Take a stroll down Savile Row this weekend and you’ll notice 133 poppies cascading from one tailor’s window – one for each and every one of its customers lost during the First World War. Inspired by last year’s installation at the Tower of London – a sea of 888,246 ceramic poppies, each representing a single life lost – Huntsman decided to honour its own ‘fallen heroes’ by purchasing a poppy for each of its 1914-18 ledger entries bearing the poignant annotation, ‘killed in action’. Huntsman’s own river of poppies will remain on display until Armistice Day, watched over by a single British Warm overcoat (inspired by the military tailoring which became the mainstay of Huntsman’s wartime operations), which “stands alone, almost as though in quiet reverence of the sacrifice of so many”.
Step inside to take a look at those heartrending ledgers, along with the striking military uniforms held in the Huntsman archive. Huntsman’s AW15 ready-to-wear collection, inspired by The Imitation Game and redolent with echoes of the tailoring of the era of the Second World War (and of its own, multiple, links with the world of espionage…) is also now available.
Visit H. Huntsman & Sons at 11 Savile Row, London W1S 3PS: 9am-5.30pm Monday-Friday; 10am-3pm Saturday
Until 11th November, 50% of the proceeds from each British Warm sold will go to the Poppy Appeal.
Samantha Simmonds
@Sam_Muses
afternyneblog.wordpress.com 