Travel -- 12 hours ago
Words: Antonio Wedral
Jeremy Hackett, the founder of Hackett, is a very busy man. However, behind every successful businessman is an innate ability to wind down at the end of the week – and that is exactly what the fashion designer and business entrepreneur does. Gentleman’s Journal spoke to Jeremy Hackett to find out how he spends his weekends:
I will walk my Sussex Spaniels Muffin And Harry either in Battersea Park, Richmond Park or Hyde Park. Then I’ll have a long lunch with friends at a restaurant, and probably spend some time in my garden. I’m a dab hand at trimming hedges.
I like to visit Portobello or Spitalfields Market and pick up vintage pieces of clothing. I can’t walk past a charity shop without popping in, just in case. It’s the thrill of the chase.
A gentleman should be tactful, self-deprecating and caring.
Always wear a self-tie bow tie, wear long socks with a suit and always invest in good shoes. Nothing ruins a good suit than cheap shoes.
Well, I have to walk the dogs and I don’t mind the rain as long as I have a decent Fox umbrella with me. Then I might work on a little book of photographs that I am putting together.
It would have to be Colbert on Sloane Square where I go at least a couple of times a week for breakfast meetings. It sets me up for the day and I can take the dogs.
Opening Hackett with no business plan, no marketing plan and very little money.
I went to The Idle Rocks hotel in the idyllic setting of St Mawes, an enchanting seaside village in Cornwall. The dogs are welcome and in fact it was more of a long weekend because I couldn’t tear myself away.
The last one was David Hockney and prior to that the Summer exhibition at the RA. I often drop into the National Portrait Gallery or sometimes The Photographers’ Gallery. I really should make more effort and go to Tate Britain as it is only a short walk from home.
They do love the water so I take them wherever they can go swimming.
I don’t often wear suits at the weekend except maybe a corduroy suit or a cotton suit, something less formal. I would probably wear a deconstructed blue cotton blazer.
I am in and out of the shops all the time, but not necessarily on a weekend. I like to talk with the staff and find out how things are selling. I often bump into customers from the very early days of Hackett and now they’ve become more prosperous and are having tailor-made suits.
I don’t have any favourites I just wander around until something catches my eye. Recently I was looking through a rail of old tweed jackets and noticed one that looked familiar and was more costly than the others. I asked the stall holder why it was more expensive and she replied, “It is Hackett you know.” – priceless!
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