Around
this time last year I hosted a lunch at the London Rowing Club on the day of
the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. As sponsors of The London Rowing Club, the
club had very generously lent me one of their rooms at the boat house. I spent
some time wandering about admiring all the silver ware and trophies the club
had won over the years, and examining the paintings and Spy cartoons of past
members all immaculately turned out in rowing blazers and flannels.
I spotted a large painting over a fireplace that had been painted by Cosmo Clark, RA in 1956 to celebrate the club's centenary and I was very taken with it, so much so that I commissioned it to be photographed and passed the images onto our design department with the brief that they should turn the photographs into a print and apply it to casual short sleeve shirts, swimming shorts and silk pocket squares.
With prints being all the rage at the moment it seemed the right time to introduce our exclusive London Rowing Club range. Again, I shall be at the Boat Race this year but given that the weather is usually pretty cold I doubt that I shall be wearing the shirt or shorts just yet but I will certainly be sporting the pocket square.
Jeremy Hackett