SIR HARDY AMIES RETIRES FROM THE COUTURE HOUSE HE FOUNDED

November 6, 2001Nov 6, 2001, 11:00 PM GMT

Couturier Sir Hardy Amies, for fifty years the Queen’s dressmaker, has retired from the company he founded at the ripe old age of 92. The witty and debonair Englishman, who was a model of discretion in his dealings with the monarch, will still be consulted on all business decisions as he relaxes at his cottage in the Cotswolds. The design house’s new head of couture will be Jacques Azagury, who used to dress Princess Diana.

Clothes were in Sir Hardy’s blood: his mother was a saleswoman in the Court dressmaking establishment of Miss Gray of Bond Street, and he started his career at another big couture name, the House of Lachasse. After serving in the Second World War, Sir Hardy returned to civvy street and opened his own business in London’s Savile Row.

Over the next fifty years, the Hardy Amies firm grew steadily, until it had a turnover of more than £200 million. But its eponymous founder always kept his hand on the tiller: even at the age of 86 he was putting in a four-day week at the studio. For the past five years, however, he has not been involved in the label’s day-to-day designs, although he has kept an eye on its creations.

In May, Sir Hardy sold his business to the self-explanatory company, Luxury Brands Group, which is run by David Duncan Smith, the elder brother of Tory party leader Ian. It is David who green-lighted Moroccan-born Jacques for the couture post. A more than competent designer with 20 years experience, the 45-year-old St Martin’s graduate will nevertheless have a hard act to follow. Sir Hardy’s credo, “Day clothes must look equally good at Salisbury station as the Ritz bar; our customer always has one foot in the country, one in the town,” is still valid in the upper echelons of society.

David Duncan Smith has also commissioned the house’s first ready-to-wear division. Headed up by Paolo Gabrielli, who used to design for Swiss house Bally, he will be assisted by two Royal College Of Art graduates: Matthew Wood for menswear, and Huguette Hubard, for womenswear.

For fifty years, Sir Hardy Amies was the Queen's dressmaker, but the 92-year-old is finally putting down his sketch book

Although his association with the monarch goes back a long way, Sir Hardy Amies was a model of discretion

His eponymously-titled company was sold to the Luxury Brands Group in May this year

Sign up to HELLO Daily! for the best royal, celebrity and lifestyle coverage

By entering your details, you are agreeing to HELLO! Magazine User Data Protection Policy. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information, please click here.