LONDON — Hardy Amies’ design director Mehmet Ali has brought a modern attitude to the label since he joined in 2012, and now the storied brand has a flagship that reflects that evolution. The 3,778-square-foot Hardy Amies space, at 8 Savile Row, opened Tuesday, with Ali noting that he sees the store as “a real modern interpretation of what London is.”
Ali worked with the London design firm Universal Design Studio to create the look of the flagship, which has a refined yet industrial feel with gray parquet wood floors, display tables crafted from slabs of concrete and limestone and details such as tabletop surfaces that are made by the same firm that makes the wall coverings for London Underground stations.
“What we are really interested in is mixing old and new,” said Ali. “The store takes a lot of inspiration from what London is now, as opposed to what London was. It’s not a pastiche, it’s not trying to be something…old-fashioned,” he said.
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The store carries the full Hardy Amies ready-to-wear, tailored clothing and accessories collections. There are also plans to offer bespoke and made-to-measure lines at the store in coming seasons, with Ali noting that the house is in “the process” of modernizing its bespoke business. Currently, the bespoke business is based at Hardy Amies’ headquarters at 14 Savile Row.
“I’m looking forward to giving the customer somewhere where they can come and understand the whole spectrum of what Hardy Amies really is,” said Ali of the store. “That’s the great thing about retail…it really allows you to represent the vision of the brand and the house fully.”
The space also showcases a selection of curated goods that Ali has created, together with a number of different labels. They include a leather bicycle saddle by Brooks, an olive green umbrella by City Gent and shoehorns and clothes brushes by Abbeyhorn. Ali noted that the mix of product reflects the label’s approach to dressing. “The [Hardy Amies] collection is about curation, it’s about how men actually are in their lives and how they approach clothing — for a modern man, it’s about finding pieces that you love,” said Ali.