Dashing Tweeds – Some Winter Color
We talk a lot about tradition-driven clothes here at Simply Refined. But we’re not opposed to innovation, not in the least. Few people do a better job though of combining the classic and the shocking better than Guy Hills at Dashing Tweeds.
A few years ago, photographer Guy Hills started spending a lot of time in Savile Row. He’d always loved riding his trusty bike around London in his father’s old Harris Tweed sport coats, but wished they were more suited to paved bicycle lanes than bracken covered hills. The dusty browns and mossy greens just weren’t doing it for Hills. So, he got together with textile designer Kirsty McDougall and Dashing Tweeds was born.
You might not expect to, but you can find Dashing Tweeds’ cloth at some of the finest tailors on and off Savile Row. Don’t let the bright colors fool you, this is serious stuff. It’s all woven in Scotland, not to mention the handful of Harris Tweeds and Shetlands that stand out from the rest. You might remember Hills climbing over racks of Harris Tweed in the BBC documentary that aired a year or two ago. He’s a passionate guy with great taste and a real love of the intricacies of he’s doing.
If your tailor doesn’t stock get Dashing Tweeds, the new e-commerce site will let you order it from your chair so you can still go that route. Mark Cho has quite a few pictures of himself on The Armoury’s website in Dashing Tweeds suits and sport coats if you want to get a sense of what the stuff looks like made up. Some of the more sober patterns, like the Blue Basket Weave would make a great suit. Different, but with some subtlety. The brighter checks, Primrose, Regents Park, Hyde Park, and McDougall for example, are more odd-jacket material. Though you could go all out if you really wanted to.
And if you want one of the more eccentric made-to-order and ready-to-wear offerings, you can go that route as well. There are some really unique pieces, and Hills is always at work on something you’ve never seen before but wish you had thought of. I’m not a big sneaker-wearer, but you can even pick up a pair of Dashing Tweeds Converse if that’s your thing.
I sport a purple Urban Check cap on a regular basis, and I’ll admit the cropped Lumatwill jacket has been calling my name for some time. Lumatwill, by the way, is a reflective yarn woven into the cloth to make it perfect for cycling in the city. Seriously cool stuff. I saw a prototype of the new ready-to-wear jacket a few months ago and it’s like space-age couture for men. And I mean that in the best way possible.
Rather than explaining Hill’s philosophy, and probably butchering it, I’ll let him speak for himself:
“I think that we have lost so much common knowledge of traditional construction that in a way this is the new future. Modern high street suits are actually often glued together and have industrialized construction techniques. There is an awful lot to learn from traditional tailoring and the history of tailoring details. From my work on Savile Row I have been able to see this craftsmanship and learn what quality is. A lot of people really do not know what to look for. We are very keen to make our clothes highly functional and stylish, we start from a point of view of the wearer and what he does and then use the history of tailoring to look for the best solution. However, we are in no way wedded to tradition and are always looking for new ideas, construction and fastening techniques which are better rather than cheaper solutions.”
Can’t argue with that, can we? Check out the new Dashing Tweeds website – it’s got real e-commerce for the first time, and I can recommend from personal experience that their accessories make really fun holiday gifts. Keep your eyes peeled though – like I said, Hills is always at work on something great and I for one won’t want to miss what might come next.
