Dunhill: brand coherency is the key

A Paris catwalk debut for Dunhill, the venerable English brand, best known for its hardware rather than its soft fashion.

Happily, the clothes in this Sunday evening show managed to suggest the precise lines of UK tailoring and the exact contours of the lighters and briefcases for which Dunhill has been justly famous.

This also marked the first runway show by Dunhill’s creative director Mark Weston, as the UK had restricted itself to presentations in London since his appointment last spring.

Weston’s smartest idea was to concentrate on leather in this fall 2018 show, with precision-cut seamless pants worn over sleek boots. Weston played with the house’s logo: getting the most punch out of using the brand-name on the trim from fabric bolts as the plaquette of several shirts. He even dreamed up a great black and white motorbike jacket covered in the house’s name with its well known giant D, H and LL script.

Moreover, Weston has clearly got his atelier under command, judging from his faux double breasted jackets and devilish tuxedo redingote for evening.

“I just wanted to give a good strong message about what I believe Dunhill means today,” explained Weston of the brand, founded in 1893 as a saddlery business by Alfred Dunhill. He joined the house last year from Burberry, following its new CEO Andrew Maag, who arrived from the same brand in January 2017.

His casting – suitably hirsute and polished – was also finely chosen. And just when the whole front row was beginning to flag after 16 days of non-stop menswear shows, he wisely staged a runway show of tremendous pace. All told, a strong and coherent message from Weston for Dunhill – one of the many brands within Richemont, the world’s second largest luxury goods conglomerate. A good statement in the last day of the menswear season.

Dunhill: brand coherency is the key

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