Tag Archives: Shirts

Navy birdseye suit

 

Navy birdseye suit

Birdseye suit

Navy birdseye is perhaps the ultimate cloth for a timeless and all season suit. Don’t just take our word for it, ask James Bond. A navy birdseye suit was the clothing of choice for Pierce Brosnan in Goldeneye back in 1995, and just like James Bond the cloth and the suit proved timeless, indestructible, and stylish to the end.

Birds eye is an unusual and special pattern. From a distance it appears solid but up close it creates a subtle surface full of depth without being distracting. It has more depth and a far richer effect than a solid worsted especially when you choose a dark grey or a navy fabric.

It’s a mature, traditional fabric with a traditional but timeless pattern of small circles. Bird’s Eye has a tiny dot in the centre that’s hard to see from a distance. The pattern, like the name suggests, resembles a bird’s eye and is characterised by the small pupil-like centre dot. Many people confuse the birds eye pattern with nailhead, but there is a subtle difference that definitely adds texture to plain colours – birdseye cloth has distinctive round larger dots on a diagonal layout. A navy birdseye suit like the one that Pierce Brosnan wore – is unbelievably stylish, though you hardly every see it worn anywhere these days because it seems to have fallen out of fashion with the younger crowd. Recently though it seems to be making something of a welcome comeback as men search for something traditional but slightly and subtly different.

For me navy birdseye is the ultimate traditional cloth for a timeless, all-season suit that is definitely contemporary enough to be worn today and is also durable for regular office wear. When you see someone wearing a well-cut navy birdseye suit you know that he is seasoned. Personally I love the birdseye weave. To me it gives you a mature look that is both perfect for every day wear and durable enough for a hard day in the office. The navy birdseye is one of my favourite patterns for a suit because it creates a subtle surface interest that has a great depth to it without being too distracting. It’s also a very welcome variation from the usual plainer suit cloths helping you subtly stand out from the crowd without people quite knowing why.

Will a navy birdseye suit you and your style? Of course it will.

Glorious Herringbone in a Henry Herbert suit

Bespoke Herringbone SuitHerringbone Suit

An excellent example of a herringbone fabric….but very difficult to photograph too! The fabric is from Hield Mills, in Huddersfield and is a glorious blue. This suit is in its baste stage for one of our customers who works for a large international financial group and who, interestingly, told us that the Chinese save 50% of all of their income. It puts the British to shame. Unfortunately, the photograph may not do the pattern justice, but it will turn out to be a very striking and very sharp suit.

A legally lovely wedding

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A Henry Herbert suit for a young London based solicitor for his wedding day. The suit was made from a splendid Super 120’s cloth from Thomas Fisher, from Huddersfield and looks smashing with the accompanying lounge waistcoat…and his new wife.

A dashing gentleman in a dashing Henry Herbert suit….

Bespoke Wedding Suits

Fabric: English wool

Fabric source:  West Yorkshire, England

Cut: Elegant, Three Piece, Single Breasted

Occasion: Wedding

Notes: A great looking Henry Herbert suit modelled extremely well by its customer, Mr Tom Duxberry. The fabric is from Bateman & Ogden in West Yorkshire and sits sharply on top of the single button waistcoat. Tom is owner and chef of the lovely Marneys Village Inn, in Weston Green, Surrey.

A Special Shirt & Trim

Bespoke Savile Row ShirtBespoke Savile Row ShirtA special request for a pink shirt with a white trim. This is an unusual and skilled piece of tailoring and involves cutting and stitching the collar twice. The shirt was for Phil O’Farrell who, with Freddie Smith, represents part of the band Celtic Fiddle. (We made Freddie an extraordinary fish tail waistcoat which you can see under our waistcoats section). They play great Irish inspired tunes and you can listen to some of them on their MySpace account here.

Bespoke Waistcoat for a Bespoke Band!

Bespoke Savile Row Tailored Waistcoat

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A great looking waistcoat we made, using a rare fishtail lining for Freddie Smith who, with Phil O’Farrell, is part of the band Freddie Smith & Phil O’Farrell. (We made Phil a great looking shirt too, which you can see under our shirts section). They play uplifting Irish inspired tunes and you can listen to some of their music on their MySpace account here.

A Complicated but Worthwhile Besoke DJ

How do we even begin to start describing this?! Well, perhaps most importantly, it was made for a great guy called Dave Philipps who is generously sporting the DJ we made for him in this photograph. After going through the initial order with Dave, he gave us some of his home farmed eggs. I would challenge anyone to compare a true organic egg to a supermarket egg – you will never want to choose the latter again. Dave wanted a special Dinner Suit for his stay at the wonderful Burgh Island hotel. He needed it in a hurry so we offered him Henry Herbert’s Express service (we charge slightly more to have a suit ready twice as quickly). Dave chose three different fabrics – a Paisley lining from Lear Browne & Dunsford in Exeter, the wool for the suit from Hield in Huddersfield and a stunning velvet trim for the top collar from Holland & Sherry, on Savile Row. You can imagine the demands in synchronising the delivery of all three different fabrics from three different mills, for an already demanding time delivery for the suit. To add to everything, Dave chose a top collar lining, which is an incredibly intricate piece of tailoring, but looks stunning on a Dinner Jacket. And, in between it all, we still managed to squeeze in a baste fitting! A very busy time making a very special suit for a very special place for a very happy (and special) customer. Phew!!

Wow – what a suit!

Special Bespoke SuitBespoek Suit with Bespoke Trim

An extremely rare breed of suit – brown. It is made even more rare by the special velvet trim collar and made even more special by the very difficult sewing surround of the last cuff button! (The colour matches the lining). This was an incredibly difficult three-piece suit, which took Henry Herbert 37.5 hours of tailoring to complete, but well worth the toil. The fabric is a splendid Super 100’s wool from Holland & Sherry.

A special Henry Herbert shirt

Special Bespoke Shirt Collar Trim

A special shirt we have made for the Managing Director of a large media firm. The fabric is from Acorn, in Lancashire, and is made of an excellent English cotton. The shirt is made even more unusual by the special collar trim and button sewing surround. Every part of this shirt was handmade, in London. Come and visit us (or we can visit you) to find out more about the different processes involved in making your handmade, bespoke shirt.

Henry Herbert Suit in Holland & Sherry Fabric

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A great looking Holland & Sherry fabric in a tailored suit Henry Herbert has just made for a young man from J.P. Morgan. The pictured suit is at its first fitting stage, or what is also known as a baste fitting. This is followed, a few weeks later, by a second fitting , or what is sometimes called a forward fitting. And a little while after that, depending on any necessary alterations, the suit will be completed after a third fitting, or what is known as a finish-bar-finish. This is all part of the bespoke suit making process. Henry Herbert Tailors cuts, makes and finishes every single suit in England.

Henry Herbert Bespoke Shooting Shirt

Images & Video

Bespoke Shooting Shirt

Tailor’s Notes
A Henry Herbert shooting shirt, handmade in England, for an Austrian customer. We used a set of special fabrics from Acorn Fabrics, in Lancashire. They are one of the last remaining English shirting fabric companies left in the country.

The Construction
Over a dozen upper body measurements were taken by our shirt makers so that the shirt was a perfect fit. We did this in order to match the precise contours of the shoulders with the customer’s preference for cuffs & collars . It took four weeks to make.

Details
Every Henry Herbert shirt comes with removable brass collar bones, mother of pearl buttons and each one is finished with the finest single stitching. Our shirts are from £140.

Find out how to order a shirt

A Heart Warming Wedding with a Henry Herbert Suit

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A Henry Herbert three-piece suit for the wedding of Mr Steve Hunter. Mr Hunter is a Cardiothoracic surgeon in the North West of England and is a fascinating professional to converse with. We chose a glorious fabric from Hield, a Huddersfield based mill and one not a million miles away from where Mr Hunter works.