The Gentlemen Outfits: Cordings' Starring Role on Netflix
Wednesday, 20 March 2024
The Netflix series The Gentlemen has won praise for its sartorial style with key pieces from Cordings used to create its signature look.
As Guy Ritchie’s gloriously stylish drama returns for Series Two, Cordings once again plays its part in dressing the Hornimans and their increasingly colourful circle. This series, the characters of The Gentlemen have changed considerably and so have their wardrobes.
There has always been rather more to the clothes in The Gentlemen than meets the eye.
When Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series first introduced us to the Horniman family, their wardrobes immediately established the world they inhabited: beautifully cut tweed, substantial knitwear, tattersall shirts, silk scarves and clothes that looked as though they had belonged in the family, or at least the family wardrobe, for years. It was recognisably British country clothing, but never quite played straight.
That was very much the intention of costume designer Loulou Bontemps (find her on Instagram @maisonbontemps), whose brilliantly observed combination of traditional country clothes, vintage finds, tailoring and unexpected styling has become as much a signature of the series as its country houses, fast cars and criminal enterprises.
But the Hornimans are only one part of the sartorial world she has created. Bontemps uses clothes to establish the many different tribes that inhabit The Gentlemen, subtly shifting the visual language to reveal where each character comes from, where they sit in the social hierarchy and, increasingly, where they are heading.
Her talent for storytelling through clothes extends far beyond the tweeds and tailoring of the establishment. From the evolution of Susie Glass’s increasingly assured wardrobe to those scene-stealing earrings in the sauna, every detail reveals an instinctive understanding of the social cues clothing provides, signalling status, confidence and character before a word is spoken.
For Series Two, the clothes have moved on with their owners. Bontemps describes the first series as the “baby version” of the wardrobe, with the second becoming its more sophisticated, and considerably more troublesome, adolescent incarnation. It is a fitting analogy. A year has passed and Eddie Horniman is no longer the reluctant Duke who discovers that his ancestral estate is sitting on top of a cannabis empire. He and Susie Glass are now actively expanding the business, including into Italy, while Eddie is simultaneously attempting to increase his influence within the British establishment.
The wardrobes have grown up with them. And we are delighted to report that Cordings has gone along for the ride.
Playing the Part: Cordings Outfits from the Gentlemen
Eddie Horniman: from reluctant Duke to man of ambition
When we first meet Theo James’s Eddie Horniman in Series One, he is an army captain and former UN peacekeeping officer who finds himself unexpectedly inheriting the family title, estate and a criminal enterprise he most certainly did not ask for. His clothes reflect him perfectly. Eddie understands the codes of his world instinctively, but he doesn’t need to make a performance of them. His country clothes are restrained, comfortable and reassuringly traditional.
Series Two’s Eddie is a rather different proposition.
The reluctant participant has become an increasingly ambitious one. Netflix describes him as no longer merely “finding his footing” in the criminal underworld but actively attempting to scale his empire; by the end of the series, his journey has taken him into altogether darker territory. His wardrobe has evolved accordingly. The underlying codes remain, excellent cloth, British tailoring, country references, but everything feels more assured. Even Eddie’s watches have changed: Bontemps has explained that Series One centred on inherited pieces, while Series Two reflects a man who has acquired money, power and the confidence to use both.
THE SHAWL COLLAR CARDIGAN
And yet one old friend makes a rather memorable return, Cordings Shawl Collar Cardigan. Worn at home, it was exactly the sort of thing one might expect an off-duty Duke to own: relaxed enough for a whisky in the library, smart enough should someone unexpectedly appear at the door. Indeed, Eddie’s cardigan became something of a star in its own right, with the success of the first series creating a surge of interest in both it and other Cordings pieces worn by the cast.
It reappears in Series Two under circumstances for which, we feel obliged to point out, it was not originally designed. After Eddie is beaten, left for dead and buried alive, the cardigan accompanies him on his distinctly undignified journey back to civilisation. Cordings has been making clothes capable of standing up to the British countryside since 1839, but even we would consider this something of an extreme product test. Should His Grace find himself crawling across several miles of shrubland again, might we suggest a field coat and a sturdy pair of boots? Bare feet and Scottish knitwear really ought to be considered a last resort.
The cardigan has something of a story arc of its own: from respectable gentleman’s off-duty kit in Series One to unlikely survival wear in Series Two, as Eddie quite literally scrabbles his way back to civilisation.
Above: The Shawl Collar Cardigan – In happier times in Series One and crawling in the undergrowth in the opening sequence of Series Two
Lady Sabrina: the Dowager gets a contemporary edge
If Eddie’s wardrobe charts his growing ambition, Lady Sabrina Horniman’s clothes reveal something rather different.
Joely Richardson’s Dowager Duchess was one of the sartorial joys of Series One. Her wardrobe established her immediately as mistress of the estate: beautifully judged tweeds, fitted shirts, velvet trousers, practical country footwear and those magnificent silk scarves, tied with the sort of insouciance that cannot easily be taught. Bontemps has previously described Lady Sabrina’s wardrobe as one of her favourites, and said that she chose Cordings because of its quintessentially British character, workmanship, textures and colours.
In Series One, our Wincanton Tweed became one of Sabrina’s defining looks. She wears the jacket with its matching waistcoat and trousers, but also separates the pieces and combines them with knitwear, shirts and country clothing. It is exactly how good tweed ought to be worn: not as a precious “outfit”, but as part of a working wardrobe.
THE WINCANTON SUIT LOOK - SERIES ONE
Above: JOELY RICHARDSON AS LADY SABRINA showing the multi tasking and versatile Wincanton tweed suit.
The Wincanton also demonstrates something central to Sabrina’s character. She may be an aristocrat living in a magnificent house, but she is no museum piece. Her clothes have heritage, certainly, but she wears them with wit and individuality.
Series Two pushes that idea further.
THE CORDUROY JACKET - SERIES TWO
The silhouette becomes a little more contemporary and, in one particularly wonderful appearance, Richardson wears our Men’s York Corduroy Jacket, teamed with a blue denim shirt and silk cravat. It shouldn’t necessarily work. It absolutely does.
There is something particularly appropriate about Sabrina borrowing from the men’s side of the wardrobe. By Series Two we understand much more clearly that beneath the impeccably mannered exterior sits a woman who is independent, observant and considerably less conventional than appearances initially suggested. For those wishing to borrow the idea rather than the actual men’s jacket, our Appleton corduroy ladies suit offers a similarly rich, textural approach in a women’s cut. And yes, her scarf tying remains exemplary.
Theo James plays Lady Sabrina’s son, Edward “Eddie” Horniman, the new 10th Duke of Halstead, who, when we first meet him, is an army captain and former United Nations peacekeeping officer (his diplomatic and combat skills will soon be tested to the full).
Cordings also plays a part in his wardrobe, for example, in this casual at-home look which teams a Cordings Shawl Collar Cardigan in Denim Blue with a shirt and trousers, for an understated and cosy ensemble that is also suitably smart enough for receiving unexpected guests, should the need arise.
To get the look, style the cardigan with our Dark Khaki Cotton Gabardine Drill Suit Trousers.
The Shawl Collar Cardigan Look
Loulou Bontemps and the costume team clearly had a great deal of fun kitting out Daniel Ings as Eddie’s overlooked and chaotic elder brother, Freddy Horniman – witness the scenes of him striding the estate gardens in his slippers, shotgun in hand, wearing the Cordings Grey Herringbone Donegal Coat over a Cordings Tattersall Shirt and our Olive Crown Shooting Stockings, finished with a jaunty tweed cap worn backwards. And why not, if it works? Slightly bonkers, totally brilliant.
The Follifoot Coat Look
Freddy’s ‘chaos couture’ reaches a pinnacle in his outfit choice for the boxing fight scene. Teaming a vintage fur coat, wool check tie and sunglasses with our Rosebud Pink Corduroy Trousers and a classic Small Check Tattersall Shirt creates a fabulously decadent look; part 70’s rock star, part off duty country gent.
Finally, one of our favourite sartorial looks spotted in The Gentlemen was sported by Alexis Rodney, who plays the elegantly dressed Emory Stevens, loyal manservant to Stanley Johnston, an American billionaire who wants to buy Halstead Manor.
Stevens wears the three-piece Cordings Redcar Tweed Suit (which comes in a lighter 12oz tweed with a subtle overcheck, woven for us in Yorkshire) with our Classic Oxford Shirt in Yellow. To complete the look, we suggest trying our Big 5 Silk Foulard Tie, for an immaculately put-together ensemble that is every inch the gentleman.
