Trunk Clothiers of Marylebone

“Our aim is to make Trunk a destination for men to shop for everything from suits to denim to swimwear” says founder of the relatively new-kid-on-the-block Marylebone clothier Trunk, Mats Klingberg.

“We wanted to create a shop that caters to an international audience of men seeking easy to wear, intelligently-designed clothes, with no compromise on quality”.

Quite a promise but it does certainly live up to expectation when I visited to see how this was manifested in to a physical space. Having retailed in Marylebone for 6 years, I was not surprised to see this addition… alongside shops such as Skandium, Conran Shop and of course Monocle (Mats just happens to be partner of Tyler Brûlé, the editor in chief of Monocle magazine).

Note that Trunk is a clothiers, in the same way that Margaret Howell is not ‘fashion’, Mats has created an emporium of clothing, stylish not fashionable. Not too say that this store is out of sync with what is current, but for those looking to pick up something stylish that will last past the season (and let’s face it that is most of us).

Like many entrepreneurs, Mats found a problem in getting clothing of this quality and from distinguished names that have not adorned the rails of most stores in the UK, he spoke to GQ magazine of his issues in finding the right store for him:

“I had lived in London for over five years and I hadn’t really found that shop that I would go to and buy my own clothes. I thought, ‘If it doesn’t exist here, then why don’t I do one myself?’ I decided on Marylebone because it’s quite close to Paddington Station and the Heathrow Express. Lots of guys who are in London for business, bankers from New York, come by on their travels.”

I very much enjoyed my trip down Trunk and resisted buying up the entire downstairs but have made a definite note to take regular trips to fill up on the much-needed basics for the wardrobe. Mats talked to Purple Eagle about the opening of the new store and his plans for the business…

Sam Hecht at Margaret Howell

Today I took a trip to the mecca of British clothing, Margaret Howell, to discover a great new addition to the menswear range… a shirt by Industrial Facility designer Sam Hecht.

I have long been a fan of Hecht and the work that is produced by the Industrial Facility office. The simplicity of their work is really refreshing — stripping every detail back to the essential and removing any visual ‘noise’ from the product so that it can sit harmoniously in its surroundings… something that many designers fail to remember when designing a product — it will be surrounded by other products when in its final home.

So you can imagine my delight to see that two of my favourite designers have paired up to create a new shirt for cycling and working in, two things in which I do daily.

“Working with Sam Hecht was easy and pleasurable. Partly because we share a similar approach to design, paring away the inessential to find the purely useful, but also because it was clear from the start Sam knew exactly what he wanted. A prolific designer of a wide range of products, his vision was for a shirt to reflect his lifestyle – busy and urban, with much of it spent on two wheels. Sam took a shirt, then took it apart. Why not, he said, turn up the tail to make back pockets?’ ”
Margaret Howell 2011

“My discovery of Margaret Howell’s clothing has been a joyful surprise. That Margaret herself has a burgeoning curiosity about the modern condition, about how we live for simple pleasures, honest materials, the kind of authenticity which people always want to come back to -– is something we share and that motivates me too. It seemed reasonable to design a shirt that appears familiar but also reflects how people are moving around the city these days.”
Sam Hecht, Industrial Facility 2011

The result is a pale blue cotton shirt, pre-washed, with minimal front detailing. The back detail is inspired by turning up the tail of a classic shirt to create a divided pocket. An extra pocket on the left sleeve can hold a travel card. This is a shirt for both cycling and wearing in the work place.

Turnbull & Asser

Founded in 1885 by Reginald Turnbull and Ernest Asser, tailors Turnbull & Asser have long been a mecca for tailored shirt-lovers.

Famous for their dress shirts, Turnbull & Asser have had a varied existence beginning as hosiers and even serving the Swinging London set during the 1960s.

In 1962 they began to outfit James Bond as first portrayed by Sean Connery, whose dress shirts had turnback cuffs fastened with buttons as opposed to cufflinks, sometimes referred to as the James Bond Cuff.

Appropriated from flickr.com/photos/duncan/

In 1981, after his marriage to Princess Diana, Prince Charles issued his first Royal warrant to Turnbull & Asser for making his bespoke shirts.

If you get the opportunity, do stop by the Jermyn Street shop and drink up old England in this shop that appears to have never changed since first opening its doors.

Now owned by Ali Al-Fayed (ex-Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed’s younger brother), Turnbull & Asser have opened in New York and even launched an online shop.

Hopefully they stay around for many years to come…