Dunhill Creative Director Simon Holloway Updates Heritage Label

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When Simon Holloway took over as artistic director of Dunhill last year, he also became the custodian of the brand’s rich 130-year heritage. Originally designed to equip early motorists in the late 19th century, the house is now an icon of British classicism and craftsmanship, from its fine leather goods to the classic navy Dunhill blazer, once the brand’s signature piece. Over the years, its prestigious client list has included the likes of Frank Sinatra, Truman Capote and the Duke of Windsor.

After a four-year hiatus, Richemont-owned Dunhill returned to the London Fashion Week stage in February with an intimate 41-look fall/winter 2024 show at the newly renovated Duveen Wing of London’s National Portrait Gallery. As Holloway tells it The Hollywood ReporterThe intention of his first show was to present his vision for the brand: to tell a story of timeless heritage in a modern context.

“We made it more of a salon than a big, shiny fashion show, because that really suited the house,” Holloway says in an interview at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. “We wanted people to feel really immersed and quite close to the clothes. The casting also reflected that. It was very multi-ethnic, with different age groups and older men that you haven’t seen on the runway in a long time. It also had to bring a sense of character to the presentation.” The fall/winter 2024 presentation attracted celebrities including Ted LassoPhil Dunster, model-actor Hu Bing and The Shadow and the Bone star Archie Renaux.

Beneath portraits of European royalty, Dunhill models donned lighter, more contemporary versions of pieces Holloway had spotted in the brand’s catalogs. An archive leather coat was updated with French scuba leather and lined with sumptuous camel hair. Rigid tweed jackets were reworked with more breathable cashmere wool blends from Scotland. And there were Holloway’s own touches, too, like V-neck sweaters featuring the new Dunhill monogram paired with herringbone trousers. Dunhill’s fall/winter 2024 collection, now in stores, is available on dunhill.com, at Dunhill in New York, and at Neiman Marcus (in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago) and Mr. Porter.

“We have some great pieces from the archive, all in these caramel leather shades. So that was really the starting point for the color palette,” Holloway says, pointing to items like a…