An iconic British gentleman’s brand, Dunhill, like so many of its peers, started out as a saddlery business that offered various equestrian accessories for well-heeled customers. When Alfred Dunhill took over the family business he began to manufacture various accessories for the motoring enthusiast and for wealthy travellers. A successful foray into smoking accessories for the travel market opened an entirely new business for the brand which opened its first tobacco shop in 1907 and continues to trade in cigars and smoking instruments today, now under the watchful eye of its parent company, Richemont. Dunhill is a quintessential English gentleman’s outfitter, continuing its tradition of supplying “everything but the motor”, with various accessories, leather goods, apparel and even bespoke tailoring.
Category Archives: LUXURY
VAN CLEEF & ARPELS
Van Cleef & Arpels is one of the world’s pre-eminent jewellery houses, famed the world over for their beautiful iconic pieces. The brand was founded in 1906 in Paris and, today, has boutiques in key markets across the world. Fashioning pieces to order, VCA is a high jewellery brand with a significant ready-to-wear selection, earning them a loyal and even royal customer base. Van Cleef & Arpels pieces are highly collectible. The marque is part of the Richemont conglomerate.
VACHERON CONSTANTIN
Vacheron Constantin is an iconic Swiss timepiece marque, one of the oldest in the world having made watches since 1755. The brand is the most exclusive of the so-called “Holy Trinity” of ultra-luxury major watchmakers (alongside Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe). The firm quickly became a favourite of Kings and Queens, besotted with the delicate and ornate mechanics of the house’s beautiful pieces, indeed, the early Fabergé eggs would contain Vacheron Constantin timepieces as the surprise within. The firm is highly prized amongst collectors with some of their most famous models being amongst the most coveted clocks and wristwatches ever made, achieving some of the highest prices ever recorded at auction.
PETER MILLAR
Launched in 2001, Peter Millar set out to offer luxurious and elegant sportswear and casualwear for the well-dressed man. Taking inspiration from the golf courses of old and using those styling cues to create clubhouse appropriate clothing lines, Peter Millar quickly established itself as a go-to label for the sports enthusiast. The North Carolina label uses cottons and fabrics from the region, renowned for their high quality and comfort, to produce sophisticated tailored pieces to elevate golfwear and redefine business casual attire. The brand, now within the prestigious Richemont stable, has expanded to offer a full range of menswear and womenswear from performance apparel to countrywear lines borrowing from the British and American traditions.
BAUME & MERCIER
Ths famous Swiss marque first came on the scene in 1830 when Louis Joseph Baume opened his watchmaking atelier in Les Bois, in the Swiss canton of Bern. His two sons, Louis-Victor and Célestin Baume, would work with him and, four years later, re-registered the company under their names as Baume Frères. The firm quickly gained a reputation for quality workmanship and excellent accuracy and, in 1840, the brothers opened an outlet in London’s horology epicentre, Northampton Square in Clerkenwell – the destination of choice young men equipping and provisioning themselves with all that they should require before voyaging across the world in service of trade and empire. Baume watches were very much in demand as campaign and maritime watches – their reliable precision timekeeping complementing the race to set records in transatlantic, eastern and oriental voyages on tea clippers and, later steamships and ocean liners.
LOAKE
Since 1880, Loake Shoemakers has been one of the pre-eminent English shoemakers. The firm was founded in the Northamptonshire town of Kettering, located within that pocket of England’s green and pleasant land that is renowned for its shoemaking tradition and which has given the world a number of footwear brands of great distinction. Loake may be considered to be amongst the best of them. The brand was founded by three brothers, descended from a shoemaking dynasty, who set about making the very best handmade shoes a gentleman could desire. The brand’s custodians today are descendants of the original founders with the house controlled by the Loake family.
HERMÈS
The ultimate in luxury brands, Hermès is synonymous with opulent and sumptuous goods, finished to the highest standards. This house has perfected the art of luxury since its foundation as a saddlery in 1837. From the outset, the Hermès brand was a favourite of the highest of nobility and the Parisian elite who would seek out no other maker for their equestrian and carriage equipment. The maison would use it’s leather-making expertise to craft various other accoutrement essential to the comfortable travel of its distinguished customers, including luggage and travel cases. With the advent of the automotive age, the brand would apply its prestige and know-how to upholstering the very best motor cars and expanding into leather goods, such as handbags, belts, boots and so forth. This also marked the transformation of the brand into a high fashion label, renowned for their selection of the best materials and elaborate prints to create beautiful accessories and apparel. Today the brand stands as the height of luxury, admired and desired throughout the world.
MOYNAT
Moynat is one of the great Parisian malletiers alongside Goyard and Louis Vuitton, famous for it’s high-end luxury trunks and luggage and synonymous with the golden age of travel. Similar to their rivals, Moynat is easily identified by their distinctive patterns and colourways and the high-quality finish. The brand became a darling of European society, with many celebrated and royal patrons. The brand fell out of favour as air travel replaced ocean liners but the brand was revived by LVMH with Luvanis and reinstated as one of the world’s pre-eminent luxury brands, specialising in leather goods, bags & handbags, luggage and fragrances.
DELVAUX
This Belgian luxury goods marque is the oldest high-end leather goods maker in the world, tracing its foundation back to 1829 when Charles Delvaux opened his eponymous store in Brussels. With a reputation for excellence in their craftsmanship and an exquisite attention to detail, Delvaux became a preferred brand to much of Europe’s aristocratic and noble classes, eventually earning a warrant as purveyors to the Royal Court of Belgium in 1883. The brand was particularly known for their luggage and steam trunks in the golden age of travel but has successfully reinvented themselves in the modern age as a fabricator of must-have handbags and other leather accessories. The house continues upon that tradition today as a label in the Richemont luxury goods stable.
ARMAND NICOLET
One of the grand Swiss watchmakers, Armand Nicolet is a connoisseur’s horology brand, founded in 1875. The house’s eponymous founder was born into a watchmaking dynasty and was a master of his craft when he opened his workshop. From the outset, Nicolet gained a reputation as an expert manufacturer with a honed eye for the finest complications and mechanisms. The brand’s signature is elegant, timeless timepieces befitting the high taste and high status of its typical customer. The firm’s most famous watches include moon phase and chronograph movements, with the M02 model being the most sought after.
FITZGABRIELS 