Orlebar Brown and Gieves & Hawkes take you on a worldly journey
When celebrated Scottish explorer David Livingstone was feared dead in 1871, Welsh journalist Henry Morton Stanley was dispatched to East Africa by the New York Herald to find the man. When he found Livingstone near Lake Tanganyika, he greeted him with the now famous line ‘Dr. Livingstone, I presume?’
Legend has it that Stanley was dressed in Hawkes & Co., while Livingstone was decked out in Gieves & Co., a meeting that presaged the merger of the two tailors in 1974. Coming full circle serendipitously, the home of Gieves & Hawkes is 1, Savile Row, which is also the headquarters of the Royal Geographical Society and where Livingstone’s body was laid in repose upon his death.
Taking inspiration from those grand journeys of Livingstone’s, Gieves & Hawkes has teamed up with swimwear tailoring specialists Orlebar Brown in a capsule collection for Spring/Summer 2016. The base ingredient was historical 19th century maps, the type that Livingstone would have followed or even composed, transformed into prints for the ready-to-wear collection that includes T-shirts, cargo shorts and Orlebar Brown’s signature swimming trunks., as well as more specific gear like pith helmets, safari jackets and desert boots. In some pieces, the maps are eschewed for tropical foliage, a vibrant pattern for the more daring. The result is a cool collection imprinted with an unmistakable sense of adventure that will have you raring to climb mountains and descend valleys, while looking every inch a stylish gentleman.
The world is a wonderful place. Let’s go exploring.
