What Did We Wear?

Herry and Piers with Patrick in the orchard at Stocks c.1955 with Danny the spaniel

For the first ten / twelve years I doubt that I paid much attention to what I was wearing. Early photos show me in shorts, and we certainly wore shorts at St Ronan's (1953-1958), though I think that we may have been allowed into long trousers as we turned twelve. I can remember my delight, though, on getting my first pair of proper football boots - made by Adidas - instead of the heavy round-toed boots that we wore in those days. But 'PT' shoes were still plain white plimsoles and we had to wear a grey felt 'squasher' hat outside in summer and Airtex shirts.

I became more interested in clothes when at Winchester (1958 - 1964) where the early fashion was for 'drain-pipe' trousers. I had mine taken in to a ridiculous 13". I can also remember getting green and black check jacket and some 'oxblood' shoes at Basticks, the best of the local high-street shops (and coincidentally owned by the family of Richard Froomberg, who would later open Grey Flannel where I bought most of my clothes from the 1980s onwards). Here too we moved from plimsoles to much coveted 'Green Flash' tennis shoes.

It was at Winchester that I developed a liking for black, wearing a black sweater and a black silk knitted tie for many years. The tie even came with me to the early days at Millers. 

Herry in the white silk polo-necked shirt and the velvet Blades DJ. Also - Mark Hatt-Cook, been Wallis, Nicky Boyle. Photo by Nick Duke

In my late teens / early twenties I became resolutely fashionable, at least at parties, wearing Mr Fish shirts with an orange silk cravat.... but the best was a superb silk velvet DJ from Blades, which had straight cut velvet trousers with a silk stripe and a riding cut jacket. I never saw another one like it. I often wore it with a cream silk polo-necked shirt (which zipped up the back for a superb fit) from, I think, Turnbull & Asser

In a striped crepe de chine shirt in about 1974 (with Denise Hay) 

There is a good description of the clothes and tailors of the day in David Mlinaric's piece here. I also had some suits made by a tailor in Winchester - Mr Thornton - that were less successful as he didn't know how to cut good crisp shoulders. I had one tight grey suit with a double-breasted waistcoat from him and wore it on a business trip to Yugoslavia with Bill Birch Reynardson, prompting him to comment laconically 'Il faut souffrir pour etre belle'....

I would also sometimes wear a short fur coat with wide shoulders of my mother's; something that was not unusual at the time. Prue's friend John Rendall, for instance, was often seen in fur and always wore snake-skin boots.

Arriving at Millers, I affected Turnbull & Asser shirts, often in the bright colours of the day. I can remember Frank Ledwith looking disapprovingly at a brick-red shirt and saying 'You'll never get onto the Baltic (Exchange) in that' - but my suits were less flashy, coming mainly from Moss Bros, though they concealed some incredible linings. I had one black silk suit which had a canary yellow lining and to my shame, I made the mistake of wearing it at the 21 SAS passing out ceremony where, as the 'Best Recruit' I had to march up to collect the cup, turn and march back. I can still remember the looks of amazed horror on the senior officers' faces as I turned sharply after my salute, sending my coat-tails flying......

My colleagues at Millers - particularly Christopher Bird - affected suits by the likes of Douglas Hayward. However, Christopher would grow rapidly tired of his suits and more than once I was deputed to return one to the tailor, who in those days took them back with good grace, even though they had clearly had a couple of week's heavy wear!

The corduroy coat

In the 70's, at Harvestgate, I would wear polo-necked jerseys and a corduroy coat which Patrick bought for each us from Dingles of Plymouth (see photo).

I also frequented Piero di Monzi in the Fulham Road and occasionally bought his rather smart ready-made suits. They usually had hairs on them from Piero's beautiful weimaraners which lounged around the shop all day. I have a grey cashmere overcoat from those days that I still wear.

The Piero de Monzi coat at the Coq d'Or in 2004 when it was already 20 years old

Thereafter my clothes became less fashionable but I still had my shirts made, sometimes in Japan, where the tailor at the Palace Hotel turned out some good ones. In those days the yen was nearly 1000 to the £, so they were comparatively inexpensive. Later I would have my office shirts made in India, most of which I have still. 

One of my Japanese office shirts (in Taiwan 1982)

For years my suits still came from Grey Flannel, made to measure in Italy, but slowly even that pleasure was replaced by the largely stock items that I wear today.

A Grey Flannel suit - made to measure in Italy (1995)

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