FASHION: The Hobbs collection is a successful marriage of British fabrics and careful tailoring, writes Deirdre McQuillan.
Looking for a red coat this winter? There are three on offer in the autumn/winter collection from Hobbs, the UK retailer which is enjoying extraordinary success at the moment. There's one with a broad lapel, like a car coat, in a red and white Donegal tweed (actually made in Italy) and another primmer affair in bright red wool with a 1960s style Peter Pan collar. The third comes in an expensive chunky French bouclé from the company in northern France that makes it for Chanel.
According to Karl Henry, head of the design team at Hobbs, a lot of time goes into perfecting jackets and coat shapes and choosing textured fabrics, many custom-made by small independent mills in England and Scotland. "The founder of Hobbs, Marilyn Anselm, used to drum it into everybody that the jacket should not grab the neck," says Henry, who worked for Paul Costelloe and Belville Sassoon before joining Hobbs 14 years ago. "Jackets have always been a big part of the collection so we have always tried to perfect the fit."
Fabrics are a key element of the company's success. "We always start with a collection of fabrics that work together and we don't compromise on quality. People can tell if you do, and see right through it. We are the biggest customer for some of the small mills in England and Scotland," he says.
The winter collection includes traditional highland tartans and Shetland twills (in pink or green) as well as geometric tweeds and chevrons from Abraham Moon in Scotland. And there are blue and green French mohairs and vintage English checks, in new colours. With modern shapes and styling, there is something very harmonious and classy about the whole collection, largely inspired by the movie The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie from Muriel Spark's novel set in the 1930s.
Israeli-born Yoram Anselm and his wife, Marilyn, a designer, founded Hobbs 21 years ago. She had previously set up the Bertie shoe company. From its start with one shop in Hampstead, Hobbs has become a huge success story, with 54 outlets in the UK and Ireland. Two years ago, in a management buyout, the Anselms sold the company for £30 million, and last year the company recorded a doubling of annual profits to £51.5 million.
Customers have included Madonna, Princess Diana and Julie Walters as well as thousands of well-heeled women in the 25-45 age bracket. Hobbs also owns a shoe factory in Italy where its exclusive footwear is made. This season, there are traditional brogues and school sandals as well as more sexy leopard-print high heels and diamond-cut patchwork suedes.
A certain British sensibility and quirkiness informs the styling. Blenheim print silk chiffons are worn with marabou feather capes, chunky or updated Fair Isle cardigans with tweed skirts or oversize Oxford bags. "There's a bit from every decade here," says Henry, "and it works with everything else."
He claims that Hobbs is an example of how affordable clothes can be made in the UK, using British fabrics. Successful styles are kept in the repertoire, but reworked in different colour combinations. A pink sequinned skirt with a green wool polo for daytime translates into black with a red cardigan for evening wear. Old shapes are put into new fabrics and transformed.
The Hobbs collection is available at Brown Thomas, Dublin, Cork and Limerick