Gieves & Hawkes AW25: A thoughtful exploration of wartime memory, sartorial heritage, and the evolving language of masculine style.
In an era where fashion often leans toward the ephemeral, Gieves & Hawkes’ Autumn/Winter 2025 collection, Eyes in the Sky, offers a compelling counterpoint: a meditation on permanence, purpose, and the quiet dignity of historical reflection. Rooted in the legacy of WWII fighter pilots, the collection draws from real narratives—those of Squadron Leader Dick Churchill and reconnaissance pilot Sandy Gunn—to explore how courage and sacrifice can be translated into contemporary menswear.
This is not nostalgia for its own sake. Rather, Eyes in the Sky engages with history as a living archive, using design as a vehicle to interrogate masculinity, resilience, and the role of tailoring in shaping identity. The silhouettes are unmistakably military in origin—structured, utilitarian, and grounded in function—but they are reinterpreted through the lens of modern elegance. Wool-cashmere blends, patina leathers, and melange wools form the backbone of the collection, offering weight and texture without excess.
As both a menswear editor and a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, I approach collections like Gieves & Hawkes AW25 not simply as seasonal offerings, but as cultural texts—expressions of heritage, intention, and evolving masculine identity. My lens is shaped by decades of studying the intersection of tailoring, history, and the psychology of dress. Gieves & Hawkes, with its roots on Savile Row and its longstanding relationship with military and ceremonial dress, has always occupied a unique space: one foot in tradition, the other in quiet innovation.
What interests me most about Eyes in the Sky is how the brand has shifted from being a custodian of British sartorial codes to becoming a storyteller with a global, contemporary voice. The collection doesn’t just reference history—it filters it through a modern sensibility that understands the changing needs of men today. The garments are not costume; they are tools. Structured coats and melange suiting speak to the demands of urban life, while the embedded narratives—maps, technical drawings, symbolic palettes—invite the wearer to engage with something deeper than aesthetics.
In my view, Gieves & Hawkes has evolved from outfitting officers to outfitting thinkers. The task orientation of the brand today is no longer about uniformity or status—it’s about equipping men with garments that reflect purpose, clarity, and self-awareness. There’s a quiet rigor to the tailoring, a sense that each piece is designed not just to be worn, but to be understood. This is menswear that respects the intelligence of its audience.
For my students and readers alike, I encourage a close reading of this collection—not just for its craftsmanship, which is superb, but for its conceptual ambition. Gieves & Hawkes is asking what it means to dress with intention in 2025. And in doing so, it reminds us that menswear, at its best, is not just about how we look—it’s about how we choose to show up in the world.
One of the more intellectually intriguing elements is the use of original Spitfire technical drawings, reimagined as silk jacquards. This gesture—transforming wartime engineering into textile design—speaks to a broader dialogue between innovation and aesthetics, between the mechanical and the poetic.
The collaboration with Bellerby & Co. Globemakers adds another layer of narrative depth. A hand-painted map, charting the missions of Churchill and Gunn, appears as bespoke linings and accessories throughout the collection. It’s a subtle but deliberate act of storytelling, embedding historical geography into the garments themselves. Gieves & Hawkes also partners with the Spitfire AA810 Foundation, reinforcing its commitment to preserving the legacy of aerial reconnaissance and the Photo Reconnaissance Unit.
Color, too, is treated with symbolic precision. Military greens, heritage browns, and slate greys dominate the palette, punctuated by turquoise and red—tones lifted directly from flight suits and insignia. These hues do not merely decorate; they evoke the psychological landscape of wartime Europe and the emotional tenor of the skies.
What Eyes in the Sky ultimately proposes is a recalibration of menswear’s relationship to history. In a market saturated with trend-driven ephemera, Gieves & Hawkes offers garments that are intellectually and emotionally resonant. For the discerning man—whether in the boardroom or navigating the shifting terrain of modern life—this collection serves as both armor and archive.
It’s not about dressing like a hero. It’s about understanding what heroism looks like when rendered in cloth.
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