时尚街拍网"Its all about the weather, Stella Tennant says with a chuckle."We can have all four seasons in a matter of hours in Britain.Not having the right clothes for them ruins your day.
Tennant, 45, is not the kind of woman who would ever be caught on a hillside in the wrong gear.She may be an aristocrat and an international modelling star but shes also an all-weather gal, bred for heather and hills.
Raised in the Borders, where she still lives, she combines country living and a family with a career that continues to see her attracting major advertising campaigns and covers for Vogue and Harpers Bazaar.Indeed, she appears to possess as much longevity and hardiness as a good tweed jacket and a sturdy brogue.
The grand-daughter of the Duke of Devonshire and his wife, Deborah Mitford, is the ideal person for the heritage British sportswear house Holland & Holland to call upon.Together with her friend Isabella Cawdor (a former Vogue fashion editor and a resident of the Highlands, who is the daughter of the 11th Earl of Harrington and is married to Colin Campbell, the 7th Earl Cawdor), Tennant has taken up the design reigns at the company – founded in 1835 and acquired by Chanel in 1989 – tasked with reimagining its country clothes for the high-fashion huntin, shootin, fishin set.
"Were making quality clothes to deal with the weather and to look good in. Its very simple, Tennant says.Thanks to its many, many bad-weather days, Britain has inspired a canon of outdoor apparel suitable for sporting types who enjoy the odd day in town.
This first collection under Tennant and Cawdor, autumn/winter 2016, available from July (when lets face it, well probably need it), embraces that heritage.At first glance there is nothing to scare the horses (or the grouse).The clothes look traditional with a capital T: big field jackets, single-breasted hunting jackets, Guernsey sweaters, soft tweed shirts, hiking boots and thermals.
For Cawdor the key to dressing for the country is layering."You just need to be able to peel it all off and pile it back on again, she says."Thats how we started.We sat down at Stellas house and thought, what do you need from the outside all the way to the inside?If the layers are all too heavy, then that doesnt feel right.We want things to be well made so that you have flexibility and cosiness without feeling like the Abominable Snowman.
"Its the little details that make things good or not, Tennant adds."For example we have done very classic V-necks, round necks and polo necks, but we spent a lot of time getting the right weight of cashmere, the right density of the knit.The kind of water the wool is washed in affects the yarn.The Italians like a much fluffier knit, but traditionally in Scotland its a dryer, cleaner finish.Thats what we like.The colours are inspired by the landscape."Most of these clothes camouflage brilliantly, Tennant says."What pops out in an urban setting is the houndstooth tweed, Cawdor adds."But in the landscape you cant see it.For hill and moorland, tweed is camouflage.
But you dont get two women with such style lineage on board merely for tradition.What Tennant and Cawdor add to this collection is a touch of chic.That might come down to, say, the placing of the low-lying front pockets on a soft, light, black tweed jacket, enabling you to slouch just so.Or perhaps its the poster-paint-bright red and blue of the thermal tops with extra-long sleeves that will peep out at your wrists or at the neck with a little flash of dandy daring.
As such the clothes have a dual life and will be worn as much by townies as by dyed-in-the-wool country mice."Were using traditional heritage ideas and giving them a softer, looser cut, says Tennant."Were making it more versatile so it can go from the country to the city, from Britain to Japan to America.It was great to see that traditional houndstooth suit with the cuff rolled up to reveal the beautiful dark-green lining, paired with a white trainer.It looked super cool.The reinvention of country living starts here.
Holland & Holland, 33 Bruton Street, London W1
