CORONATION
King Charles’s style — from Savile Row suits to
traditional textiles
The new monarch’s bespoke wardrobe may seem to set him
apart, but his sartorial conservatism is peak 2023
Anna Murphy
Tuesday May
02 2023, 5.00pm BST, The Times
One of the
things I remember most clearly about the time I met the man who would become King
Charles was his pick stitching. This was five years ago. Yet I can still
conjure in my mind’s eye his lapels, edged with that variety of minutely
rendered hand embroidery that sets apart the bespoke suit wearer from the rest
of us.
The silk
handkerchief in the top pocket of his double-breasted (always double-breasted)
jacket also underlined the point of difference. As did a cut so sharp that I
couldn’t help but think of that notorious royal dandy the Duke of Windsor, the
great-uncle with whom Charles shares not just a love of Savile Row tailoring
but also of a woman who was once married to someone else.
Those suits
from Anderson & Sheppard and Gieves & Hawkes aren’t the only tells that
Charles is anything but an everyman. There can’t be many men’s wardrobes that
encompass not only two varieties of tailoring, one for town, one for country,
but also kilts, safari suits, skiwear and — once upon a time, although no more
— polo gear. Forget the 0.1 per cent. This is the 0.01 per cent.
The younger
generation of royals may be trying to dress like us just often enough to
convince us that they are like us — the Prince of Wales in his Nike trainers,
his wife in her Zara — but Charles certainly isn’t. By contemporary standards
what he wears is buttoned up, to say the least. He wears a tie when out on a
yomp, for goodness’ sake!
In fact
even the Duke of Windsor managed to come across as more relaxed, favouring for
his suiting the softened lines of the so-called English drape. Charles’s
stiffer look underlines his military bearing, but it also makes him appear like
a fish out of water in the era of Netflix and chill.
Yet perhaps
that is how a king is supposed to seem? The late Queen certainly dressed to set
herself apart; above. That’s the job, after all. What’s more, Charles’s
expensive tastes are unquestionably British and support both traditional
textile producers and artisans working at the highest level. He puts his money
where his mouth is when it comes to his wardrobe choices as well as his
architectural preferences.
There is
certainly none of that laid-back yet still pricey sports luxe vibe that is
these days worn by the lesser-spotted billionaire from Chelsea to Chengdu. Does
one ever wear cashmere track pants? No, one does not. And it’s clear that his
eye for detail, his fussiness, doesn’t only encompass the matter of pens. That
aforementioned pocket square of his is — another thing I remember — frothed up
like a cappuccino.
Charles’s
aesthetic language is of another era, in short, in part because some of his
clothes are, in the most literal sense. “I am one of those people who hate
throwing anything away,” he told Vogue in 2020. This statement, which might
once have seemed old-fashioned, now appears, as the world finally wakes up to
the true cost of disposable fashion, positively future-facing. Charles’s
sartorial conservatism is, in other words, peak 2023.
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