Dunhill: Disobedient grace in a Milanese garden

Dunhill staged the final show on Sunday evening in a beautiful Milanese garden filled with statues of goddesses and cherubs, and its message of sartorial chic with a soupçon of rebellion felt very timely.

For decades, young men have been wearing Ralph Lauren to imply their families have been genteel for more than two generations. Perhaps they should think of shopping at Dunhill, where designer Simon Holloway’s subtle renovation has led to some great clothes that mine a patrician past with modernist vigor.

Any doubt about Dunhill’s future was dispelled by the front row, where there was practically major buyer gridlock, especially from Asia.

Holloway opened crisply with lots of great putty-hued suits, cool trenches, and a fab series of split suits. Combinations of windowpane check, seersucker, piqué, and sporty checks—all of which looked great. And light, too—underlining the way he has eliminated so much weight from Dunhill fabrics. Which is vital. If you don’t think so, try going to get measured for a suit on Savile Row. You practically sweat when you feel the hand of so many UK fabrics. Simon, with his yen for Italian materials, avoids that at Dunhill.

He then segued into a series of classic suits, made in feathery cottons and fresh linens, one worn by a gent leading a Weimaraner hound on a leash around the pebble path.

“Disobedient grace,” was Holloway’s definition of the collection, blending the style of besuited rock icons like Bryan Ferry and Charlie Watts into legacy clothing.

After something of a drop in energy halfway through the show, with too many windowpane check jackets and formulaic sweaters, everything kicked up a gear with some rakish Motorities suede jerkins and coats in soft French lambskin. And—seeing as the main cocktail served was gin-based—a quartet of dandies in silk suits, paisley waistcoats, and Panama hats looked born to drink a good gimlet.

Before segueing into cardigans and dressing gowns embroidered with various hounds—from bulldog to boxer—one model strutted by with a beautiful gray Weimaraner on a leash. Before the show reached a climax, a chap in a tartan dressing gown just about managed to guide two nervous-looking white Borzoi hounds around the garden.

All staged in the ideal location, the garden of Poldi Pezzoli Museum, with its rare collection boasting works by Botticelli, Bellini, and Mantegna. And all backed up by music from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Not a bad way to end a busy weekend.