We are very excited to be expanding our Dashing range by starting a ready to wear collection. Over the last few years we have seen a growing desire for more relaxed tailored looks. It’s a difficult path to navigate, people don’t want to look too dressed up, especially in the summer but it’s nice to wear something with a certain panache and the benefit of useful pockets.

Tropical army dress has cleverly evolved to give just this look, so we have adopted the classic cut for our summer over-shirts. They are designed to be worn over a tee-shirt or light knit and feature four elegant buttoned down pockets, a yoke back and a perfect sized collar. We have, of course retained the all important epaulettes which add verve to the garment.

Dashing Tweeds brings people together and sparks creative conversation. The latest case in point is the delightful afternoon I spent with legendary tailor Chris Ruocco and Jonathan Root.

Jonathan is a fellow photographer, we first met back in the day when London was abuzz with magazines and photographers. Twenty four hour processing labs were a focal point for snappers waiting to ensure that their film was correctly exposed and another job would be awarded. The East End was a hive of activity; warehouse conversions flashed with high voltage strobe lights favoured by studio photographers and the streets crackled with the radios of rapid cycle couriers.

Jonathan assisted photographer Carrie Branovan before embarking on a career as a beauty and portrait photographer for magazines such as Tatler and Harpers. With an eye for the latest look Jonathan would haggle at Hyper Hyper, buying the threads to turn heads at Kinky Gerlinky or The Wag Club.

Cars are another passion for Jonathan. He’s regularly drives his faithful 1951 Jowett Jupiter and a few years ago remortgaged his studio to buy some impressive playboy wheels; a bright green gull-winged De Tomaso Mangusta. Recently Jonathan could not resist the chance to pick up a wonderful 1974 Rolls Royce Corniche to add to his collection, he leapt on a plane to Luxembourg and snapped it up.

Once you own such a car you have to dress the part. The nineteen seventies were a super fun time for menswear. Savile Row was straddling the line between the conservative and the wildly fashionable. Tommy Nutter was doing roaring trade, dressing the stars of the day in his signature cut with extra wide lapels and tapered waists whilst Mr Fish next door in Clifford Street was peddling the most flamboyant shirts and ties imaginable. Jonathan is lucky enough to own some wonderful vintage Mr Fish shirts and ties, however one needs to wear slightly more than that when stepping out of a Rolls. So always with a keen eye for the marvellous, Jonathan saw our new Disco Stripe cloth design and knew he had to have it to complete the look.

Chris Ruocco, is a legendary tailor, not only in Kentish town where he has worked since 1952 but also in the celebrity world of pop stars. Signed black and white photos cover his shop walls and are a testament to his part in music history. Everyone from George Michael to Boy George, Suggs and Bananarama have been suited by him. Style leaders such as Chris Sullivan, a luminary of the London club scene in the 70s and 80’s used to drop by with friends and help style a look to turn heads.

Nothing seems to faze Chris, he’s a true bespoke tailor with all the skills needed to make a client’s sartorial dreams come true. He learned the art of tailoring as a youngster helping his uncle in the very same shop. A man of fathomless energy he was a professional boxer in his late teens, a trumpet playing band leader, a vintage dealer, a runner and is still a stalwart of the Hampstead pond swimming scene.

Chatting with him in his snug workshop it’s hard to believe he’s in his 80’s. Chris not only flows with energy but also with generosity and a zest for life. Whilst chatting, one local dropped by wanting help with the hem of his daughter’s Easter parade outfit and another wild chap stopped to ask for a couple of stitches to prolong the life of the uppers on his trainers. All the while, Chris regaled us with stories of impulsive nights out and his early mohair mod suits whilst keeping an eye on the time when his piano teacher would turn up. I then noticed an upright tucked in the corner surrounded by suits awaiting collection.

Chris was more than happy to tailor exactly what Jonathan wanted. He found our cloth a pleasure to work with and knew exactly what was needed to create a 70’s inspired cut suitable for cruising the Corniche around town. The fact that Chris owns a couple of Royces himself probably helps. Having been tailoring for so many years Chris has seen it all before. The super wide peak lapels on the coat, with a matching waistcoat and pocket watch fob buttonhole are second nature to Chris. He takes it all in his stride, cutting with a natural flair that can be seen in the elegant kick of the trousers.

It comes as no surprise that Jonathan is absolutely delighted with his new suit. The sheer joy of choosing unique cloth and having a master tailor conjure a fresh take on a classic look from the dandy era is what it’s all about. Then being able to spread the love by wearing the new whistle out and about is, as Madness would say, “One Step Beyond”.

https://www.jonathanroot.co.uk

Now that spring is in the air, there is a bounce to one’s step and suddenly everything seems easier and more joyful. People smile at you in the street and it’s time to shrug off your winter wraps. Jollity awaits, parties, weddings and all manor of summer occasions for which elegant, entertaining clothes are required.

We specialise in tailoring, a craft that has accrued style for generations. There are so many aspects to tailored clothing which have evolved through the refining forces of form and function. Even simple aspects such as turn-ups on trousers came about through the need to keep mud away. As well as physical aspects such as high arm holes allowing more movement, social aspects have added styles; for example, shoulder epaulettes indicate rank as well as being a good place to stow your beret.

Understanding the whole gamut of tailoring details allows you to make styles relevant to your needs today and through our made to measure tailoring we can include most features. For swanning around garden parties or gallery openings, I love the double breasted suit we have tailored in our new Orlando cloth. We have contrasted the formality of the cut by adding relaxed patched pockets to the jacket and included turn-ups to the fairly wide cut trousers. The cloth is a fine lambswool and cashmere blend and the turn-ups help add a little weight to the leg which enhances the flow whilst walking. To add an Edwardian touch we have turned back the cuffs of the jacket, a detail which gives a laidback feel.

For holiday, a short suit is the answer, especially in our lovely pink wool herringbone design called Vita. We have made a super relaxed look by pairing the shorts with a military inspired over-shirt featuring bellows pockets and epaulettes. Just wear it with a white t-shirt and you are ready to go anywhere. There is ample room in the pockets for phone, passport and tickets and I find it particularly amusing when topped off with a matching cap.

I love a three piece suit. It represents the epitome of tailoring. The English have always loved matching cloth over an entire outfit, in fact the word suit comes from the French word suite meaning to follow or match.

Our new season check named Quentin looks wonderful as a suit with a double breasted waistcoat. The double row of buttons give a certain gravitas to the creative cloth design. The slim cut jacket features peak lapels and slanted jetted pockets and when worn with the tapered trousers the overall look certainly cuts a dash. Just what you need to wear for celebratory occasions, dinners or even country weddings.

For adventuring, a safari suit is needed. Originally worn by European explorers in Africa, the practical jackets with multiple pockets are often belted and made for action. The word safari is actually Swahili for expedition and all manor of maps and supplies can be fitted into the pockets.

Our safari jacket is in a green wool herringbone we name Keynes. Herringbone weaves are one of the strongest structures and wool is a great fibre for temperature regulation. The whole suit with matching trousers is great for general travel by plane, train or automobile, being both comfortable and elegant. As a rule, I always think you should dress up rather than down when hitting the road as you never know where you’ll end up.

Creativity is at the core of Dashing and our Whitbread Ritzy design is a unique offering. I love the sparkle of bright blue lurex woven with the wool weft, it gives a surprising shimmer. The sky blue with burnt sienna shades suggests a sunset cocktail so I took inspiration from 60’s evening suit cuts and had a jacket with a narrow shawl collar tailored. All I need now is a matching Aperol spritz and spring can kick off.

We love guiding you through all the possible combinations of tailoring with our made to measure system. It’s surprisingly flexible, allowing you to bespeak a whole wardrobe of clothes for every occasion, or if you are a more minimal person just the single perfect suit for anywhere. Come by the shop and I can show you all the details to choose from as well as a great spectrum of linings in all colours and buttons crafted from South American nuts, buffalo horns or sea shells.

They lived in squares, painted in circles and loved in triangles. The tight knit ensemble of artists, thinkers and writers that were the Bloomsbury Group have never been so popular. They challenged the status quo in every area from economics, literature and art giving a fresh perspective to Edwardian times.

A fresh perspective is what we all need at the moment. At Dashing Tweeds we are designing and weaving fabrics that are of a classic quality, a modern design and that make sense in these turbulent times. 

This season we have taken inspiration from the home of a couple of Bloomsbury Group members, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. They formed a creative hub at Charleston Farmhouse in Sussex and decorated the house in a most charming way.

At Dashing we are lucky to have Naomi Greenland working with us on both weave design and production. Naomi actually grew up in Charleston helping her mother at the time who managed the house for Duncan Grant (see image of Naomi below). The beautifully fresh pastel colours of the painted house and garden has provided our palette for the season. We are launching five new cloths and an exciting relaunch of a creative design from 2017 that has been sort after by the film industry.

We’ve named our softest most exquisite design Orlando. The sublime fabric in pastel blue green with a faint rose pinstripe is woven with lambswool and five percent Cashmere giving it a languid drape and a luxurious handle. The interplay of colours is reminiscent of a summers morning in Charleston as light dapples on the parlour walls and caresses freshly cut garden flowers. A lovely weight for a summer suit, Orlando is 9 to 10oz and a width of 136cm.

Herringbone designs are a one of the most appreciated weave structures, a pattern everyone enjoys and a style that is easy to wear. We’ve added three glorious herringbone fabrics to our collection woven in a Merino wool, which wears so well. Weighing in at 13 to 14 oz they are suitable for the year round, tailoring equally well into trousers, jackets and skirts. Looking at the wonderful hand painted decorative walls and furniture from Charleston we have chosen to create these herringbones with a dulcet pink and ecru yarns for the design we call Vita.

Our Keynes herringbone design blends ecru with a gently faded moss green to create a highly wearable and elegant herringbone cloth ideal for softly tailored jackets and suits. The last of our herringbones cloths is named Woolf, made in a wonderful stocking blue wool along side the ecru Merino yarn warp. The overall effect is of a timeless quality wool fabric to last through the decades.

No Dashing collection is complete without a check. We’ve taken a rich green and navy puppy tooth design and crossed it with subtle picks of cloud, emerald and lilac threads, creating a harmonious window pane check woven in soft lambswool with a touch of Cashmere. The Quentin check is a marvellous weight at 10oz and looks wonderful as a tailored suit or just a jacket for swanning around your garden.

Film and theatre costume designers relish using our tweeds and creative worsted cloths as they are unique and of such great quality. We always try to please and so have relaunched an interesting design from eight years ago called the Whitbread Ritzy. We selected one of Kirsty’s top students, Joe Whitbread, at The Royal College of Art  and asked if we could put one of his designs in production. The result was a glorious burnt sienna, turquoise and charcoal cloth woven in Merino wool with a hint of shiny lurex. The fabric with a tessellated step structure is 153cm wide and 12oz in weight. The cloth has an agreeable spring to it and makes up extremely well.

All our cloths are available in store and online, if you would like swatches, do get in contact, these are also all available through our made to measure tailoring as well.

I think I end up writing the same thing every January when it comes to sale time. Normally along the lines of how niche luxury brands are incredibly good value when you consider how small the mark ups are compared to the high street. So I’m not going to mention this and instead remind you why you should lead a fulfilled elegant life surrounded by only the best. Quality over quantity has never been so important.

At the moment we have a totally skewed view of clothing created by technology and greed which makes no sense at all. I constantly marvel how a commodity which gave such great wealth to Britain and enabled the building of some of the worlds finest cathedrals can hardly be given away today. It just seems bonkers that we’ve allowed wonderful wool to be replaced with billions of tons of polluting plastic and constantly buying more of it without really thinking. It simply has to stop. You can start by buying fabulous wool clothes and accessories from Dashing Tweeds.

In case you need an extra incentive we are giving you a rare reduction.

As of today the price of our made to measure suits will be reduced by 10% until the end of January. We are then going to have to raise our prices shortly after to pay the hardworking British farmers, weavers and tailors so do take advantage and come to shop at Dashing.

We are also reducing the price of our cloth, caps, scarves and ready to wear by 20% to allow you to add more colour to your wardrobe, as well as a special sample sale in store all until the end of January.

We reopen at 10am 2nd January, with our usual opening times. We hope to see you in store soon.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year from us all at Dashing!

If like me you leave present buying to the last minute, then just to remind you, the last minute is only a tick away.

Wool is very much on the radar. It’s warm, comfortable, sustainable, biodegradable and very much part of the farming ecosystem which needs to be valued. You can’t really go wrong with a woolly present, especially when it’s a Dashing Tweed design woven by us in the Scottish Borders.

Our flat caps, handmade in Yorkshire are a top seller and make excellent gifts. If possible measure the head circumference else a medium or large is a safe bet, although we are happy to swap sizes.

Scarves are the most reliable of gifts as sizing is no issue. However, bigger is better and at 7 foot long our scarves do not disappoint. We have a couple of lambswool ones left as well as a few Merino ones in our ombré designs but the most exciting designs this season are woven using a recycled cashmere wool alongside our vibrant British wool selection.

The yarn for these scarves is known as shoddy and comes from a newly built cashmere recycling plant in Huddersfield. We’ve used classic herringbone and twill weave structures for these desirable designs.

For the traveller, our picnic rugs are a great present. I keep mine in the car where it has all sorts of uses from a lap warmer, dog rug to an impromptu papoose but they also look great at home, thrown over an old arm chair.

Christmas isn’t complete without giving at least one warm wool jumper to a loved one. We have worked with knitters in Hawick and produced super warm lambswool knits in a range of warming colours. Orange has been selling fast in both the crew necked cable design and the classic V necks. Our electric blue has also proved popular in addition to the mossy green and red ones.

Giving tailored clothes is a little tricky, but we do offer gift vouchers which can be purchased for any amount towards a pair of shorts or a whole wardrobe of suits and overcoats.

If you drop by the store then we have a few sample pieces waiting for you as well as lovely little gifts such as Christmas stockings, lovingly sewn from offcuts, and tweed lavender bags to freshen up your drawers. I’m aways happy to give shopping advice so do drop by soon.

For website orders, the last order dates for delivery before Christmas are:

UK orders: by 19th December

European orders: by 17th December

International orders: by 16th December

All the best,

The Dashing Team

‘Time tested’ is not a phrase we hear at the moment. Things are crash tested, strength tested, fire tested anything that can be done swiftly before they are sold as fast as possible to the guileless. Then, distracted by the constant torturous drip of worldwide web drivel, we rarely ask ourselves if the progress is actually going in the right direction. We heedlessly assume the masses are right, but how wrong we are.

Skiing provides a great case study. Everyone wears a synthetic ski suit with the misapprehension that they are an improvement on the outfits of yesteryear. They are definitely cheap to produce, but unless you are a downhill racer trying to shave a millisecond of your slalom you are better off wearing tweed.

In terms of comfort, performance, sustainability, breathability and let’s face it, style, wool has the edge. It’s no coincidence that the pioneers of alpine skiing all wore wool and that top athletes are now returning to the original fibre. A layer of knitted wool next to the skin provides the best possible temperature control and rapidly wicks away any perspiration.

I was ski touring a while ago, wearing a merino wool knit under a three piece tweed suit of plus 4s, sporty waistcoat and jacket. We skinned up our skis, released the bindings into uphill mode and set off. After no time at all my ill dressed companions rustling in their noisy plastic outfits had to stop and take off a layer of sweat sodden synthetics whilst I sauntered pass in my elegant tweed suit. I was glowing warm in a gloriously comfortable way as they faffed below.

Then in no time at all, a nippy wind piped up and our winding posse had to pause again before their sweaty threads started to freeze. Needless to say I was fine in my tweed suit and with a simple flip of my collar and a buttoning of my jacket I was once again protected from the elements. These stops and starts continued until we reached the exciting alpine border, a jutting metal sign at ten thousand feet above a perilous couloir announcing a national border. A few deft moves, and my ski skins were tucked in a large pocket, my bindings clicked down and I was off towards to the awaiting bars. After exhilarating turns and a final schuss we arrived at one of those picturesque hotels which every chocolate box artist must have admired. Then, in no time at all a sartorial enamoured local was offering me schnapps. I relaxed in the surroundings entirely sympathetic to the cut of my glen check tweed as the others crinkled in the corner like discarded sweet wrappers.

Skiing in tweed has brought me no end of pleasure and we would be delighted to make you a bespoke ski suit with all the additions of fastened down pockets and leather patches needed for the most demanding of alpine sportsmen and of course sportswomen.

Our tailoring takes 6 weeks, so plan ahead for your next trip, and pop in store to discuss your next outfit.

Don’t forget to join us for some drinks and mince pies next Wednesday the 20th November from 6pm – 8pm in store, where we are hosting an event with Miyar Mufflers.

All the best,

The Dashing Team