John Kent
https://www.kenthaste.co.uk/about/john-kent/
“If you
would be guided by me…” John Kent began his training as a 15 year old
apprentice in the East End of London at Bernard’s Bethnal Green. After five
years he transferred to the West End, furthering his knowledge of cassocks,
frock coats and gaiters for the revered Ecclesiastical and Court tailor Adeney
& Boutrey (estd 1775), where he made breeches for the then Archbishop of
Canterbury.
In 1966 he
moved to Military and Royal tailor Hawes and Curtis. It was here that he met
shirtmaker Stephen Lachter and Terry Haste who would go on to succeed Kent as
head cutter. At this time The Duke of Edinburgh patronised Hawes and Curtis
where Kent had the privilege of making the trousers for His Royal Highness.
Kent continues to tailor for The Duke to this day; his services have been
recognised with the Royal Warrant which he still holds.
In 1986
together with Stephen Lachter, Kent set up his own eponymous business. In 2010
they were joined by their old colleague Terry Haste and opened a shop in New
Burlington Street before moving to large premises at number 7 Sackville Street.
Clientele HRH Duke of Edinburgh, Sir Donald Sinden, Sir Alistair Cook, Sir
Terence Rattigan, Burt Lancaster, Rod Steiger, Tony Curtis, Cary Grant, Bing
Crosby, Lord Mountbatten and Arnaud Bamberger.
Profile: The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince of Style
29TH
OCTOBER 2015 / https://savilerow-style.com/profiles/aristocracy/the-duke-of-edinburgh/
The Duke of
Edinburgh has never been cast as a fashion figure, but he could well be seen as
a pin-up. Prince Philip typifies the restrained, even wary approach to clothes
of the typical English gentleman, which appeals to men – and women – around the
globe. While much attention focuses upon the Royal women and what they wear,
the Duke, like other male members of the Royal family, is now largely taken for
granted but over the years has undoubtedly been a fine ambassador for Savile
Row’s finest.
And just
who is the finest so far as His Royal Highness is concerned? Well, John Kent
has been his long-time tailor, a ball of energy, a tailor’s tailor, noted as a
cheery chap with a fine line in old jokes. A few years back, he suffered a bout
of illness and it was thought he would retire. But he bounced back and was
re-appointed as the Duke’s tailor and Royal Warrant Holder. He is now based in
Sackville Street, with his partner of many years, shirtmaker Stephen Lachter,
and another tailor, Terry Haste, formerly with Huntsman, making up the Kent,
Haste & Lachter company. “You have to be able to judge the moment,” he
says, “as with all customers. If he has a lot on, an important meeting, then
you act accordingly. But if he is relaxed and has time, he has a wonderful sense
of humour.”
Starting
in the Row nearly half a century ago, Kent gives credit to training under some
of the stars of the tailoring hierarchy – the Stanbury’s, especially Fred, and
the Helman’s, Burt and Harry. Now, he has a wide cross section of customers and
remains busy. “We charge the sort of prices that I would be prepared to pay,”
he emphasises, “not some of those silly sums.” His main piece of advice to
those ordering a suit is to go for a British cloth. “The French and Italian
cloths are lovely but they go for a softer finish. British cloths are firmer
and they hold their shape longer.”
While Kent
is responsible for the Duke’s civilian dress, his military requirements are
covered by Davies & Son, and his naval dress covered by Gieves & Hawkes.
In addition, there are Warrant Holders for ceremonial robes, kilts,
waterproofs, hats, shoes, knitwear, boots, buttons and hairdressing, et al.
They all have to have chalked up five years service already to attain a
Warrant, and by definition they have to represent quality and reliability.
Ede &
Ravenscroft is the Duke’s robe maker, one of the oldest of companies holding a
Royal Warrant, dating back to 1689. All the ranks of dukes and earls and lesser
mortals at major royal events are wearing ermine-trimmed robes made by them.
This would be a somewhat limited market to sustain a company, given that robes
have little use and so last a long time, but the company is also big in the
legal world, and the clergy, and also in bespoke civilian tailoring. Though
their main base is in ancient premises in the City of London, they have a fine
building looking up Savile Row.
duke_twoThe
Duke may no longer wish to bare his knees very often in public but Kinloch
Anderson remains his kilt supplier, and of Scottish and Highland dress
generally. From their Edinburgh base, the firm has made uniforms for all the
famous Scottish regiments, kilts and trews, and such is the on-going appeal of
Highland dress that they also send off to would-be Scots around the world.
There is a bespoke and ready-to-wear service and they will supply in any
tartan, and provide all the traditional accessories.
John Lobb
Ltd is the shoemaker responsible for shoeing the royal feet, both Prince
Phillip’s and the Prince of Wales’. This family bespoke business in a lovely
old building on St James’s is not to be confused with the John Lobb that now
belongs to the Hermes Group, making ready-to-wear shoes. Lobb’s bespoke may be
identified by looking for the Royal Warrant insignia, and by experiencing the
handmade quality of their shoes and boots. The founding John Lobb started the
royal connection by making shoes for Edward VII, and a long line of famous folk
have followed in his footsteps.
Though
Lobb’s handmade boots are well up to withstanding rough terrain, they are
really too elegant for mucky country wear. That’s the preserve of Hunter Boots,
the wellington boot of choice by the Duke, and which has come into the fashion
spotlight in recent years since being seen on model Kate Moss at mud-soaked Glastonbury.
From its basic rubber design, as worn by troops in WWI and II, and throughout
the British countryside, it has now moved into town in a blaze of colour and
new designs. But plain black and green wellies remain the country choice,
guaranteed not to frighten the horses.
The
ultimate country accessory is the gun and a Purdey gun at that. Purdey
celebrates its bi-centenary this year, and is listed under the Warrant heading
of ‘sports, hobbies and entertainment’. It began life as a gunsmith and has
continued to make the finest guns over the years, decorated with exquisite
silver engraving work. To mark their anniversary, the company has launched a
commemorative trio, sure to become collectors’ items. This includes two
shotguns and a double rifle, each handmade and inlaid with gold engravings. In
addition to guns, there are new Purdey collections of country clothing and
accessories.
How Prince Philip Navigated the Most Challenging of
Corporate Dress Codes
How do you convey royalty without overshadowing the
most royal?
By Guy
Trebay
Published
April 9, 2021
Updated
April 12, 2021
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/09/fashion/prince-philip-style.html
There is a
moment in the first season of “The Crown” when the actor Matt Smith, as the
perennially tetchy consort of Queen Elizabeth II, bristles at the constraints
of his job. With a case of lockjaw severe enough to cause concern for his
molars, Mr. Smith portrays the Duke of Edinburgh (whom the queen would not make
a prince until five years after she succeeded to the throne) as an arch
complainer, a man who views the 20th-century monarchy as little more than “a
coat of paint” on a crumbling Empire.
“If the
costumes are grand enough, if the tiaras sparkle enough, if the titles are
preposterous enough, if the mythologies are incomprehensible enough, then all
must be fine,” says Mr. Smith, playing the man who would become Prince Philip.
And, as it turns out, the script got it mostly right. Prince Philip, who died
at age 99 on April 9, may have been wrapped in a cloak of dramatic hooey to
become a character in the hit Netflix series. Yet the role, as written, is
rooted in established fact.
Headstrong
by reputation, opinionated, notoriously brusque (and often, in public,
misogynistic and racist), Prince Philip was also in important ways the model of
a company man. By the time he stepped down from his official royal duties in
August 2017, he had spent seven decades obediently working for the Firm, a term
for the royal family credited to the Queen’s father, King George VI. Fulfilling
the requirements of a job for which there is no precise standard, unless you
consider second fiddle a job description, the prince slogged through a
staggering 22,219 solo public engagements over his long lifetime. In doing so,
he navigated the most challenging of corporate dress codes for more than 65
years.
The brief
was clear from the outset: The queen’s consort should be impeccable yet
unassuming, irreproachable in style without drawing your eye away from one of
the richest, and certainly the most famous, women on earth. If the clothes
Queen Elizabeth II wore in public were engineered to meet programmatic
requirements — bright colors and lofty hats to make this diminutive human easy
to spot; symbolically freighted jewelry (the Japanese pearl choker, the Burmese
ruby tiara, the Obama brooch!); symbols and metaphors embroidered onto her
gowns — those of Prince Philip were tailored to keep him faultlessly
inconspicuous.
As a
clotheshorse, he had certain natural advantages, of course.
“He was
staggeringly good-looking, tall and athletic,” said Nick Sullivan, the creative
director of Esquire. “That never does any harm when it comes to wearing
clothes.”
Beyond
that, though, were a series of confident and knowing choices. For decades, the
prince’s suits were made for him by John N. Kent, a Savile Row artisan who
began his tailoring apprenticeship at 15. The prince’s shirts came from
Stephens Brothers, his bespoke shoes from the century-and-a-half old boot maker
John Lobb. In the neatly folded white handkerchief Prince Philip habitually
squared off in his breast pocket (another was kept in his trousers) could be
seen a telling contrast with the dandyish puff of silk favored by his eldest
son.
Unlike
other members of the royal family whose tastes run to costly baubles and fine
Swiss timepieces, Prince Philip habitually wore “a plain watch with a brown
leather strap,” as the Independent once reported, and a copper bracelet
intended to ease arthritis. He left his large hands free of jewelry and roughly
manicured.
If he
looked best in sporting clothes, it was because he was a true sportsman,
captain of both the cricket and hockey teams at boarding school in Scotland, a
polo player well past his 40s, an active participant in international coaching
competitions until late in life.
He was also
the only member of the Firm’s inner circle before Meghan Markle to have been
foreign-born. This, too, may have given him a style advantage since it is often
true that outsiders can bring a fresh eye to staid sartorial conventions, both
enlivening and improving them. (It took the Japanese to explain denim to
Americans and the Neapolitans to demonstrate for the English how to perfect
English style.)
Search
online and you will not find an image of Prince Philip committing a style
solecism. There is never a novelty tie or a funny hat. For that matter, and
except on obligatory state occasions, there is little enough of the comic
operetta regalia beloved of Prince Philip’s uncle, Louis Mountbatten, the First
Earl Mountbatten of Burma — no braiding, no frogging, no sashes or fringed and
gilded epaulets.
The paradox
of Prince Philip’s life may have been that, as the husband of a queen and
father of a future king, he was essential to power although insignificant to
its workings. And he often jokingly disparaged himself as the “world’s most
experienced plaque unveiler.” Yet it was probably in that role that he did his
best work for the family business, since a glimpse of this elegant and
diffident man was the closest most Britons would ever come to royalty’s
attenuated realities and burnished grandeur. In that sense, Prince Philip was
never “dressed,” in any conventional manner so much as he was outfitted for
purpose.
Correction:
April 9, 2021
An earlier
version of this article misidentified the actor who plays Prince Philip in the
first season of "The Crown." He is Matt Smith, not Tobias
Menzies.
No comments:
Post a Comment