New twist for British fashion house

Hong Kong firm updates two-century-old Gieves & Hawkes brand while preserving its heritage

The 205-year-old British heritage luxury brand Gieves & Hawkes has been given a modern and international twist since its acquisition by Chinese investors in 2012.

The fashion wear has started to look younger, but the British gentleman's touch nevertheless remains with the design, company officials say. Creative director Jason Basmajian says it is like "speaking an international language but keeping the accent British".

Such a feat is not easy to achieve because it requires great understanding of the essence of British taste and international consumer demand, but Basmajian says it is done by balancing style with fashion, dressing a gentleman without sticking to any specific stereotypical design.

"We are about elegance. There's a bit of timelessness, but I think men want to feel modern, and they want to feel younger, and the cuts are all very flattering, so it's very precise cuts and very modern," Basmajian says.

The history of Gieves & Hawkes is the story of two separate houses, Gieves, the celebrated supplier of the British Royal Navy, and Hawkes of the British army. Both were established in the 18th century, and they came together in 1974 to become Gieves & Hawkes.

The brand has maintained its heritage and association with the British royals, the company says. Today it still holds all three royal warrants, given that it supplies clothing to Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales.

Its flagship store also holds the wardrobe for the uniform of the bodyguards to the British monarch - known as Her Majesty's Bodyguard of the Honorable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms - used for special occasions, such as when the British monarch receives important overseas guests.

Over the years, Gieves & Hawkes has continued to dress many celebrated men both in the United Kingdom and abroad, the company says, but in more recent years it has grown fast internationally and most predominantly in China.

One factor behind the China story is the 2012 acquisition of the brand by Hong Kong-headquartered Trinity Ltd, which is a part of the Fung Group.

With the hope to transform the brand and make it more relevant for the modern man, Trinity appointed Basmajian as the new creative director. Company officials say his international background was a good match for the Trinity management vision for taking the brand forward.

Basmajian says in the years leading up to the acquisition, the brand lacked creative direction. It was doing things the same way it has been over the years, like "a beautiful jewel that just needed to be dusted off".

"I think Trinity realized that this is an amazing brand with so much opportunity globally, that we need a new team, a new creative direction, and we need to elevate the brand and evolve it," he says.

When Trinity found Basmajian, he was artistic director at Brioni, an Italian fashion brand that also had undergone significant transformation over the six years Basmajian led its creative direction.

"I think they'd seen my work at Brioni and they liked what I had done with moving Brioni forward, and it worked. I liked them as a family, I liked the company, I thought it was a really good fit," he says.

The newest collection Basmajian has designed for Gieves & Hawkes, for spring and summer 2015, consists of a wide variety of clothing, including formal suits, ready to wear, weekend clothing, and sports outfits like cycling gear.

The collection is inspired by the British seaside, the company says, and is full of tonal colors found in nature: the sea, stones and plants, including blue, gray, navy, teal blue and brown.

"The British seaside has a very different mood than, say, the Mediterranean. So we were very much into this moody kind of rich tones, the navies, the teal blues, the saturated colors. I think that this was for me very masculine and very British," Basmajian says.

The collection has a big focus on outerwear and knitwear. Suits are shown in more relaxed fabrics like linens, cotton and wool blends, linen silk blends, and very lightweight wools. They are often displayed with shirts and ties but also mixed with jersey and knitwear.

Basmajian says the creativity in color and texture challenges the tradition of suits being made for formal occasions only, because more relaxed suits can be worn for weekends, with a T-shirt and a pair of espadrilles or loafers.

The idea is to ask men to go into their wardrobes and mix things up, "to get men to think about using their clothes in different ways, and breaking down the rules of dress where a suit was for the business, and a tuxedo was for the evening, and the bathing suit for the beach," he says.

The collection has also been extended by adding bags, accessories and eyewear as well as shoes. "I feel now like the collection really represents a kind of lifestyle," Basmajian says.

The same relaxed and modern feeling was seen across the previous collection Basmajian designed, for autumn and winter of 2014, consisting predominantly of brown, gray, dark green and black, colors found in the mountainous Scottish landscape.

Prior to the acquisition, Trinity already was the Asian distributor of Gieves & Hawkes, having opened 95 stores in China by 2012, which has grown to more than 100. But it has been only since the acquisition that the brand has undergone a transformation, including a redesign of the London flagship store, No 1 Savile Row.

The address is famous because it is the only location where Gieves & Hawkes' bespoke tailoring is done. A bespoke jacket takes around 80 to 100 hours of manual work while trousers or a waistcoat each take around 50 hours.

A two-piece bespoke suit sells from 4,750 pounds ($7,462; 6,000 euros). Made-to-measure suits, allowing customers to choose from existing patterns, sell from 1,000 pounds. Ready-to-wear clothing that sells on the shop floor goes from about 800 pounds.

No 1 Savile Row also is the former home of the Royal Geographical Society, a meeting place for many famous British pioneers and explorers.

The redesign has completely altered the atmosphere of the store, adding modern furniture and decorations, also changing the layout to make it look less like just a shop floor and more like a gathering place.

Another milestone since the acquisition is the appointment of Chinese eventer Hua "Alex" Tian as the new brand ambassador for Gieves & Hawkes in 2014 to commemorate the Chinese year of the horse. Eventing is the triathlon of equestrian sports, incorporating the disciplines of dressage, cross-country and show jumping, according to useventing.com.

Hua grew up in Beijing and Hong Kong, but moved to the UK to attend Eton. He first came to the attention of the media as the youngest eventer at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, aged just 18. Now 25, Hua is based in the northwestern English county of Cheshire, where he has prepared for such competitions as the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, and the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016.

With a Chinese background and a British upbringing, the company says Hua is considered an example of the British gentleman and fits with the Gieves & Hawkes image. His youth also demonstrates the brand's aim to appeal to younger customers.

Attracting younger customers is the future for Gieves & Hawkes, helping the heritage brand fit into the modern world, Basmajian says.

"I think Gieves & Hawkes has always been a brand about generations, and for us it's very important to focus on the son as it is the father. I think we've attracted a younger customer through new cuts in suits, as well as adding sportswear to the collection.

"We no longer have an 'age' demographic. I know it's a success when I can meet with customers who have come in the store, and I can have a 25-year-old man and a 55-year-old man, who both come in, love the collection, love what we're doing and find clothes for themselves," he says.

Lucia Lorenzo contributed to this story.

cecily.liu@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 01/09/2015 page19)