DUNHILL REVISITED

As one of the most renowned British luxury menswear houses, Dunhill has been synonymous with English tailoring and craft since its founding over 130 years ago. In this exclusive opinion piece, noted fashion writer Luke Leitch unpacks Dunhill’s storied legacy and reinvention under the creative direction of Simon Holloway. Keep reading for Leitch’s expert take, plus, discover Holloway’s debut Fall/Winter 2024 ready-to-wear collection launching exclusively at Neiman Marcus.

Alfred Dunhill was an ambitious 21-year-old when he inherited his father’s London saddlery back in 1893. Within six months he doubled its revenue. Within six years, he transformed the entire scope of the business. He would go on to shape Alfred Dunhill—today known as Dunhill—into one of the most famous masculine marques of the 20th Century.

Cut to 2024. Simon Holloway inherited Dunhill—or at least its creative oversight—only last year. The seasoned English designer might be a few years older than Alfred was 131 years ago, but he is no less driven in his desire to restore Dunhill as an unignorable presence in the universe of menswear. Holloway says, “Dunhill was born from a dynamic vision of the future: sport tailoring, leather expertise, and luxury craftsmanship. I’m not interested in re-creating the heavy, traditional English clothes of the past; my work at Dunhill is all about handsome classicism, for here and now.”

Holloway’s first two collections for Dunhill have both galvanized and laid hopeful foundations for the house’s restoration. Previous design experience at canonical companies including Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein, along with the Italian knit specialist Agnona and the English country brand James Purdey & Sons, have all contributed to his broad yet profound knowledge of material craft and fabrication in menswear. He says, “At Dunhill, we work with the finest artisanal fabric mills in Britain and Biella. For example, we develop prints that are table-printed by hand in the last remaining heritage print mill in the north of England for use in our silk accessories.”

This fall, a curated selection from Holloway's excitingly refined upgrade to Dunhill comes to Neiman Marcus. Fittingly, it will be about 100 years after the founder opened his first store on U.S. shores, at New York's Rockefeller Plaza.

By that 1923 American debut, Alfred Dunhill had transformed his family business by pivoting from the tradition of saddlery to an emerging and still nascent technological innovation: the automobile. He opened a new store offering "Motorities"—his invented word for all accessories related to driving—and applied the saddle-making craft of his apprenticeship to the creation of clothing, goggles, luggage, and countless other categories related to the car. Even as that market boomed, Alfred's restlessly innovative instinct kept ticking over: this compulsively creative entrepreneur and inventor became fascinated by the paraphernalia of tobacco smoking—another line of business that brought great prosperity (but which, now so anachronistic, is no longer fundamental to Dunhill's endeavor). Other Dunhill specialties would include hand-illustrated Japanese lacquer pens, colognes, shaving gear, and many other forms of exquisitely made men's accessories.

Those early worn "Motorities" apart, in fact, clothing only became truly central to the house in the mid-1970s. Today that menswear increasingly reflects its home turf—or as Holloway puts it, "Dunhill represents a masculine playground, one that is perhaps unique to London. It encompasses the tailoring workshops of Savile Row, the members clubs of Mayfair and St. James, the specialist makers of everything from bench-made shoes to shirts, and the full array of haberdashery that creates a sense of joy in exquisite British menswear."

This is why at Dunhill's Bourdon House home in central London, there is a full bespoke department alongside the store, barbershop, and entrepreneur-thronged private member's club. Holloway observes, "This house is for connoisseurs of all ages who have a deep appreciation for timeless style. They want the best in art, automotive, cuisine, travel, and culture. Dunhill has always and will always be a destination for this man."

The tricky thing about timelessness, however, is maintaining relevance. And Dunhill, like any venture so defined by tradition, must naturally become exposed to changing tastes, lifestyles, and the inevitable compulsion of one generation to define its tastes against its predecessor’s. This is why Holloway is dedicated to nurturing the original approach of Alfred Dunhill himself—the approach that first empowered this house to flourish as the contemporary equivalent of a tech start-up before it matured into the epitome of tasteful distinction that it has since become.

The designer puts it this way: “The Dunhill collections of today are designed with a philosophy of ‘invisible innovation.’ It marries elegance with thoughtful, functional design: noble fabrics, lightweight construction, hidden details, and precision finishes—always with a deeply human appreciation of craftsmanship.” And it is that placement of innovative process at the very heart of traditional practice that makes Holloway’s Dunhill 2.0 every bit as exciting as Alfred Dunhill’s original was all those years ago.

Luke Leitch is a noted fashion critic, author, and Vogue Runway contributing editor based in London and Milan. As one of the most prolific and respected voices in fashion journalism, he provides widely read insights into designer collections, shows, and industry trends.