Hardy Amies

Sir Edwin Hardy Amies KCVO (17 July 1909 – 5 March 2003) was a British fashion designer, founder of the Hardy Amies label and a Royal Warrant holder as designer to Queen Elizabeth II.

Edwin Hardy Amies was born on 17 July 1909 in Maida Vale, London, to Herbert Amies and Mary, née Hardy. He had a sister, Rosemary (born 1915), and a younger brother with Down's Syndrome, Wilfred (born 1918). His father, of "lower middle class" origin, was an architect for the London County Council who served as a captain in the First World War and was subsequently appointed 'resident agent' for the Becontree public housing estate in Essex; his mother was a senior saleswoman (or "vendeuse") for dressmakers Madame Gray at Machinka & May, London, and then Madame Durant on Dover Street, London. The family subsequently moved to Alperton and later to Barking. From his teens on, he used his middle name- his mother's maiden name, Hardy- and always cited her as the inspiration for his chosen professional path. He stopped using his first name, Edwin, which he had been given in honour of his paternal grandfather, Edwin Amies, a successful businessman who owned a factory producing 'dandy rolls', from which watermarks in paper and banknotes were created; he lived beyond his means, however, with a reputation as a "man about town" in both London and Paris, meaning at his death less money was left than had been supposed. Amies described his father as "most affectionate", saying they "didn't get on badly by any means", but he got on better with his mother, "indiscreetly" opining that his father "wasn't very bright", and that his mother, a "pretty, intelligent... ambitious" "village girl" from a "less financially stable background" than her husband, had "what is laughingly called taste- of course it was restricted to suburban taste, her life being very circumscribed."

Amies was educated at Brentwood School, Essex, leaving in 1927. Although his father wanted him to attend Cambridge University, Amies considered himself a mediocre student; nevertheless, he was recommended for a scholarship, but failed the examination. It was at that time his ambition to become a journalist. His father relented and arranged for a meeting between his son and Ralph Blumenfeld, the editor of the Daily Express. His father was mortified when Blumenfeld suggested his son travel around Europe to gain some worldly experience.

Amies spent three years in France and Germany, learning the languages, working for a customs agent and then as an English-language tutor in Antibes in France and later Bendorf in Germany. Amies returned to England where, in 1930, he became a sales assistant in a ceramic wall-tile factory. After that, he secured a trainee position as a weight machine salesman with W & T Avery in Birmingham.

It was Amies' mother's contacts in the fashion world, and his flair for writing, that secured him his first job in fashion. It was his vivid description of a dress, written in a letter to a retired French seamstress, that brought Hardy to the attention of the owner of the Mayfair couture house Lachasse on Farm Street, Berkeley Square, as the wearer of the dress was the owner's wife. He became managing director, in 1934, at the age of 25. His most notable innovation during this epoch was to lower the waistline of women's suits. He placed it at the top of the hip instead of at the natural waistline, giving a more feminine look.

In 1937, he scored his first success with a Linton tweed suit in sage green with a cerise overcheck called "Panic". "Panic" was to be his debut into the fashion bible Vogue, photographed by Cecil Beaton. By the late 1930s, Hardy was designing the entire Lachasse collection – succeeding Digby Morton. His second celebration creation was "Made in England", a biscuit-coloured checked suit for the Hollywood ingénue Mildred Shay. He left Lachasse in 1939 and joined the House of Worth in 1941.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, with his language experience, Amies was called to serve in the Special Operations Executive (SOE). He was commissioned as a second lieutenant from Officer Cadet Training Company on to the British Army General List on 18 May 1940. He was transferred from the General List to the Intelligence Corps on 15 July 1940. Amies suspected that SOE's commander Major General Colin Gubbins did not regard a dressmaker as suitable military material; but his training report stated:

This officer is far tougher both physically and mentally than his rather precious appearance would suggest. He possesses a keen brain and an abundance of shrewd sense. His only handicap is his precious appearance and manner, and these are tending to decrease.