To Bill with our warmest regards and the best memories of
London
Sérgio (JEEVES) & Trudie
This interview was first published in The Wall Street
Journal…
Known in the
vintage-clothes business as “Bill Hornets,” William Hornets Wilde is one of
those English gentlemen whom visitors to London imagine the city must be filled
with. It isn’t, of course, which is what makes Mr. Wilde and his shops so
special.
He owns three stores
in the Kensington area: two for vintage suits, hats and shoes, and a third for
seasonal wear—whether that’s tweeds for the shooting season, tails for Ascot or
any other esoteric formal-outing requirements.
Although Mr. Wilde
won’t mention names (“I never recognize anybody,” he said), his extensive
inventory has made loyal customers out of designers like Ralph Laure and Tom
Ford.
Mostly, though, Mr.
Wilde caters to country gentlemen, aristocrats, royal cousins, university
students—patrons who prefer to avoid the expense and formality of Jermyn Street
and the fickleness of the fashion industry.
Anyone in the market
for say, a bespoke 1960s Anderson & Sheppard kid mohair suit, a vintage
alligator-skin suitcase or a ’30s chocolate-brown smoking jacket are well
advised to drop in.
Mr. Wilde, who was
also a TV actor in the ’60s and ’70s (now best remembered for his part in
“Blood Beast Terror” from the British film studio Hammer), maintains a network
of buyers throughout southern England who forage for treasures at estate sales
and flea markets.
In-store, Mr. Wilde helps customers with questions of
sartorial refinement, promoting his modus operandi (proudly displayed on the
Hornets website: “Not Fashion. Style.”
One should never
follow fashion for fashion’s sake. With classic style you stand out from the
crowd, with fashion you become one of the crowd.
The best pair of
shoes I own are brown brogues from George Cleverley.
The great figures of
style are the Duke of Windsor, Cary Grant, the present Prince of Wales.
I prefer French cuffs
and straight collars.
A bow tie can be worn
in day time with a jacket or three-piece suit.
The lady on your arm can be extravagant and colorful. You
have to be quietly masculine. At Ascot, a morning suit is very simple, but a
lady can be fairly outrageous with her hat. A man has to be simple in his
dress.
I wish men wouldn’t
tie a hangman’s knot in their scarves, nor wear beanie hats, trainers or
colorful silk waistcoats with morning suits. There are more offenses, but they
are too terrible to mention.
My favorite suit was
a three-piece chalk-stripe Huntsman. It fit me so beautifully, as if I were
poured into it. The pants were cut very high, military style. The waistcoat had
small lapels. As I am tall and was slim in those days, it looked fantastic.
My favorite style of
men’s dress is English country clothing: shooting jackets, tweed suits,
moleskins and cords.
My favorite warm
weather vacation is on the English Riviera: Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.
I prefer a dry
martini shaken, not stirred, at the St. James Hotel in London.
The single piece of
clothing I’ve had the longest is a ’30s double- breasted tan-colored leather
motoring coat.
My favorite album of
all time is Billie Holiday “Lady in Satin.”
I’ve just got into
Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express.”
In the morning I love
half a cold game bird from the night before, black coffee and the Times. Then I
read and send some emails.
My favorite hotel is
the Grande Bretagne in Athens. Many happy memories.
—Edited from an
interview by Edward Helmore
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