Unfortunately I was there and back in a day so the only sites I saw where at the airport. None the less I gained a new client and two new orders, namely a Dormeuil Amadeus grey stripe suit and a rather bold Loro Piana plaid flannel suit.

In March I am planning a trip to Los Angeles and I will no doubt be visiting D.C again very soon either to see specific clients or maybe to set up a full blown trunk show. If anyone is interested in a D.C, Boston or L.A trunk show do get in touch. If there is sufficient interest I will set something up and of course I am always open to seeing individual clients out of state or abroad, subject to timing and a minimum order.

On another note. not a lot of updates on the blog recently. There has been quite a lot going on this year, aside from being quite busy with a lot of new clients I have been refining my new MTM (made to measure) suit service. In the works is a MTM shirt service to complement the MTM suits and this should be available very soon as well.

David Reeves made to measure suits

Hi Jason. Here are some interesting white dinner jackets.

Okay this picture is pretty annoying but I quite like the look of the shawl collar. I wish it was one button though.

I think this satin trim is quite nice and the more cream color is good.

Its funny how you remember things Im  not really a fan of this narrow peak lapel.

This cut looks a lot like my dinner suit cut except I prefer more width on the peak. notice the link button?

I could not find many images of white DJs with black facing but here is an interesting example. A few more fashion brands seem to be doing this and its certainly a stronger look.

The classic DJ from Casablanca is actually double breasted and I think would be rather challenging to wear these days.

A White DJ with a nice shawl. This cloth is obviously more white than cream/off white.

The more cream color is looking quite attractive to me. The samples I will send you include a cream barathea. This looks very much like how I would do a peak lapel DJ.

I think I was actually responsible for this DJ. My inspiration was Bryan Ferry’s DJ (below) but its a bit more flash with the satin lapels. The lapel shape didn’t come out quite as good as the one below though and the button stance is higher. Its got a link button and the buttons are mother of pearl instead of covered.

This is just awesome love the shape of the shawl.

Too much to drink Dr Jones? This is actually one of the nicer ones I could find on the internet. Again I am more inclined to go for the wider lapel. If your wearing this in a more fashion way as a separate I think this will do the job better.

In summary I quite like the look of Bryan Ferry’s DJ and the Indy DJ. Both are quite classic but have a bit of attitude with the lapel width and shape. The cream Barathea is looking more refined to me as well. Of course its your DJ so its up to you. I am more leaning towards the Indy myself especially if your looking to maybe wear it in an informal way.

Best,

Dave.

Welcome back. In part 1 I discussed with Michael Hill creative director of Drakes, the future direction of the company in terms of its brand values and commitment to making ties by hand in London. here in part 2 we will be talking about Drakes’ new retail store, custom ties, collaborations and some of Michael’s thoughts on fashion and style.

Drakes not only make scarves, ties and handkerchiefs but a wide range of products now like cufflinks, shoes and leather goods

DAVID REEVES:

Will we see more Drake’s stores?

We would like to open more stores but we aren’t looking to set up a lot of them and it’s more likely that our next move would probably be another city in the world. Drake’s, although English has always had an international flavour combining the best elements of clothing and design that you may see in cities like Paris, Rome, Tokyo or New York so it seems natural that we would look to have our next store located outside of London and the U.K.

DAVID REEVES:

New York?!

MICHAEL HIL:

(Laughs) Would love to but we will see.

DAVID REEVES:

Drake’s has been involved in a lot of collaborations over the years why do you do this and what are the benefits of these collaborations?

Collaborations are rather trendy now but we always have to do it for the right reasons. We are lucky enough to work with those people that you mention but those are brands that we like. We don’t just look at it from a financial perspective or as a means of benefitting mutually from our brand equity. They are brands that we admire and hope that we can learn something from – that could be marketing or artistic or from another product point of view. Those collaborations are put together for the right reasons where we think we can bring something to the table and so can they, a good example was working with Commes Des Garcons where they took away some of our designs but we got some great inspiration from their amazing colour ways. I often think that our business has always been about collaborations in the way that we work with our retail customers. We work with some very talented buyers and we have never sold our ties to them by dictating what they should be selling. Those buyers will often come up with ideas and suggestions about colour ways and designs that will be good for their customers and we have always taken this on board and accommodated them so in a sense collaborations are nothing new to us.

DAVID REEVES:

You have started offering custom ties, which is rather unusual and something that a lot of people I am sure would be interested in, how does it work?

MICHAEL HILL:

We have been offering this through the site and the store. If you’re a little bit taller or shorter depending on how you want to wear the tie you can have a tie that can be worn perfectly. It’s really the natural and perfect accompaniment to the customer that would have a bespoke suit made. We will cut one tie completely by hand here in Clerkenwell. 142-160 in length is normally what we would do but this could be more or it could be less, we also offer different inter linings as some people prefer a tie with more body or perhaps less for a summer tie.

DAVID REEVES

How do you feel about the subject of dressing one’s age? Normally we think of this to be about older men dressing young but there are also a lot of younger men dressing “older” as well now with shows like Boardwalk Empire and Mad Men firmly influencing trends.

Dressing your age is a helpful guide line but I think there should always be room for individuality. Classic menswear shouldn’t always be about conformity. I think the parameters are always moving albeit slowly in ‘classic’ menswear but there should be room for individuality, intuition and spontaneity as long as this is true to the person themselves. If it’s someone like David Hockney for example and he looks wonderful wearing mismatched socks and he’s happy looking like that and that’s him, we should be pleased that there are people that don’t look like the rest of us.

DAVID REEVES:

Do you believe dressing well can make you successful?

MICHAEL HILL:

I do believe if you consider what you wear you can really help yourself to give off the right signals. We often think of this as dressing in a formal way but it needn’t be. As people are working from home now or in different ways socially, wearing a good pair of casual shoes or knitwear or wearing a great scarf are really just as important signifiers as fine tailoring might be. People are still dressing up though. Our ties, generally speaking can look quite serious and speak to people in a business setting but they can still be beautiful ties without being boring. I think that lots of men who wear a tie in a serious job that don’t want to wear a ‘comedy tie’. Serious in the right way that is, not super fashionable.

DAVID REEVES:

What are some of the key pieces you are selling online and in your store now?

MICHAEL HIL:

DAVID REEVES:

Do you have a favorite tie or type of tie?

MICHAEL HILL:

Real Ancient Madder, authentic grenadine and classic reppes.

I would like to thank Michael for taking the time to do this interview.

Here is a link to Drakes’ excellent website: http://www.drakes-london.com/

Drake’s is perhaps the most respected English tie maker today amongst the connoisseurs of fine ties and people in the industry themselves. Drake’s main driving force since the company’s inception in the late 70s was Michael Drake the founder and owner of Drake’s.  His charisma, taste and genuine passion for quality ties made in London simply put was the Drake’s brand.

Over a year ago Drake’s was sold to Malaysian businessman Mark Cho and Michael Drake left the company. People have been left wondering what direction Drake’s will now take. Will we see production moved to China? Will we see consistency in terms of design? Where will the brand be in several years? With the opening of the first Drake’s stand-alone shop in Clifford Street how will this affect such a cherished brand? Will we see Drake’s stores opening up all over the place?

My good friend (going back to our days at Richard James) Michael Hill was recently minted as the new creative director of Drake’s. Michael spent several years as Michael Drake’s assistant after leaving RJ and knowing him the way I do I can say that his genuine flair and love of clothing make him the perfect choice for his new role.

MICHAEL HILL CREATIVE DIRECTOR DRAKES

I got together with Michael to ask him some serious and direct questions about Drake’s and its future. I got some serious and direct answers that I am sure many will be interested to read.

DAVID REEVES:

Before you took on your new role you spent several years at Drake’s working directly with Michael Drake but what attracted you to working at Drake’s in the first place?

MICHAEL HILL:

I think Michael Drake the man was a real draw and the opportunity to work with and learn from Michael was irresistible. I had also grown up with a tie background; my Father and Grandfather were both involved in the tie business so I always had a real reverence for what they did and a passion for ties and clothing in general.

DAVID REEVES:

There has been a lot of speculation and concern that Michael Drake’s “Drake’s” will be a thing of the past and that perhaps as you expand you will inevitably look to manufacture your ties abroad rather than in London. Is this going to happen?

MICHAEL HILL:

Firstly, I totally understand the concern people have for the brand and Michael’s Legacy. Very often when an investor comes into a brand people do get nervous but our new owner Mark Cho and I are very much in agreement that we should stay true to our heritage. What we are looking to do is essentially keep the company the way it is but just make the brand and the product more accessible which is why we recently opened up our first retail store in Clifford Street and we have been working on expanding the range of products we sell and offering them on our website. We still have the same great workers and design team with us and I worked for a number of years as Michael’s assistant before taking over my current role so I personally want to stick with the company’s heritage and our new owner feels that way as well. As far as manufacturing abroad I can tell you that there are no plans for this and we are in fact refurbishing a new larger factory a stones throw away from our original workroom. We are going to continue making ties by hand in East London.

DAVID REEVES:

In terms of making Drake’s more accessible and as we see your product range and presence grow especially with the retail store will we see a true Drake’s “look” emerge? What will this be? And who are your customers?

MICHAEL HILL:

As we start to introduce new products we have to make sure they are the right ones and that they compliment the ties which were, are and always will be our core business and our starting point with everything. I am quite lucky in the sense that now I am putting together products and looks that Michael Drake always talked about. At one point we were selling ties, scarves and handkerchiefs but now we can put the tie together with the shirt, the handkerchief the suspenders and the cuff links to suggest a look. Although we sell jackets we have no plans to move into selling suits because that is not who we are. Rather we see our clients as the type of men that would buy a beautiful suit from Savile Row or from someone like yourself and by extension they should buy their tie and accessories from someone who knows about those things and who has a history of working with those items. We have lots of younger customers now and have lots of people in their 20s buying narrower ties and even bowties. Our internet presence probably helps this. We remain committed to our traditional clientele and ways of doing things but in many ways I think that the store and the internet presence just allows the younger customer to find us more easily and when they discover what we do and who we are hopefully that resonates with them in a positive way.

Buy someone a gift voucher this December and take 20% off the purchase price

This weekend I discovered that my own overcoat’s poachers pocket was not just good for hiding pigeon carcasses and the New York Times but could fit an Ipad very nicely.

Check out the link below:

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