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#1 2008-12-03 06:59:02

Film Noir Buff
Dandy Nightmare
From: Devil's Island
Posts: 9340

Hilditch-Paris

 

#2 2008-12-03 08:44:56

Ali Kebab
Member
Posts: 491

Re: Hilditch-Paris

Joseph Connolly buys the best English shirt in Paris

OK, so falling down the stairs in one of the smartest, not to say the very oldest English shop in the whole of Paris was perhaps not the demonstration of nonchalance and urbanity that I was truly pitching for, but at least it got me noticed. I was in no time surrounded by a clutch of caring Gauls, anxious to assure themselves that the idiot Englishman had come to no more lasting damage than was already inherent in him, as evidenced by the loony grin, the general air of derangement. I apologised furiously to everyone in sight for having so gaudily hurt myself, and having said, ‘No really, honestly, I’m quite all right,’ about 100 times and ever more loudly so that they’d understand, I was finally left to drool over and paw what I can now unhesitatingly pronounce to be the Very Best Shirts in the World, courtesy of Hilditch & Key.

All men have been wearing shirts for most of their lives on earth, but how many can lay claim to having spent a fair share of said life in researching them? Well I have. I’ve worn shirts by every manufacturer you’ve ever heard of, and many more you haven’t — though I can easily understand how a chap can fall into the ‘a shirt is a shirt is a shirt’ manner of thinking because all of them, admittedly, in their rigorous cellophane packaging do look much of a muchness. But wear them, look at the sit of the tie in the collar space — a collar which will never curl, and nor are you doomed to tug on it compulsively — wallow in the roominess and more than decent tails, launder the things for years and years, it is then you come to know that a Hilditch shirt is the real bee’s knees.

The two shops in Jermyn Street, founded in 1899, are comfortingly traditional and very understated — unlike some of their flashier neighbours, not to say the recent rash of unashamed parvenus — and so it is quite a surprise to learn that the secret of their excellence is known to not just the businessmen and politicians you might reasonably have expected (the Michaels Portillo and Howard, remember them?) but also by a good rich slice of rockocracy — Eric Clapton, Ray Davies and half the Rolling Stones (clue: not Ron Wood, and we don’t even for a moment think it’s Keef now, do we?)


Bespoke, of course, is truly the way to go, and although the London shops will happily cater to your pickiest whim, I have long known that the Paris branch is simply the coolest of cool, and so it is there I became determined to air my connoisseurship and create a suitably lasting impression. Yes, well.

The shop is the very first on the Rue de Rivoli, hard by the Place de la Concorde where all those aristocrats, come the Revolution, were summarily guillotined, no doubt messing up their lovely shirts (this no more, really, than a fanciful digression). They opened on the very same site exactly 100 years ago, and here bespoke really does mean bespoke — you can have just anything, no matter how singular or even frankly lunatic your inclination. Kaiser Karl Lagerfeld, well, you’ve seen the pictures. Those extraordinary high-collared creations with stocks and dozens of teensy buttons, billowy sleeves and Cadillac cuffs reminiscent of a swashbuckling Douglas Fairbanks? All made from his rapid-fire sketches by the small old ladies in the Hilditch & Key atelier, mutely going blind over near-invisible stitching. And talking of Douglas Fairbanks, he was a customer, as was a gorgeous stew of glamour from an era when the difference was easily grasped: Cole Porter, the Duke of Windsor, Monsieur Guerlain, Robert Mitchum, Jean Cocteau, Scott Fitzgerald (and, by implication, the Great Gatsby himself) — even Garbo and Dietrich, for God’s sake. The H&K shirt was also much adored by a litany of folk who were happily and famously turning out clothes of their own: Dior, Worth, Chanel, Lacoste, Givenchy. Even P.G. Wodehouse, who cared nothing for style, cared enough to go to Hilditch & Key. Upstairs, near the atelier which I swear hasn’t altered in the 100 years it’s been there, there are endless archives of brown paper templates of all of the above, and thousands more besides (just you be careful on the way back down again).

And say what you like about Sarkozy (and people in France, they do, they really do), but he’s a well-turned-out little fellow, don’t you think? Apart from the inordinate length of his trousers, that is (can he be so deluded as to imagine he will one day grow into them?). But all the shirts and ties: H&K. And for La Bruni, he recently ordered a batch of, oh God — men’s shirts, a thought that provokes me, in all frankness, to go and have a brief lie-down. But never mind Carla — it is for Hilditch & Key I have fallen.

 

#3 2008-12-03 13:44:08

Bishop of Briggs
Member
Posts: 3948

Re: Hilditch-Paris


Contrary to lies of FNB and Woofboxer, I (and most of the other "Buff Bastards") have been banned from posting on this forum. There are only a few posters left so don't waste your time on here. This forum is dead and nobody cares.

 

#4 2008-12-03 16:19:57

Film Noir Buff
Dandy Nightmare
From: Devil's Island
Posts: 9340

Re: Hilditch-Paris

 

#5 2008-12-03 16:51:49

r. rafael
Member
From: Allentown, PA
Posts: 40

Re: Hilditch-Paris

Hilditch and Key Paris (Rue De Rivoli) is not the same product as Hilditch and Key mail order.    I do not believe you are getting the same thing.  I have bought at the Paris store in 1994 and 2004 and by mail order in the interim.

 

#6 2008-12-03 18:20:34

Marc Grayson
Member
Posts: 8860

Re: Hilditch-Paris

Charming article, although, calling H&K shirts the very best in the world is a bit overexhuberant.


"‘The sense of being perfectly well dressed gives a feeling of inner tranquility which even religion is powerless to bestow." Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Looking good and dressing well is a necessity. Having a purpose in life is not."  Oscar Wilde

 

#7 2008-12-03 20:36:33

The_Shooman
A pretty face
From: AUSTRALIA
Posts: 13179

Re: Hilditch-Paris

 

#8 2008-12-05 06:22:25

Ali Kebab
Member
Posts: 491

Re: Hilditch-Paris

 

#9 2008-12-07 00:20:01

Horace
Member
Posts: 6432

Re: Hilditch-Paris


""This is probably the last Deb season...because of the stock market, the economy, Everything..." - W. Stillman.

 

#10 2008-12-09 09:37:35

Ali Kebab
Member
Posts: 491

Re: Hilditch-Paris

 

#11 2008-12-11 15:13:50

whnay.
Member
From: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 37

Re: Hilditch-Paris

 

#12 2008-12-16 04:47:33

Ali Kebab
Member
Posts: 491

Re: Hilditch-Paris

Marc, you're safe.

http://www.styleforum.net/showpost.php?p=1559324&postcount=36

 

#13 2009-01-18 10:34:45

Ernesto
Dog Slayer
Posts: 160

Re: Hilditch-Paris

The salesman with the lion's hair is a real DORK !

The £ beeing so weak, buying in Paris is an nonsense.

I have just bought 11 shirts in London.

I tried to swap 2 shirts bought on ebay (too large for me) in Jermyn street and the salesman told me that he couldn't take them because they were at least 7 years old.

I asked him how he can see that.

He told me because of the label with made in GB.

I didn't insist and  picked up shirts I planed to buy. May be I should have asked just before paying? 

Once home, I noticed that 3 of my 11 shirts had the made in GB label.

Did they sell me 7 years old shirts?!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

#14 2016-06-19 05:37:51

Beestonplace
Member
Posts: 1926

Re: Hilditch-Paris

Bump bump bump

I LOVE the fact that H&K has a shop in Paris. They whole attitude and design is very Parisian, as opposed to the claret-drinking, pink cheek, ginger hair kind of atmosphere of H&H and T&A.

A nice H&K shirt, in "ice blue" or "blush", combined with a discreet mid blue Hermes tie, a 2B SB navy lightweight suit, 363 last C&Js, nicely aged silver cufflinks and a Piaget Altiplano, a VC Patrinony or a PP 5196, all in platinum. Lunch in Paris or Geneva, lakeside or rooftop. A simple Chablis, some grilled salmon, green asparagus, no dessert.

Last edited by Beestonplace (2016-06-19 05:57:11)


I LOVE , this foum

 

#15 2016-06-19 05:48:04

Kingston1an
Member
Posts: 4109

Re: Hilditch-Paris

Very Burlington Bertie.

Or should that be Burlington Bertie from Bow?


"Florid, smug, middle-aged golf club bore in this country I'd say. Propping up the 19th hole in deepest Surrey bemoaning the perils of immigration."

 

#16 2016-06-19 08:15:11

4F Hepcat
THE Cat
Posts: 14333

Re: Hilditch-Paris

Paris, where did it go?


Vibe-Rations in Spectra-Sonic-Sound

 

#17 2016-10-30 06:42:31

Beestonplace
Member
Posts: 1926

Re: Hilditch-Paris

The "new" Hilditch and Key shirt style is much, much better than the previous one (with the light blue labels). The collars are slightly bigger (in the previous range especially the cutaway ones were way too small), and the neckband is higher, compared to the garotte style of the old range.

Needless to say, the price increase to 135 GBP is bold. But it seems as if they finally got their act together.


I LOVE , this foum

 

#18 2017-02-24 14:56:12

Beestonplace
Member
Posts: 1926

Re: Hilditch-Paris

Just returned from Paris. Did not see the smaller Hermes shop in C-E, did not go to H&K, did not to to Charvet. Arrived late and had Andouillettes in my favourite bistrot near Avenue Montaigne. And their house red. And Rhum Baba.


I LOVE , this foum

 

#19 2017-02-27 02:21:14

4F Hepcat
THE Cat
Posts: 14333

Re: Hilditch-Paris

Nice. How was the general ambience in the city?


Vibe-Rations in Spectra-Sonic-Sound

 

#20 2017-02-28 14:05:02

Beestonplace
Member
Posts: 1926

Re: Hilditch-Paris

Narrow-minded as I am I didnt venture further than Avenue Montaigne and the nearby streets. Quiet, civilized. Not as shabby as London.


I LOVE , this foum

 

#21 2017-03-01 00:45:36

4F Hepcat
THE Cat
Posts: 14333

Re: Hilditch-Paris

Excellent! The moveable feast lives.


Vibe-Rations in Spectra-Sonic-Sound

 

#22 2017-03-01 15:03:16

Beestonplace
Member
Posts: 1926

Re: Hilditch-Paris

Cities like London and Paris have so much to offer - too much. I usually manage this by finding "my" little corner and becoming a "foreign local" there. Yes, some people here might again think that this is narrow-minded and so on, but for me, who is often caught by sudden attacks of loneliness and sadness, being in a familiar place, with familiar places, is quite important.


I LOVE , this foum

 

#23 2018-07-15 04:33:30

Beestonplace
Member
Posts: 1926

Re: Hilditch-Paris

Update: I received a batch of H&K shirts (4 Kent, 1 spread collar, double cuff, 4 white plains 3 blues) as I am going to give them another chance. Stay tuned!


I LOVE , this foum

 

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