A new season sees a new approach to dressing the modern gentleman from Hackett London. Best described as ‘relaxed luxury’ in style, the new Hackett London collection has a lightness of touch throughout, from the specially developed superfine knitwear and pure cotton outerwear to the pastel highlights of the colour palette. Citing myriad sources of inspiration, the collection runs the sartorial breadth, from formal through to casual with a discreetly epicurean handwriting at its forefront.
Glorious colour is the overwhelming key to the first of Hackett’s stories this season and Barbados is the ideal destination to blend a British sensibility with Caribbean style, as it is the most British of the Caribbean islands; often called “Little England”. Adopting the searing hues from the Barbadian land and seascape, the versatile Hackett man abroad seamlessly fuses his signature modern classic style with an explosion of brights, patterns and prints grounded with neutral navy and white. Oceanic coral and aquatic green sit alongside mango and sunny yellow in block colours or blended together in tropical plaids, ginghams and florals. A key introduction to Hackett’s swimwear offering this season is the smart swimshort, a garment that looks as great worn alone on the beach as it does with a linen shirt and suede loafers bar side. Shorter and more tailored with adjustable side tabs, the shorts hark back to an era when swimming was no excuse for a compromise on style. Cotton trousers come in brights or sunbleached tones and look best when worn with a seemingly effortless unlined linen jacket.
With a nod to the nautical and attention paid to creating ensembles designed to take the wearer from dawn through to dusk, the Resort story typifies the Hackett approach to dressing abroad. As a destination for the British gentleman traveller, resort islands have inspired Hackett to create one of their strongest looks this season in a palette of fresh blues and whites. The blazer has been given subtle design twists transforming it from a conventionally classic garment into a contemporary wardrobe staple. Created in unlined linen, the shorter, unstructured jacket blends elements from suiting and shirting cuts which, when combined with a narrower button placement give it a flexible feel which looks equally good fastened and formal or unbuttoned and easy. The jacket looks best paired with cotton trousers worn with a neat roll up and suede loafers, a ‘crushed’ linen scarf (Hackett’s Summer alternative to the tie), stripe shirt and pocket square. Top off the look with Hackett’s woven Panama hat with a contrasting cotton navy trim and sky blue binding and a leather-trimmed bonded cotton satchel in royal blue.
Taking the traveller to more challenging climes, British Khaki looks to the arid plains and dusty desert sandscapes of the Serengeti. Evoking images of chalky canvas tents, khaki and sand coloured military uniforms and the neutral mountain ranges that dominate the environment, British Khaki draws on Britain’s historical links with Africa and re-imagines colonial attire in modern styles and alternative fabrications. The story highlights a move back to natural, luxurious fibres – pure cotton, silk and linen – which are used to create soft ‘weather worn’ polos, fine knits and loose separates in neutral colours highlighted with spicy tones of muted red and terracotta.
Looking back to the halcyon days when the city last played host to the internationally renowned games, London 1948 draws on the original sporting kit and reinvents the style to put it in a new, modern context. Using a very British regimental palette of red, navy, ecru and antique white, the story is a classic old school take on the sporting life which sees the Union Jack flag feature in various guises, from oversized jacket linings to breast pocket logos. Reinforcing Hackett’s partnership with the London Rowing Club and the iconic Oxford and Cambridge boat race, blazers embellished with embroidered crests highlight that London 1948 has been inspired as much by the style of the original spectators as it has by the sportsmen participating.
The Hackett Mayfair collection nods strongly to the style of the 1960’s ‘Man About Town’ with its sharp tailoring and slim cut. Injecting a new element this season is an exclusively developed range of super fine Pima Egyptian cotton knitwear. The soft, fresh pastel pieces in pure silks and cottons complement the pale greys and charcoals of the luxury range. Hackett has also developed a unique ‘Storm System’ outerwear range in treated cotton with bonded seams to remain waterproof without compromising on aesthetics.
Neatly fusing tradition and modernity, the Hackett London Spring/Summer collection reflects the diversity of the British gentleman home or abroad and is designed to cater to all his sartorial needs.
First Published in Men's Passion Issue #38 March 2012
