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Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Clothier |
Founded | 1913 in London, England |
Founder | Ralph Hawes George Frederic Curtis |
Headquarters | London, England, UK |
Area served | United Kingdom Cologne, Germany UAE |
Key people | Touker Suleyman (Chairman) |
Products | Clothing |
Parent | Low Profile Holdings |
Website | hawesandcurtis.co.uk |
Hawes & Curtis is a British fashion company founded in 1913, currently operating 29 stores in the United Kingdom including two in Jermyn Street, London. The brand is best known for their shirts and jackets.
The company was founded by two tailors, Ralph Hawes and George Frederic "Freddie" Curtis, who opened the first store in Piccadilly Arcade, at the corner of Jermyn Street, in London in 1913. [1]
On 1 December 1922, Hawes & Curtis Hosiers was granted a royal warrant by the then Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII and Duke of Windsor). [2] In July 1938, King George VI awarded the company a second royal warrant, and then, in 1948, a third one to Hawes & Curtis Tailors. This warrant lasted throughout the King's reign. [3] In 1957, the Duke of Edinburgh awarded Hawes & Curtis with a fourth Royal Warrant which remained until 1985. [4]
Businessman Touker Suleyman [5] acquired the company under the group Low Profile Holdings in 2002 for the symbolic amount of £1. [6]
Hawes & Curtis are known for introducing the backless evening waistcoat. [7] It was an innovation of the ‘dress soft’ era popularised by the Duke of Windsor. The waistcoat was designed without a back and held in place by means of bands, fastened with a buckle or button across the back at the waistline. When worn, the waistcoat always remained in position under the tailcoat and was renowned for its comfort. Fred Astaire allegedly approached Hawes & Curtis to have one made, only to be regretfully refused due to the high demand for such garments from the British aristocracy. [8]
According to the Review of Savile Row Tailors, by the 1930s, "Mr Curtis was an authority in evening dress and had done more to keep shirts from bulging out of up-creeping waistcoats than any other young man in London. Evening shirts and waistcoats were made on scientific mathematical lines – yet were chic withal." [9]
Notable customers have included Cary Grant, [10] the Duke of Windsor, [11] Earl Mountbatten [12] Frank Sinatra, [5] and Fred Astaire. [13]
The company celebrated its 100th anniversary in October 2013. [14] It currently operates 29 stores in the United Kingdom, with the main store on Jermyn Street. [15] Hawes & Curtis also has a store in Cologne, Germany, and the UAE. The company operates a British, German and Australian website.
White tie, also called full evening dress or a dress suit, is the most formal evening Western dress code. For men, it consists of a black tail coat worn over a white dress shirt with a starched or piqué bib, white piqué waistcoat and the white bow tie worn around a standing wing collar. Mid or high-waisted black trousers with galon, a braid of trim consisting of two silk stripes to conceal the outer seams of the trousers, along with court shoes complete the outfit. Orders, decorations and medals may be worn. Acceptable accessories include a black top hat, white gloves, a white scarf, a pocket watch, a white pocket square, and a boutonnière. Women wear full-length ball or evening gowns with evening gloves and, optionally, tiaras, jewellery, and a small handbag.
Savile Row is a street in Mayfair, central London. Known principally for its traditional bespoke tailoring for men, the street has had a varied history that has included accommodating the headquarters of the Royal Geographical Society at 1 Savile Row, where significant British explorations to Africa and the South Pole were planned; and more recently, the Apple office of the Beatles at 3 Savile Row, where the band's final live performance was held on the roof of the building.
Jermyn Street is a one-way street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster in London, England. It is to the south of, parallel, and adjacent to Piccadilly. Jermyn Street is known as a street for gentlemen's-clothing retailers in the West End.
Morning dress, also known as formal day dress, is the formal Western dress code for day attire, consisting chiefly of a morning coat, waistcoat, and formal trousers for men, and an appropriate gown for women. Men may also wear a popular variant, where all parts are the same colour and material, often grey, and usually called "morning suit" or "morning grey" to distinguish it; considered properly appropriate only to festive functions, such as summer weddings and horse races, which consequently makes it slightly less formal. The correct hat would be a formal top hat, or if on less spacious audience settings, optionally a collapsible equivalent opera hat.
Simpsons of Piccadilly was a large retail store situated at 203–206 Piccadilly in central London, England. It was created by Alexander Simpson and the architect Joseph Emberton. When it opened in April 1936, it was the largest menswear store in Britain, and is now a Grade I listed building due to its innovative construction. Its original purpose was to house the entire range of clothing provided by the tailoring company S. Simpsons and DAKS. It was later purchased by the Waterstones chain of bookshops.
Gieves & Hawkes is a bespoke men's tailor and menswear retailer located at 1 Savile Row in London, England. The business was founded in 1771. It was acquired in 2012 by the Hong Kong conglomerate Trinity Ltd., which was in turn purchased by Shandong Ruyi in 2017. After Trinity was subject to a winding-up petition for debt in September 2021, Gieves & Hawkes was acquired in November 2022 by Frasers Group, owner of Sports Direct.
Turnbull & Asser is a British shirt-maker that was established in 1885. The company has its flagship store on Jermyn Street in the St James's area of London and its bespoke store around the corner on Bury Street. In addition to the two London stores, the company has a shop in New York City.
Henry Poole & Co is a bespoke tailor located at Savile Row in London, United Kingdom. The company made its first modern-style dinner jacket, based on specifications provided by the Prince of Wales in the 1880s. Their headquarters is 15 Savile Row, however they have multiple locations.
Edward Sexton was a British Savile Row tailor, fashion designer and manufacturing consultant. Sexton was called a key player in the history of Savile Row.
A man's suit of clothes, in the sense of a lounge, office, business, dinner or dress suit, is a set of garments which are crafted from the same cloth. This article discusses the history of the lounge suit, often called a business suit when featuring dark colors and a conservative cut.
H. Huntsman & Sons is a high-end fashion house and bespoke tailor located at No. 11 Savile Row, London. It is known for its English bespoke menswear tailoring, cashmere ready-to-wear collections, and leather accessories.
E. Tautz & Sons was a men's clothing brand founded on Oxford Street, London, in 1867 as Edward Tautz & Sons. It specialised in sportswear and trousers. The brand was acquired in 2005 by Patrick Grant and focused on sportswear and casualwear, manufacturing many of its products in the United Kingdom, but was wound up voluntarily on 21 February 2022.
Timothy Charles Peto Everest is a Welsh tailor and fashion designer. He moved to London in his early twenties to work with the Savile Row tailor Tommy Nutter. He then became one of the leaders of the New Bespoke Movement, which brought designer attitudes to the traditional skills of Savile Row tailoring.
DAKS is a British luxury fashion house, founded in 1894 by Simeon Simpson in London. It is one of only 15 firms to have held royal warrants from three members of the Royal Family. Officially granted to DAKS' Simpson Piccadilly store in 1956 was the royal warrant of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, followed by that of the Queen in 1962 and Charles, Prince of Wales in 1982.
Chester Barrie was a 'semi-bespoke' gentleman's tailor last located at No. 19 Savile Row, London.
Richard James is a bespoke Savile Row tailors and contemporary menswear company. It was founded in 1992 by designer Richard James, a graduate of Brighton College of Art and a former buyer for the London boutique Browns, and his business partner Sean Dixon. The Design and Brand Director is Toby Lamb, a graduate of Central Saint Martins. Richard James has won both the British Fashion Council's Menswear Designer of the Year and Bespoke Designer of the Year awards.
Thresher & Glenny, founded in 1755, is one of the world's oldest surviving tailors, shirt makers and outfitters. The company has held Royal Warrants since the late eighteenth century and makes court attire, and bespoke and ready-for-service gentlemen's garments including suits, jackets, shirts and ties. Today the company trades through a retail outlet at 1 Middle Temple Lane, in London, England.
Savile Row tailoring is men and women's bespoke tailoring that takes place on Savile Row and neighbouring streets in Mayfair, Central London. In 1846, Henry Poole, credited as being the "Founder of Savile Row", opened an entrance to his tailoring premises at No. 32 Savile Row. The term bespoke is understood to have originated in Savile Row when cloth for a suit was said to "be spoken for" by individual customers. The short street has been termed the "golden mile of tailoring", where customers have included Charles III, Winston Churchill, Lord Nelson, Napoleon III, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Laurence Olivier and Duke Ellington.
Dege & Skinner is a bespoke gentleman's tailor and shirt-maker located at 10 Savile Row, London. Founded in 1865, they are one of the oldest, continually operated bespoke tailoring companies in the world. They have the Row's first and only permanent on-site, bespoke shirt service.
Benson & Clegg is a bespoke tailors and gentlemen's outfitters located at 9 Piccadilly Arcade, Jermyn Street in London.