by the advertising whiz kids from A.B.C. Inc, whereupon Father Christmas exploded and exclaimed had he not in all his years delivered the children’s presents promptly and in any case he was adverse to brown. And when manager agent suggested that he should consider loosing some weight, after all you aren’t getting any younger and perhaps trim that beard a little, well you can imagine Father Christmas was beside himself and although he could see the benefits attached to a deal with B.A., it would after all make delivering parcels so much easier he declined graciously as he was far to attached to his reindeers. 

When the proposal to update his wardrobe was put forward he was a little hesitant but the new stream lined ski-wear he had to admit was not only practical and warm and red and as the pretty marketing lady had pointed out it made him look so modern and chic. Finally when he saw the monogrammed parcel sacks with interlocking reindeers he was totally won over. He would as the marketing blurb had suggested truly be a Father Christmas for the 21^st century."

Merry Christmas from Jeremy Hackett

Diamond Giza

Sometimes a fashion trend comes along and I think yes, that is perfect for Hackett - so it is with the tab collar shirt. It is enjoying a revival which up to now, seems only to have been worn by German chief executives of large pharmaceutical conglomerates.

I can distinctly remember when I first spotted a tab collar shirt. I must have been about fourteen at the time and was watching Top of the Pops on our black and white television set. The enigmatic Charlie Watts and pouting Mick Jagger were both wearing white tab collar shirts. From that moment onwards I craved to own one and nagged my Mother incessantly to buy one for me, insisting that if it was white I could wear it to school. White shirts were part of the uniform and nowhere did it say that tab collars were not allowed.

When I later worked in Savile Row, opposite was a little shirt maker which I think was called Coles. It was where I first indulged in having a bespoke shirt made. It was the seventies and tab collar shirts were all the rage so naturally once again I had to have one.

Now decades later, I find I am once again being drawn to this neat collar shape. For the last couple of seasons, we have included tab collar shirts in our ranges but I thought I would try out our Made to Order shirts. Of course the only man to see is Big Phil, who runs our tailoring department in our Sloane Street store, which is in fact soon to be expanded as we have taken another floor to showcase all our tailoring needs.

Big Phil guided me expertly through the shirt procedure. When it came to choosing cloth I said I just wanted the perfect white shirt, having already decided that the collar would be a tab. What you want, he said - is our Giza 87 quality. It is a white shirt material like no other and of course he was absolutely right.

It is a tightly woven Cotton made from long staple cotton that is grown on the banks of the Nile close to the city of Giza. It has a wonderful silky lustre and it is also the whitest of white making washing powder companies claims of whiter than white pale into insignificance. The Egyptian fabric is woven in Italy by the famous manufacturer, Thomas Mason, who take great care to eliminate any contamination, ensuring that the fabric is pure and brilliant in hue.

I am really looking forward to picking up my Giza shirt. I only wish it wasn't called Giza which in Britain is pronounced Geezer!

Colourful Shoelaces

I don't know about you but the recent trend for coloured shoelaces had completely passed me by; keep up Jeremy! A friend of mine, who is a shoe nut, sent me a text telling me about this current fashion phenomenon that was sweeping Milan. How could I have missed this revolution in Men’s fashion?

A few days later, I was passing a new shoe shop in Motomb St called Corthay, a French bespoke shoemaker. In the window was a pair of black shoes with red shoelaces. Immediately I purchased the laces from the very charming and knowledgeable shop manager.

It struck me that here was a way to freshen up a pair of sensible black shoes or add a touch of colour to a pair of broken down battered brown brogues for the cost of a pair of shoelaces.

Put Out More Bunting

At the time of the Golden Jubilee, we created a tweed to celebrate the occasion, so it seemed natural to follow it up for the Diamond Jubilee.



Inspired by the ribbons of the medals that the Queen will be handing out, the tweed has a silver grey background with a red and royal blue over check. From this cloth, which has been woven exclusively for us in Scotland, we have made jackets, waistcoats and trousers. We have also used the tweed to make into bags, flat caps and a picnic rug.



Sometime ago, I found in the market, a silk pocket square which was made in 1937 to mark the occasion of the coronation of GeorgeVI, which we have re-created. On the big day I shall be waving my pocket square and wearing my Diamond Jubilee Tweed jacket no matter how hot it is.

This year there will be no need to put the bunting back in the attic because following on from the Diamond Jubilee is another momentous event to celebrate; The Hackett Rundle Cup!



My Sussex Spaniel, Browney, enjoying the festivities



Mr Simple

It has just struck me that the last two blogs I posted were; Mr Sandman and Mr Ackett, so to make a trilogy of blogs, I couldn't resist adding Mr Simple.


Last December I was in Melbourne and stumbled across a shop called Mr Simple that sold casual Men's clothes. I really wasn't that interested in buying anything but I desperately wanted their carrier bag so I purchased a pair of stubbies, that's shorts to you and me and left the shop delighted with my Mr Simple bag.

I recently read somewhere a quote by Cary Grant that the key to dressing was simplicity, though perhaps not as simple as my photograph depicts.