DUNHILL FOCUSES ON CLOTHES RATHER THAN THEMES FOR FALL

• 

• 

• 

For his new fall/winter ‘21 collection, Dunhill creative director Mark Weston wanted to focus on clothes rather than themes, on individual garments and accessories and what they stand for in their own right.

“This is something that seems more appropriate when a collection is looked at in detail rather than shown and seen at a distance,” Weston said. “Last season was about stopping and assessing; it was about the rigour of the process. This collection still has that, for one, there is an inquisitive exploration of the expertise of tailoring. But there is also the joyful immediacy of found objects as well as the domestic and homespun, personal and playful moments underpinned by the rigour of formality and utility.”

Featuring objects of both provenance and purpose, Dunhill’s new collection is a play between the homespun and urbane, of utility and formality, brought together with an easeful, almost slovenly sophistication. In many ways, it is a reflection on how we live now, together with a summation of Dunhill’s past, present, and future.

• 

• 

• 

At the heart of the collection is the ‘Dunhill Compendium Parka’, a multi­ functional garment that can be worn in various ways. Inspired by an object from the Dunhill archive – a utilitarian, multi-functional men’s compact, featuring different practical tools in miniature – the coat can be zipped away to become a jacket, its lining detached to become a separate garment in its own right. All is achieved in luxurious yet practical materials, utility, function, and elegance finding form in one everlasting, yet always changing item.

A summation of new era Dunhill signature styles and materials occurs in the collection. Amongst them, the Wrap Jacket, Split Hem Trousers, Seat Strap Shoes, Lock Bag, silk moire and bonded, paper leather all appear, both evolved and resolved in a multiplicity of ways. The chicness of practicality, immediacy, and multi-function are further explored in the idea of found objects, such as the domestic knits, featuring a combination of typically British styles – an Aran, garter and cardigan stitch, amongst others – that are at once familiar and odd in this context. So too are the reversed silk jacquards, found in the archive of one of the great Italian mills, made abstract when inverted and used here for both clothing and accessories, including the new Cummerbund Bag. Dunhill’s bespoke clothing also makes an appearance in the collection, completed to order by the tailoring workshop at Dunhill House and led by a new, raw-edge design sensibility.

This season, the soundtrack to the collection film was created in collaboration with musician and producer IG Culture. A selector, best known as a pioneering producer of the broken beat movement, he was also co-founder of the legendary CoOp Club at London’s Plastic People. One half of NameBrandSound, with releases on Ninja Tune and Arena Yard, IG Culture recently launched the CoOp Presents Label and founded Selectors Assemble, who host a monthly show on London’s Worldwide FM. Recent events include Boiler Room, TATE Modern, and Dimensions Festival.

“This project has been a huge opportunity and stretched me into new areas musically,” said IG Culture. “I am amped that I was able to raise my game for this special occasion. The learning curve was a challenge and the deadline brought a different side out in my production. I am very happy that I was able to work alongside Mark and Peter for this amazing project for Dunhill.”