NEW BESPOKE FROM OLD GUNSMITH

Times may be tough but at the top there is little sign of yachts being cancelled or champagne going flat. Indeed, the demand for luxury can seldom have been greater, as the new rich splash out in a way that old money might have found ostentatious.

Happily, this does have a trickle down effect, whatever the voices of envy may say. Savile Row tailors have benefited from new young City men trading up from designer labels to bespoke; and the greater demand for quality is bringing new bespoke makers.

Latest to offer a fully bespoke service is not a new name but that grand old country firm, Holland & Holland. Famous gunmakers since  1854, the company began selling clothing and accessories some years ago.  But since being acquired by the Chanel group in 1989, the firm has consolidated its reach on the very best of British lines inspired by English country houses and now has introduced a new bespoke tailoring service.

An abiding passion for traditional English quality marks out director of clothing and accessories at Holland & Holland, Niels van Rooyen, as eminently suited to take the company into the bespoke field. Previous roles at Dunhill and New & Lingwood and long experience with Holland & Holland reinforced his preferences for the kind of English clothes that have been emulated around the world.

He will advise on cloth and style, and counsel on correct dress for the season. “For the Glorious 12th, for example, temperatures may well be quite high, so you can wear something fairly light.  But for deer stalking in winter, in Scotland, when its can be well below freezing, then a good heavy tweed outfit is needed.”

This is the sort of knowledge handed down in old families, often with the actual ‘vintage’ clothing to go with it, but a new young breed of chaps taking to shooting welcomes advice.

“Some come in and wish to order a whole wardrobe of country styles and accessories, but I suggest they start off with just a couple of items first, so that they can feel happy with the cloth and patterns they have selected, and feel happy with us.

Many of Holland & Holland’s English customers have been coming to them for years, one generation bringing the next, to order guns and buy suitable clothes off-the-peg. Now, the new bespoke service has been well received and can provide something of a family outing.

“The matriach brings along a son for his first suit,” Neils van Rooyen explained, “accompanied maybe by her daughter and perhaps father. We entertain them to tea while the cloth selection is made, or during fittings, and it is a very nice occasion.”

He sources all cloth and clothes from English or Scottish suppliers, and all are exclusive to Holland & Holland. And he has created a representation of English country living in their Bruton Street h.q. that has all kinds of classic but stylish clothes and accessories scattered about, mixed with silver goods, bronzes, leather lines and of course guns. A real slice of the country in the centre of Mayfair. www.hollandandholland.com