I’m sure that some of you are busy dusting down your tweeds as we speak, trigger fingers twitching with anticipation at the thought of the opening of the shooting season. Others may well be oblivious to the famous date in August or generally apathetic as a decent grouse shoot is increasingly hard to come by. 

Whatever your feelings, it’s a good time to dwell on the importance of tweed for country sports and so many other occasions. Training my eye with clays at a friends moor a few weeks ago, I was naturally sporting one of my favourite country suits cut by the illustrious tailors Henry Poole. It was made using our classic take on the famous Glenurquhart design, houndstooth shades of brown with dashes of purple, yellow and red. On the face of it our McDougall Check sounds outrageous but ironically the way the disruptive patterns fool the eye, I blended into the moors more elegantly then fellow guns wearing dull block colours. Naturally the breeches were cut as plus 4’s, a loose fit falling 4 inches below the knee and pretty much the most practical and comfortable leg coverings you can wear. The jacket, or coat as it should be called, had both a box pleat back and action shoulders allowing me plenty of movement with which to miss my shots.

A shooting suit is a highly evolved item of clothing at once smart and practical, refined over many years to work in all weather conditions and terrains. I try to apply this balance of form and function to all the new garments we make. The joy of tailoring is that you too can be in charge of the design of your clothes and have them made exactly to suit your actions.

To my mind any item of clothing should cover three main criteria. Firstly, clothes must make you feel good, whether you are dressing to disappear or stand out it’s vital that you are doing this in the best possible way, going out and looking shoddy is bad for you. Secondly, your clothing needs to perform. I have absolutely no time for fashion victims who wear shoes for example they can’t even walk in. And finally your clothes should be loved and cherished, buy the very best items you can and look after them. I find repairing clothes a pleasure and we are always happy to give you advice. 

With all this in mind, it’s a great exercise to think about exactly what you want to wear and what your clothes need to do while you are wearing them. In the past we have tailored artists outfits with special brush and sketchbook pockets, many cycling looks in our reflective raver tweeds, numerous wedding and party outfits as well as country tweeds for staying hidden from that elusive grouse.  So while you are musing away the summer afternoons, pose yourself the age old question which I guess Adam first asked himself, ‘If I cover my nakedness then what shall I wear?’.

Ideally everyone should be the architect of their own aesthetic and we are here to build your dream look. If you have any questions, call us up and fire away.