The Bespoke Driving suit

Wednesday, 14 September 2011 09:04

The Bespoke Driving Suit - Aston Martin and Henry Poole collaborate on the ultimate driving suit.

Aston Martin Designer, Marek Reichman will be driving his Emerson car at Goodwood Revival 2011 in a specially made suit by Henry Poole & Co, Savile Row.

Reichman, who has recently designed the Aston Martin Zagato to celebrate 50 years of the marque, has taken influences from an original suit worn by driver Nick Cussons, having quirky but practical elements brought into the
suit: the pockets contain leather dividers for spark plugs, tyre pressure gauge and spanners along with a pocket for the oily rag have all been specially placed within the suit incorporating the Aston Martin logo and small laser icons of the parts.

The suit, a light grey Prince of Wales check with brown over check tweed cloth by Porter and Harding has 'Plus Fours' along with a specially designed driving cap by Lock & co. St James, use a leather strap and buckle, the cap has a slightly deeper back to keep the cap on the head when driving on windy conditions. The leather used in the suit and cap is the same as used on the seating and interiors of the modern Zagato.

Nick Cussons, who bought the Jim Clark 2VEV raced his Zagato in 1969. Nick started racing in 1959 and has had over 20 Aston Martins in his racing
history: the DB4 in the Essex Racing stable in 1962, the DB4 GT.the DB5 in the Martini Trophy at Silverstone in 1970.

"We didn't have all this Nomex fireproofing in those days, and we wanted to be able to have drinks after the race, so we used a good worsted suit made, where the wool would simply singe if it caught a-lite".

Nick continues to say that the elastic on the 'plus eights' as he calls them were to enable his ankle boxing boots to not get caught up with the trouser leg if they needed to get out quick and the waistcoat was cut at horizontal line rather than 'cut away' as seen in more traditional waistcoats, again, to not create a fuss and not get trapped in the steering wheel or gear changes.

Marek Reichman from Aston Martin will look absolutely dapper in his bespoke suit, just as Nick Cussons from the soap dynasty looked in the 1960's, "We went racing to find a good woman," Nick recalls with a grin. Marek will certainly turn a few heads this weekend a Goodwood Revival. By Lara Platman

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Comments (2)

|2011-09-14 11:20:30 alok - this is awesome!

excellent!
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|2011-09-23 15:23:40 Walter Jamieson Jr

Perfectly elegant: the car, the suit, the photo.
Just viewed your portfolio on ancientindustries**** - always the best and most interesting - you're in very good company there and on girlracer.
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