OLD HAT STOCKS GREAT KIT
Alexandra Henton October 28, 2014
“If I closed the vintage side of my business I’d be lynched,”
laughs David Saxby of Old Hat on Fulham High Street, the go-to place for
vintage kit in London for the past 25 years. He has been manufacturing his own
“vintage” clothes for the past 10. “I don’t use new patterns, only vintage
ones,” he says. “A single-breasted suit with a single button and a
shawl-collared, double-breasted waistcoat, that is the David Saxby style. You
wouldn’t look out of place today, in the Sixties or in the Twenties wearing
it.” His caps (there are more than 2,000 in stock) are based on a Thirties’
original, deconstructed and used as a pattern; his waistcoats (£175 single
breasted, £195 double breasted) boast a continuous neckband, “They stopped
making them like this 20 years ago,” he says. Saxby is creating new vintage. “I
took over the workforce of the old Phillips & Piper factory (also known as
Lambourne) in Ipswich, when it closed down. It had been manufacturing riding jackets
and hunt coats for all the best retailers for more than a hundred years. The
British ‘Lambourne pattern’ is admired and respected all over the world.”
The vintage tweed suits sold at Old Hat (standard price £95)
are popular for Good-wood. MFH found a Sixties Dunn & Co Border twist tweed
that fitted. “It was a bit dated in style, definitely of the Sixties,” he says,
“but a good weight and very acceptable price, although I’m keener on the new
vintage caps and shooting suits.” [The Saxby shooting suits start from £670 for
a two-piece: a Norfolk jacket and fishtail-back plus-fours.] After a timely
reminder that we were on a £250 budget, we turned to the biggest-selling
vintage line at Old Hat, the dinner jackets and suits in vintage barathea. A
brilliant vintage buy, they start at £100 and there are more than 900 in stock.
Vintage hunting and shooting clothes
Alexandra Henton October 28, 2014
In vintage hunting and shooting
clothes you can look at your best in the field, without spending a fortune
Vintage hunting and shooting
clothes. Marquess of Zetland. The Marquess of Zetland photographed for The
Field in 1948.
Vintage hunting and shooting
clothes are found in most field reader’s dressing room. But if uncles and
fathers happen not be the right size then there is much to be said for seeking
out some vintage hunting and shooting clothes that will fit well. So that when
you hop on to the best hunting horse you can find, take to the moor for some
grouse shooting or the field for pheasant you can cut a dash. And remember to
keep an eye out for the best evening wear too.
Correctly fitting vintage hunting
and shooting clothes are a steal. And can add inches to your posture. They
straighten the shoulders, adds vim to your vigour and may even encourage an
ill-advised Roger Moore eyebrow lift, so be warned. Buying vintage hunting and
shooting clothes is an imprecise art but there is nothing you can sport –
certainly for under £250 – that delivers the same kick. The combination of
quality and price are impos-sible to best on the high street or the Row, and
the cost generally allows for a tailor to make small alterations if required.
CHASE DOWN VINTAGE HUNTING AND
SHOOTING CLOTHES
And there is also the thrill of
the chase. A London hatter will charge upwards of £1,500 for a capacious silk
topper in best condition, so bagging one for under £100 at a provincial game
fair still ranks high on my best-buys list. A legendary charity sale that
yielded a cashmere overcoat for £5 and a vintage Cordings trilby for £10 showed
the volume of great kit circulating, if you know where to look. Tops and tails
are most difficult to track down, with shoes over a size 10 and hats larger
than 7 emanding a scarcity premium.
THE FIELD’S CHALLENGE
The challenge: for a Field reader
to run to earth, for less than £250 per outfit, good, vintage hunting and
shooting clothes to fill those gaps in the wardrobe. The task fell to My Future
Husband (MFH), who is not vintage sized by nature but is field standard.
Charity sales and auction lots are unreliable so, for dependable sources, the
internet was scoured and recommendations demanded from friends.
VINTAGE TO VOGUE
Vintage to Vogue in Bath has been
run by John and Imren Lowin for the past six years. “The shop only sold women’s
clothes when we arrived,” says Imren. “Men get bored so we wanted to give them
something to look at in the shop and it grew from there.” Now the stock is
divided evenly between the sexes and John has some interesting pieces on
display. “There’s an antique fencing kit, Second World War motorcycle despatch
rider’s boots and a leather fireman’s helmet; they were made from brass until
the advent of electricity.”
John was initiated into the
vintage world via shooting. “There used to be one of those old-school shooting
shops in Bath called Crudgingtons. It closed down and the idea of selling
shooting kit that didn’t look brand new and straight off the peg came about.”
The Thirties three-piece Harris
tweed shooting suit with leather “football” button and Norfolk jacket (£250) is
a classic piece. “It isn’t too heavy and is surprisingly easy to move in,”
volunteered MFH as we snapped him (alongside a burgeoning crowd of tourists) at
the Circus in Bath. “It is in very good nick, not at all worn or tatty – the
sort of thing I imagine my great-grandfather wearing when he shot with the
Prince of Wales.”
The Lowins also provided the rest
of the kit for the photograph: a Thirties collarless cotton shirt (£48), a
Sixties Tootal cotton paisley cravat (£30), a Fifties wool felt trilby with hat
box (£58). These vintage pieces are sourced worldwide, with regular buying
trips to New York and Berlin. “For variety and quality you have to go abroad,”
says John. “Our most surprising find came while we were on holiday in Barbados.
The contents of an old colonial plantation house were being disposed of at a
local auction, and it was stuffed with shooting kit.”
Alongside their best-selling
collection of tweed jackets they hold a stock of cartridge belts, cartridge
bags and gunslips, including a Forties leather leg-of-mutton 12-bore case
(£150). “I took a leather-stitching course as I couldn’t find anyone to repair
the cartridge bags,” says John, “and I’ve started up-cycling vintage pieces
into household objects.” Think charming lamps made from vintage boots.
BRIDESHEAD INSPIRATION
John Morgan’s passion for vintage
struck during the Eighties’ series Brideshead Revisited. “I loved it, so
started buying vintage pieces. My friends wanted them, too, so I started
selling them.” The business has been thriving since 1984. “In the early
Eighties I belted around in my MG Midget, buying old tweeds and dinner jackets,
supplying Hackett, which used to sell second-hand clothes. Now I run Hogspear
and John Morgan Hire Company.” The latter hires out vintage luggage and
colonial leftovers to film sets; they have appeared in Harry Potter, Tomb
Raider and, of course, Downton Abbey. The former sells vintage clothes and
uniforms on eBay. “I started selling on eBay six years ago,” he says, “and we
have just passed the 25,000 positive feedback mark.”
The museum, part of the complex
of buildings at Muston’s Mews in Shaftesbury, Dorset, where Morgan is based,
bursts with boy’s-own delights. Remnants of our colonial and sporting past are
there alongside taxidermy, covetable leather goods, unusual apparatus (they
turned out to be breeches trees), luggage, horns, horse bits, memorabilia and delightful
hunt evening tails from the Peshawar Vale Hunt in India with French-grey
facings.
“Vintage clothes have a life of
their own,” Morgan enthuses. “I am not selling pristine costume, I’m selling
great kit that was made to be worn, not shut away or treated with too much
reverence. Yes, it’s great that each piece has a history, I love the tailor’s
labels and the names inscribed on them, but I believe in making it your own, in
wearing it.”
MFH takes home two great
fieldcoats: one muted and relaxed with cuffed sleeves in soft herringbone tweed
by Hawkes of Savile Row [ac-quired by Gieves in 1974] (£50); the other a 1962
structured, heavier-green tweed by Denman & Goddard of Piccadilly – by
appointment to Georges V and VI (£50). “These are no-brainer buys,” opines MFH
mid-twirl. “Everything about them, from the material to the cut and general
feel, is great.” The eyebrow does start to rise.
The Henry Poole evening tails
(£55-£60)are a stunning example of a great vintage find: heavy silk lapels,
working cuffs, elegant buttons. “It really should be worn,” agrees MFH,
“although it might be a little on the snug side.” The accompanying white tie,
shirt, collar and waistcoat are reasonable to buy (£20), although many are
rather too well worn, so look out for less-well-used examples. “Some-thing old
gives the wearer a certain cachet,” says Morgan. “Buying from Hogspear gives
you a unique piece from a private source. You won’t bump into anyone else
wearing the same thing and you can create your own story with it. To wear
vintage you need to appreciate the quality but also have some imagination.”
And the top vintage picks?
“Smoking jackets, morning tails and evening tails,” Morgan confirms. “These are
often claimed by relatives and are much harder to find. Also, good-quality
English shoes.”
OLD HAT STOCKS GREAT KIT
“If I closed the vintage side of
my business I’d be lynched,” laughs David Saxby of Old Hat on Fulham High
Street, the go-to place for vintage kit in London for the past 25 years. He has
been manufacturing his own “vintage” clothes for the past 10. “I don’t use new
patterns, only vintage ones,” he says. “A single-breasted suit with a single
button and a shawl-collared, double-breasted waistcoat, that is the David Saxby
style. You wouldn’t look out of place today, in the Sixties or in the Twenties
wearing it.” His caps (there are more than 2,000 in stock) are based on a
Thirties’ original, deconstructed and used as a pattern; his waistcoats (£175
single breasted, £195 double breasted) boast a continuous neckband, “They stopped
making them like this 20 years ago,” he says. Saxby is creating new vintage. “I
took over the workforce of the old Phillips & Piper factory (also known as
Lambourne) in Ipswich, when it closed down. It had been manufacturing riding
jackets and hunt coats for all the best retailers for more than a hundred
years. The British ‘Lambourne pattern’ is admired and respected all over the
world.”
The vintage tweed suits sold at
Old Hat (standard price £95) are popular for Good-wood. MFH found a Sixties
Dunn & Co Border twist tweed that fitted. “It was a bit dated in style,
definitely of the Sixties,” he says, “but a good weight and very acceptable
price, although I’m keener on the new vintage caps and shooting suits.” [The
Saxby shooting suits start from £670 for a two-piece: a Norfolk jacket and
fishtail-back plus-fours.] After a timely reminder that we were on a £250
budget, we turned to the biggest-selling vintage line at Old Hat, the dinner
jackets and suits in vintage barathea. A brilliant vintage buy, they start at
£100 and there are more than 900 in stock.
THE VINTAGE TACKROOM
The Vintage Tack Room (formerly
Field and Country Antiques) was taken over by Mia Woodford in January this
year. Woodford, who hunts with the Chiddingfold, Leconfield and Cowdray, saw
the opportunity it presented as an online business and has thrown herself into
the venture with gusto. “For me, vintage is not about age – a new Bernard
Weatherill coat is vintage. It is about a look, quality and being made in a
traditional style,” she says, “although I do have a Cavalry officer who hunts
in the shires and will buy nothing post-1950.”
Vintage hunting and shooting
clothes. Hunting kit. Vintage hunting jackets were made to last
Vintage hunting jackets were made
to last
Woodford is an enthusiastic
consumer of vintage bargains. “I can spend hours Googling the names of past
owners of a coat, finding out which hounds it has hunted to. Well-made things
last; the 1927 swallowtail coat (£135) is a perfect example.” For MFH, the
vintage breeches were resolute in their refusal to be pulled over his calves
(there was a moment of terror when it seemed they might have to be cut off).
“Even the newer Oliver Brown breeches have 15in calves,” says Woodfood. Be sure
to check your leg measurements first. The hunting coat (£75) fitted well and
was a good weight, perfect for a first foray following hounds, and the leather
boots (£115) ticked the box. For anyone new to riding to hounds or a seasoned
thruster looking for some dashing kit, The Vintage Tack Room can provide. “We
run a hunt scheme,” says Woodford, “which is free for the hunts to join. Any
hunt member receives a 5% discount and we donate 5% of the hunt member’s spend
to the hunt. We also provide a hire service, as new items can often lead to
accusations of ‘all the gear, no idea’.”
Vintage hunting and shooting
clothes. Weatherill. A vintage Weatherill jacket is a great find
A vintage Weatherill jacket is a
great find
Whether you are yomping through
heather after grouse, standing in a line at a formal shoot, riding to hounds,
racing at Cheltenham or throwing shapes at the hunt ball, the best vintage kit
will ensure you cut a dash – and stay in the black.
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