THE ENGLISHMAN’S SUIT
Hardy Amies

The Englishman’s Suit is both a history and a guide to the most important part of an Englishman’s wardrobe. In certain quarters an Englishman is still likely to be judged by his apparel as by anything else; his suit in particular can reveal the wearer as unequivocally as his tongue.
This classic text, first published in 1994, gives the reader a charming and entertaining account of the suit’s development from the seventeenth century to the end of the twentieth. Reprinted now for the twenty-first century, the narrative reveals a fascinating motley of curious and frequently amusing facts; from the arcane mysteries of button replacement to the remarkable influence of princes and kings.
 
Sir Hardy Amies’s enchanting book will still delight any gentleman, and be of help to any would-be gentleman.
Hardy Amies was born in London in 1909. He lived and worked in France and Germany before returning to London to work as a couturier. During the war he served as an intelligence officer in the SOE and in 1946 he founded his own fashion house. His salon was one of the few which would rival the great dress houses of Paris. He was dressmaker by appointment to Queen Elizabeth II and was knighted in 1989. He died in 2003.
 
 ‘ ... thoroughly good-natured and as comfortable as an old pair of corduroys ... if it fails to smarten you up, this book will succeed in entertaining you.’
Oliver Pritchett Sunday Telegraph
 
‘ This slim, witty book is much more than a treatise on the Englishman’s suit ... it is wonderfully enjoyable reading, rather like Galahad at Blandings ...’
Auberon Waugh Daily Telegraph
 
[The Englishman’s Suit] is the nub of the philosophy of an entrepreneur who has helped to ensure that the Japanese word for a man’s suit is sabiro, pronounced ‘Savile Row’.
Enoch Powell The Spectator