EMILY:  “No. I am NOT being ‘made over’. Subject closed.” My long-suffering husband was not happy at my suggestion that he play guinea pig for a wardrobe revamp. “Please. You have always hated shopping. You haven’t bought anything for about three years. This woman is going to come to our house, look at your clothes, get the size ofyou and shop for you. What’s not to like?”

 

The evening that Anne Hamlyn from Dress Me came round for an initial consultation I was out. When I came back Rob seemed unscathed. “She was nice. She liked those shoes you hate. She says I have too many shirts and not enough of anything else.”  There was a large pile of clothes on the floor. Trousers that had lost any sense of shape several years ago. A hideous tweed jacket. Lots of shirts with decayed collars. “That is the Exit Lounge,” he explained simply.

Two days later Anne returned with two large pull along suitcases and three bulging bags. She was warm, direct and well-dressed but refreshingly neither uber-trendy nor mumsily smart.  A sculptor, she has been in the business of dressing other people for ten years. She says about a third of her clients are men, generally hovering around 40, frequently referred through their partners/wives.

 

She described Rob as “terribly English with his relationship with his clothes. He makes friends. He doesn’t think about a ‘look’ in the way a Mediterranean man would. Clothes aren’t part of his lifestyle. That is not to say he has no sense of style though.” I can’t wait to see what she has chosen for him. As more and more trousers, shirts, jumpers, jackets are tried on, the success rate is far higher than I would have anticipated. Almost everything fits him really well and she has ‘got’ him spot on. A mac that doesn’t look like a flasher; a pair of bright blue trousers; quite a lot of purple which I thought I hated but looks good. “Sharp” says Anne. It is a word she uses a lot. She seems to have been to masses of different shops, some designer, some high street. Particularly good are Cordings of Piccadilly (for smart trousers) and Tonic in Ladbroke Grove for casual clothes. A few of the trousers are unfinished and she whizzes round pinning up, so she can take them away to be made the right length. 

 

Chatting with Anne is fascinating. I ask whether she prefers to do these try ons without the wife present and you can see she has mixed feelings. She says that sometimes a man needs to be on his own really to enjoy the experience. “But generally women think they have the handle on style in family life,” so it is important that the partner approves of the look. She tells of one instance when a client rang her rather sheepishly when his wife came back and said 80% of his new wardrobe had to be returned. She says her

aim is simple: to give men the sense of confidence inherent in being well turned-out.

 

Dress Me - Basic wardrobe consultation £300. Shopping / return consultation £100 an hour, capped at £500 a day. dressme.biz

 Cordings, 19 Piccadilly, W1 7734 0830 cordings.com / Tonic, 276 Portobello Rd, W10 8960 8216  tonicuk.com