Born: London, England, 1909
England's most distinguished designer has become something of an enfant terrible in his old age, frequently consulted by style pundits for his outspoken opinions on everything from modern manners to the minutiae of old-fashioned roses (his favourite is a subtly striped variety called Rosa `Mundi').
Hardy Amies was educated at Brentwood. His father was a London County Council surveyor, his mother a vendeuse at a court dressmaker called Miss Gray Limited. In 1934 he became head designer at Lachasse, taking over from Digby Morton. During the Second World War, Amies, who was fluent in French and German, joined the Intelligence Corps, working for the Special Operations Executive as head of the Belgium section, organizing the dropping of Resistance workers during the occupation. In 1945 he opened his house at 14 Savile Row, London, a property formerly owned by restoration playwright, Richard Brinsley Sheridan. He presented his own-name collection the following year. Hardy Amies has been the Queen's dressmaker since 1950, when Princess Elizabeth, as she was then, made her first royal tour of Canada. He has made clothes for every royal tour since, his pièce de résistance being the pink dress the Queen wore in Jubilee year.
Described by Vogue in 1960 as `a brisk, dynamic man with a finger in innumerable pies', Hardy Amies has always been a vigorous promoter of his own business. In the early 1960s he frequently travelled to America and Australia on promotional tours. By 1964 he was head of a successful business, which included couture, a boutique and a ready-to-wear collection, and had a turnover of £15 million in menswear and £750,000 in womenswear. He owns a flat in London's Kensington and a converted Victorian school in Gloucestershire. Amies has witnessed a very significant fashion revolution of the twentieth century and has made a valuable contribution to British fashion: first to the Government's wartime utility scheme, which made Britain count on the world stage, and secondly, incisively predicting the onset of the New Look. The house is now run by design director Jon Moore, and menswear by Ian Garlant; but, at 90 years of age, Sir Hardy still works a three-day week.
Hardy Amies was awarded a CVO in 1977 and in 1989 a KCVO_- a non-political knighthood awarded only to those who work closely with the Queen. He has published two autobiographies, Just So Far, in 1954, and Still Here, 30 years later. A decade after that he wrote The Englishman's Suit - a wry look at sartorial propriety. Speaking about style to Vogue in 1984 he said, `The greatest enemy of style is gentility because style is honesty.' At his spring/summer 1999 couture show, Sir Hardy, immaculately dressed and sitting at the back of the salon, instructed the audience to savour the moment. `Why don't you clap?' he said loudly while the models were mid-twirl, `It's a marvellous outfit.'
