GPHG 2019: The Watch World's Big Winners

Originally appeared on Euronews Living

“Be alive, be audacious, do beautiful things together”

The 19th edition of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) announced its winners last night during a glamorous awards ceremony in Geneva’s Théâtre du Léman. The main prize, the Aiguille d’Or Grand Prix, was won by Audemars Piguet and its groundbreaking and almost unfathomably-slender Royal Oak Self-winding Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin watch. Outspoken CEO François-Henry Bennahmias also picked up the Men’s Complication Watch and Iconic Watch Prizes for the brand, on what will be a memorable night for even as storied and respected a watchmaker as Audemars Piguet.

Arguably the most opulent category, the Jewellery Watch Prize, was won by Bulgari’s sumptuous Serpenti Misteriosi Romani. Jean-Christophe Babin, Bulgari CEO, commented on the timepiece’s ultra-lavish nature while addressing the crowd of watchmakers, collectors and journalists, but concluded on a defiant tone: “We all respect each other, but we all want to win. Be daring, audacious, break the rules. Break the mould.”

The small, the new and the brave were also rewarded. Kari Voutilainen’s eponymous brand went home with two prizes, his 28ti winning best men’s watch and the stunning Starry Night Vine winning the Artistic Crafts Watch Prize by bringing together the design traditions of the East and West in one unique timepiece. The Mechanical Watch Exception Prize was won by Genus with its GNS1.2, a coup for a home-grown company in its infancy, and one that is proof of Geneva’s continued importance in elite watchmaking.

A popular winner was Urwerk and the AMC, which snapped up the refreshingly-titled Audacity Prize. The AMC uses a 35kg atomic master clock to rewind the wristwatch, set it to the correct time and, if necessary, adjust its rate. The watch rests in a cradle within the atomic clock itself, a symbol of watchmaking’s dedication - bordering on obsession - to the pursuit of the new. The Urwerk team embodied this better than most with a speech-finishing rallying cry of “long live the insanity of the modern watchmaking world!”

During the ceremony, and on the eve of its 20th birthday, GPHG announced the upcoming creation of a watchmaking academy, set to open in Spring 2020. Supported by the City and Canton of Geneva, the academy will be made up of a wide network of ambassadors, each taking part in the various stages of watch selection in order to promote the art of watchmaking worldwide.

Read More | GPHG reaches Geneva for the main event

Finally, the night’s Special Jury Prize was awarded to Luc Pettavino, founder and organiser of Only Watch, a biennial auction of 50 one-off timepieces made by the finest manufacturers. Pattavino founded Only Watch in 2004, inspired by his son, Paul, who had been diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. In collaboration with Prince Albert II of Monaco, all proceeds from the auction (the eighth edition is this Saturday, 8th November) go towards researching and finding a cure for DMD - the charity has so far raised more than 40 million Swiss Francs. Pattavino ended his speech with the lessons he’d learned from his son, saying that Paul had “taught us to be alive, be audacious, and do beautiful things together”. Sitting in the Théâtre du Léman on the watch world’s most prestigious evening, it seemed no group of people could reflect this approach to life more perfectly than the one that celebrates the art, science and joy of creating beautiful watches.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS:

Aiguille d’Or Grand Prix: Audemars Piguet, Royal Oak Selfwinding Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin

Ladies’ Watch Prize: Chanel, J12 Calibre 12.1

Ladies’ Complication Watch Prize: MB&F, Legacy Machine FlyingT

Men’s Watch Prize: Voutilainen, 28ti

Men’s Complication Watch Prize: Audemars Piguet, Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet Minute Repeater Supersonnerie

Iconic Watch Prize: Audemars Piguet, Royal Oak "Jumbo" Extra-thin

Chronometry Watch Prize: Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud, Carburised steel regulator

Calendar and Astronomy Watch Prize: Hermès, Arceau L'heure de la lune

Mechanical Exception Watch Prize: Genus, GNS1.2

Chronograph Watch Prize: Bvlgari, Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic

Diver’s Watch Prize: Seiko, Prospex LX line diver's

Jewellery Watch Prize: Bvlgari, Serpenti Misteriosi Romani

Artistic Crafts Watch Prize: Voutilainen, Starry Night Vine

Petite Aiguille Prize: Kudoke, Kudoke 2

Challenge Watch Prize: Tudor, Black Bay P01

Innovation Prize: Vacheron Constantin, Traditionnelle Twin Beat perpetual calendar

Audacity Prize: Urwerk, AMC

“Horological Revelation” Prize: Ming, 17.06 Copper

Special Jury Prize: Luc Pettavino, Founder and Organiser of Only Watch

The new world of watchmaking at SIHH 2019

Originally appeared on Living by Euronews

High-end watchmaking is an industry steeped in tradition and proud heritage, which can prove to be a problem when the modern world comes knocking. However, at this year's Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, tradition met tech in a much-needed boost to the industry.

The 29th edition brought together the best watchmakers in the world for four days to show off their latest creations.

SIHH kicked off on Sunday night at the inauguration party, with all 35 brand CEOs gathering for the annual photo to talk shop and let their hair down for the evening. The show continued in kind, with evening cocktail parties at various stands and Champagne as a well-deserved treat for industry professionals - and writers - at the end of each day.

For the second year running, SIHH was also open to everyone on the final day, giving the public a chance to be among the first to see the latest in the enigmatic world of luxury timepieces. Here are the highlights from Geneva’s world of superwatches.

Call of the sea

A major new partnership was unveiled by Panerai, straight out of the traps on day one. In support of its homeland, the Italian brand has become the official sponsor of Luna Rossa, the Italian yacht and crew looking to compete in the 36th America’s Cup. Panerai joins Prada and Pirelli to create a trinity of P’s for the Italian team, and skipper Max Sirena doesn’t underestimate how important the new partnership could turn out to be: “This is the period where we are taking strategic and important decisions, which is going to give us a result in a few years’ time.”

In tribute to the agreement, Panerai has released the Submersible Luna Rossa 47mm. The case, like the boat’s hull, is made of carbon fibre, and sailcloth has been applied to the dials, adding the finishing touches to a professional diving watch water-resistant up to 300 metres.

L’heure de la lune

Hermès made an impression with its brooding entrance design. Conceived by London-based Hideki Yoshimoto, the imposing sphere was inspired by Hermès’ latest release, the Arceau L’heure de la Lune. The new watch displays the moon’s phases in both northern and southern hemispheres simultaneously, leading Yoshimoto to create his own interpretation of the double moon concept: “There aren’t two moons, but two moon faces.

“It’s about sharing. We have billions of viewpoints of the Earth in the history of humankind. We were all born here, all of us have spent our lives here, and everyone has looked at the same moon. That’s the beauty of the double moon concept. What we wanted to feature is not the moon but the Earth.”

Another in the new collection is also a contestant for best name at SIHH 2019 - the watch with a wolf howling at a crescent moon is aptly titled the Arceau Awooooo. Yes, that’s five o’s.

Tech with tradition

While haute horology doesn’t have the strongest record accepting the fast-paced world of technology, this year’s SIHH had a decidedly futuristic addition. The SIHH LAB, an ongoing research and development incubator, included innovations from the worlds of craft, augmented reality - and cocktail making - to showcase the tech at the forefront of watchmaking.

Fabienne Lupo, Managing Director of the Foundation de la Haute Horlogerie, sees the LAB as an important new development for the show: “We are a really innovative, contemporary, modern and dynamic industry. We wanted to show that, and also attract new talent.”

A highlight of the LAB (alongside the unarguably attractive cocktail-making installation) included Leap Motion gesture recognition. Simply place a special strap around your wrist, and through your phone not only see how any watch looks on you, but also interact with the timepiece.

Hey Lambo…

Lambo Italiano. Roger Dubuis has a reputation for the dramatic, which came as no surprise to anyone who took a look at the Lamborghini installed at the front of the Maison’s installation. Roger Dubuis’ creative team has designed a unique timepiece, the Excalibur One-Off, inspired by the recently unveiled Lamborghini SC18 Alston supercar. Like the watch, the SC18 Alston is Lamborghini’s first ever one-off hypercar.

Collaborating with the car manufacturer - and tyre godfather Pirelli for the strap - Roger Dubuis has packed as many technical novelties into the Excalibur as seems to be humanly possible, including a completely unnecessary but very fun function selector. Like a supercar mode selector, choose between ‘W' for watch winding and ’S’ for setting the time. Ridiculous and brilliant.

Cartier Privé

Cartier had a huge presence at this year’s SIHH. One particularly special part, however, was the Cartier Privé collection, the latest in a line of capsules celebrating the evolution of watches throughout history’s fashions and technological developments. At SIHH, Cartier chose to release updated versions of the 1906 Tonneau. The original had an unusual shape, a mix between rectangle and oval. This was to fit better on the wrist and was a precursor to a more modern shape.

Cartier has released two new versions of this seminal timepiece. The hours and minutes model sticks close to the original, with slight contemporary changes. The second piece, a skeleton dual time zone model, has incorporated what was originally two separate mechanisms - one for each time zone - into one movement, retaining the Tonneau’s original aesthetic.

Lange-versary

It’s an important year for A. Lange & Söhne. The manufacture has developed 63 calibres since founder Walter Lange and his partner Günter Blümlein presented four new wristwatches on October 24th 1994, marking a renaissance for the company. A quarter of a century later, the most famous of these remains the LANGE 1.

As you’ve probably guessed, the manufacture is celebrating the milestone by releasing an update of the original LANGE 1. The white gold version is limited to 250 pieces and features a deep blue printed argenté dial and a hinged cuvette (the back of the watch) with an engraving of Lange’s headquarters in the town of Glashütte, the birthplace of German watchmaking.

Candy Land

Richard Mille has tried to sweeten the deal for its customers by releasing the Bonbon collection, a range of confectionary-related timepieces. Cécile Guenat, artistic director of the collection, based the ten pieces on three existing models, revisiting them with a palette of 60 colours. The attention to detail even comes down to the crowns of some pieces being shaped like cupcakes and ice cream. The RM 07-03 Marshmallow is incredibly realistic thanks to modern enamelwork, while 3,000 miniature sculptures are integrated into the three pieces in the Fruit line, which includes the see-it-from-across-the-room bright lemon and strawberry (RM 16-01 Citron et Fraise).

Naughty Nardin

There’s always one. Ulysse Nardin, known for its maritime watches, has teamed up with Italian erotic comic book artist Milo Manara to create a series of ten watches that stretch from mildly titillating to downright graphic. Illustrating a love story between ‘Ulyssa' the mermaid and ‘Nadia’ the human, Manara’s work takes us on a journey into what the brand calls “a timeless, nautical reverie”.

Manara’s collection of ten images has been transferred onto the watch face through a technique known as micropainting, meaning the reproduction is as intricate as the original. Ten pieces per drawing will be made, both in stainless steel and rose gold, limiting the series to 200. Manara says of the collection “I am sure that mermaids do exist”. If they’re anything like this, I’m going sailing more often.

Le Carré des Horlogers

Just off the show’s main thoroughfare is the Carré des Horlogers, a selection of 17 smaller brands dedicated to craftsmanship and bespoke projects. Armin Strom, for instance, specialises in skeletonisation - where the intricate inner workings of the timepiece are visible - while futurist brand Urwerk takes its name from the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur, where our entire system of measuring time originated.

It’s here that many horological advances find their home. Belgian brand Ressence recently released the Type 2, the first watch to have a smart crown. The light-powered e-Crown digitally registers the manually-set time and automatically checks and readjusts. Even after three months of inactivity, once the owner taps the crown, it will set the watch to the right time.

Also in the Carré des Horlogers was the Time Æon Foundation, which safeguards traditional watchmaking knowledge and skills while encouraging technological developments. Supporters include Greubel Forsey, Urwerk and Ferdinand Berthoud, modern brands that all have a reverence for tradition.

Style Interview: The fantastical world of Joshua Kane

Originally appeared in The City Magazine and online at Luxury London 

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The fantastical world of Mr. Joshua Kane

He’s the ex-footballing tailor who sells out fashion events at the London Palladium. Meet Joshua Kane – designer, director and all-round raconteur

Joshua Kane dreams big. His two boyhood passions were football and clothes. Having played in goal for Fulham FC until the age of 20, his pursuit of a career in the Premier League went further than most. During London Fashion Week, Kane sold out a show at the London Palladium, his footballing past now eclipsed by a career in tailoring.

After retiring from football, Kane won the chance to work at Brooks Brothers’ design studio in New York before moving on to be assistant designer at Jaeger, Prorsum designer at Burberry and senior designer at Paul Smith. He then started his own studio in the sitting room of his flat. In less than three years, his brand has morphed from a front room via LFW into a standalone store in Fitzrovia.

This is the rise of Joshua Kane, in his own words.

The fashion world

“I was never a fashion person. I hate that exclusive, fashionista-style world. The further I entered it, the more I fell in love with the design aspect. I was always taught that tailoring is like sculpture. Anyone can access it – it doesn’t mean you’re going to buy that sculpture for £250,000, or that suit for £1,500, but you should still be able to enjoy it on a level other than just retail.

"It’s only fucking clothes. We’re only making clothes, for people to buy, and people to enjoy. It’s enjoyment out of physical things – nothing more than that.

"What I’ve always wanted to do is create stories, in the same way that you watch a film and the next morning still have flashbacks. I wanted to create something you can build on rather than a collection being over; the story of my characters evolve – there’s something to keep going back to.

"The idea of trends in fashion is bollocks. Absolute bollocks. People like different things; famous people are maybe wearing more tracksuits, but that’s just what’s being thrown at your face in pictures. You’ve still got people who love tailoring, who buy four or five suits at a time.”

Risk taking

“I’ve been super lucky to work with the likes of Sir Paul Smith and Christopher Bailey, which was really inspiring. However, while I was at Paul Smith, I had a really bad day and quit my job as senior designer. I panicked – I didn’t know how I was going to pay my mortgage. I called a couple of interns and said I had a job. They thought it was at Paul Smith, and I said, ‘well, come to this address’.

"I gutted my house overnight. I cleared out my living room, set up my mannequins and machines, and said, ‘We’re going to start Joshua Kane Bespoke. We’re going to make suits. I’m a trained tailor: I can make a suit in a month, but now I’m going to have to make one every nine days.’

"I had a bunch of business cards from three years of parties, where I’d be dressed in my own suits and be asked where I get them. I made up an assistant’s name, sent out loads of emails, booked in appointments, and within about 12 days Russell Brand turned up and said, ‘I’ve heard about your suits. I really want one for the stage.’ We did loads for him, and this August we finished his wedding suit.”

Kane as director

In the run up to last September’s spectacle at the Palladium, Kane directed three short films, setting the agenda for both his show and the new collection. The shorts, starring Asa Butterfield [from the film Hugo], served as a dramatic teaser in the weeks preceding the show.

“I’ve caught the bug. It’s a creative outlet. It’s a fresh perspective. People don’t know how clothes move when they direct, but I do. I understand proportion, silhouette, movement of fabric, and how you can create dramatic, beautiful moments. I would love to do a feature-length version.

"It was all filmed here [in his studio] in six hours. We green-screened the back wall, and built battlements to interact with. Asa [Butterfield] is a friend of mine, and an amazing actor. His last film was the lead in a Tim Burton movie, and he stepped into my basement to be directed by an absolute first-timer. It couldn’t be any more rogue! But that’s why he did it. He loved how crazy my ideas were.”

joshuakanestore.com

Style Interview: Tommy Hilfiger is the American Dream

Originally in The City Magazine and on Luxury London

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From a small town in New York State, Tommy Hilfiger started a fashion empire that changed the world. His first show in London for 20 years indicates he’s out to reinvent American style once again

Tommy Hilfiger is the American Dream. Born Thomas Jacob Hilfiger in 1951, he grew up in Elmira, New York State – a town whose motto is, rather proudly, ‘A Great Place to Live’. The second of nine children, his father was a watchmaker of Dutch- German descent, and his mother an Irish nurse.

He founded his first store, People’s Place, with two friends in 1969 aged 18, doing so with the $150 life savings he’d earned from working at a petrol station. The store was stocked with clothes from New York City, incorporated a record shop, and held rock concerts in the basement.

“As a teenager, I was really influenced by rock ’n’ roll artists and the cutting-edge fashions they were wearing,” Hilfiger tells me. “It was impossible to find those styles in Elmira, so I decided to design them myself, inspired by the musicians I loved.

“I then opened my first store, People’s Place, where we sold the coolest clothes while blasting our favourite rock tunes. This is when I discovered my passion for designing.”

It’s not just rock and roll that has informed the direction of Tommy Hilfiger. The brand’s ability
to traverse the preppy, rock and R&B scenes is unique. The '90s was a particularly rich decade for Hilfiger’s collaboration with the R&B world, with superstar singer Aaliyah becoming the brand’s spokesperson in 1997, and artists as varied as Snoop Dogg, TLC and Destiny’s Child wearing its range (when Snoop wore a Tommy sweatshirt while appearing on Saturday Night Live, stores in New York sold out within a day.) The brand is now worn by the likes of Drake and A$AP Rocky.

“Pop culture has influenced my designs throughout my career,” says Hilfiger. “I’ve always embraced change, evolution and innovation – that’s what pop culture is all about.

“Staying on the pulse of pop culture has helped to keep our brand relevant generation after generation.”

The latest project, TommyNow, is a global fashion roadshow. The first three events (#TOMMYNOW in New York City, TommyLand in LA, and now RockCircus at the Roundhouse in London) have changed the definition of what it means to put on a fashion show. Similarly to the London Palladium events put on by Joshua Kane, TommyNow is more of a set piece than a show; it ended with flying dancers, and a performance by The Chainsmokers, recently employed as the new faces of the brand. As much a spectacle as a chance to look at the new collection, RockCircus had an air of the extravagant, with fashion glitterati mingling with style enthusiasts after the show.

Central to the project’s success is the brand’s modern outlook – Tommy Hilfiger was an early adopter in an industry slowly realising and understanding the power of social media. The new campaign’s central star, Gigi Hadid, currently has more than 36 million Instagram followers, and the list of social ‘influencers’ at Tommy’s shows grows with each guest list. RockCircus was also streamed online, and all items on the catwalk were available immediately from the venue and on the brand’s website. Last year’s New York Fashion Week show was the first time Hilfiger had embraced the see-now, buy-now concept. Traffic to tommy.com increased by 900 per cent.

“We break conventions,” says Tommy. “We’re always looking for new ways to democratise the runway. The livestream connects us with our global audiences in a powerful way.

“My vision for TommyNow was to create a platform that we could take on tour and bring to new audiences around the world. Social media is another fantastic platform, where we can share our inclusive spirit, bring ourselves even closer to our consumers, and introduce our brand to the next generation of fans.”

Reinvention is core to the brand, but some things don’t change, one of them being the ‘preppy’ factor of Hilfiger’s collections. Although the latest collection is decidedly ‘rocky’, influences of Ivy League schools and over-the-shoulder sweaters remain. When I ask him whether the preppy style will survive in a future fashion landscape, Hilfiger is enthusiastic: “Fashion is constantly evolving. Our brand DNA is all about adding a fresh twist to classic American cool designs. I love seeing how our fans combine their own style to our modern designs.”

It also helps that his clothes are supremely comfortable, something that could be attributed to Hilfiger’s time in India. In a book produced by Assouline, aptly titled Tommy Hilfiger, the man himself details how, towards the beginning of his brand’s expansion in the early ’80s, he would spend time in the factories where his clothes were produced, “with my pile of sketches and watch [the clothes] being made, tweaking as I went. There’s no better design school in the world.”

RockCircus marked a return to London Fashion Week after a 20-year hiatus, but, says Hilfiger, it is a city that he loves. “London has an amazing fashion and music heritage. I first visited because I wanted to explore the style. I was influenced by the British bands of the time like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who. They had and have a style very different to anyone else.”

Hilfiger dressed the Rolling Stones for their 1998 world tour, and was an official sponsor of The Who’s Pete Townshend’s 1993 Psychoderelict tour. His company also became sponsor for artists from varying genres, including Sheryl Crow, Britney Spears and Lenny Kravitz.

Besides the glamorous catwalks and exclusive parties, Hilfiger is a serial charity worker, having launched the Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation, supporting charities that help at-risk young Americans. He and his second wife each have a child on the autistic spectrum, and both are on the board of directors for charity Autism Speaks, with Hilfiger recently designing a T-shirt to support the 2017 Autism Speaks Walk. Hilfiger was also a big name in the campaign to build the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C., completed in 2011. Indeed, when I ask him who he looks to for inspiration, Hilfiger is unequivocal in his choice: “One of my idols is Martin Luther King, Jr. He was one of the greatest forces for change in American and world history, and I’ve always had the utmost respect for his passion, devotion and what he stood for as a leader.”

In the fashion world, he hopes to be a leader himself, in sustainability. After reports on factory workers in Bangladesh found major welfare problems, Tommy Hilfiger’s parent company PVH signed a factory safety pact, and invested money in improving the lives of those making clothes for many Western brands. “It’s our mission to be one of the leading sustainable designer lifestyle brands, and our future success is dependent on bringing sustainable practices into everything we do.”

As always, Hilfiger is looking to the future. It’s down to the rest of the fashion world to keep up.

Style Interview: Oliver Spencer's first love

Originally on Luxury London

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The cutting-edge silhouettes for his eponymous brand may define contemporary cool, but Oliver Spencer started out in waistcoats. With the opening of Favourbrook’s new Pall Mall store, the tailor makes a return to formalwear

I’m 15 minutes late. Flushed and flustered, I stumble into the plush new Pall Mall premises of Favourbrook formalwear and breathlessly ask for Oliver Spencer, owner and founder of both Favourbrook and his eponymous brand, a cornerstone of London Fashion Week Men’s.

Turns out, he’s next door in the café scouting a spot for us to have coffee. He strolls back into the store to greet me, past his olive-brown scooter parked outside.

“No problem! I’m fine, I’m relaxed because I managed to get here on the scooter alive,” he explains. “There was a pile-up outside earlier. The police asked me where I was going with the scooter and said I couldn’t park it on the street. I said that it was actually my shop. It’s on my property”.

And what a property Spencer now has. The double- fronted store at 16-17 Pall Mall is a beauty, inside and out. The building was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens at a time when every building of note seemed to have his signature on the blueprints (including what is now The Ned).

Directly across from Favourbrook are the Athenaeum, Reform and Travellers private members’ clubs; turn right and you have the Royal Automobile Club, left and you walk into premium outdoor wear shop Farlows.

“I feel like I’m on a film set,” says Spencer. “It makes life at Favourbrook really easy. It’s great, I’m really pleased.” He moved to the new premises from Jermyn Street, where Favourbrook had been for 25 years. It might only be seven minutes’ walk away, but the move was a wrench: “I was sad. I was really sad. But I knew what I was doing, and I knew it made sense.

“Coming into this building is fantastic. I like the fact that it’s double-fronted, so I get both my shops there [menswear and womenswear], and it’s got one entrance. Boom. I’ve lined up next to Farlows. It’s all great.”

It’s a different world to where Spencer started out, studying at art school and selling second-hand clothing in West London. “I started Favourbrook in 1993. I was working on Portobello Road, wheeling and dealing, loving it.

“It all started off with waistcoats. I was shown some ecclesiastical cloth at a weavers, but it was basically all seconds: it all had lines in it. They asked me what on earth I could do with it. I got a waistcoat pattern from a Turkish tailor and said we can make waistcoats.

“So, I started off making waistcoats, and then Four Weddings and a Funeral happened. That film was the catalyst for everything.”

All waistcoats in the quintessential 1990s British romcom were designed by Spencer. From here, his name grew, and 24 years later, Favourbrook still creates the sort of eccentric clothing championed by Simon Callow in the film.

Weddings are still big business, especially at the start of a new year following so many Christmas proposals. For Spencer, it’s a fascinating arena: “It’s an interesting business for us, definitely. You get a wide range, you get whole families and really weird requests. It’s really diverse.

“We’ve made lots of incredibly different things for people over the years. Back in the day we used to make cream frock coats for people to get married in, all types of stuff. Very dandy. And I think it’s going to go back to being dandy.

“There’s a push towards dressing up again, going out and having a good time. I think that’s fantastic.”

‘Fantastic’ is a buzzword for Spencer, as is ‘great’. He’s a man seemingly at ease with himself and the worlds of formalwear and contemporary fashion he simultaneously inhabits. On surface level, it’s hard to see where Favourbrook and Oliver Spencer the brand intersect, but Spencer explains: “Oliver Spencer came out of Favourbrook, when I was wearing corduroy suits on the shop floor and people were loving it.

“They do cross over. There are two velvet jackets in Favourbrook at the moment, one’s green and one’s orange, and they cross from a smoking jacket in there to a bomber jacket in Oliver Spencer. So sometimes I share fabrics. Both companies were all about fabrication – my passion was always fabrication.”

Each topic we discuss resorts back to fabrics. The reason for him going into clothing? “Buying a second-hand suit. It was a sky blue seersucker suit, it was hilarious. Way too big. I just sort of... just heaved it all in, with high-waisted trousers. This was way back in ’89. Popped it on with a pair of sandals, and off I went. I looked ridiculous, but I loved it.”

And of the current state of British menswear? “I enjoy every single bit of it. I enjoy everyone coming together: I think the menswear community is fantastic. It’s going from strength to strength. The menswear community is in a great spot.

“I love coming to work, and I love dressing up. And actually, I’m a shopkeeper at heart, so I love being on the shop floor serving.”

With that, Spencer is due at another appointment. Diplomatically, he says: “We’re all running a bit late this morning”, pays for our coffee, shakes my hand, and strolls away tapping at his smart phone, working out where next for Mr Spencer and his olive scooter.

60 seconds on... London and Brexit

Restaurants are facing problems with staffing in the light of Brexit uncertainties. Is it the same in clothing?

OS: Not at the moment, not yet. But it’s got to worry us all. I’m much more worried actually by the disenfranchisement of the youth in London full stop. I think London is not a place for young people anymore. It’s a really big issue. No-one can afford to live here, and not many of us can afford to go out here, either. I’m talking about the under-25s here, really right at the beginning. It’s just really difficult.

Will that affect London’s creative scene?

OS: I think it will have a massive side effect. I don’t want London to become like New York, with streets and streets of empty shops. That’s because everything is over-rented, nobody can afford anything.

Will the cost of operating a business in London stifle entrepreneurship?

OS: I think it will... I think it probably did for me on Jermyn Street already. The rent there now is astronomical. It never used to be, it used to be at a level where people like you and I could afford it. Now I’ve made a stand. One thing I was determined not to do is to work for the landlord. First of all, I work to pay my wages, then I work for the landlord, then eventually, if there’s anything left, we get something. But it’s in that order, and now, the order’s wrong.

What’s your focus for the coming year?

OS: I’ll be focusing on dealing with Brexit, dealing with the hangover of that, and seeing what the hell goes on with my Portuguese manufacturing place. That’s my next big worry. There’s all this to-ing and fro-ing with all the politicians. To be honest, I don’t know how much we’re going to notice Brexit in London. It’s interesting that the Germans and French think they’re going to benefit. I don’t think it’s going to happen. The guys that I know in the City just laugh when I ask them about it. There are 450,000 people working in London’s financial districts. Frankfurt and Paris don’t have the infrastructure. They’re way off.