Thursday, July 29, 2010

Hamilton 1883 | Fall 2010

You were very fortunate to preview the Hamilton 1883 Fall 2010 line last week in New York City. Last year, Houston-based Hamilton (one of America's oldest shirtmakers) unveiled Hamilton 1883 as its ready-to-wear collection and the younger brother to its more traditional custom offerings. Named for the year of Hamilton's founding, the 1883 line features shirts that have a trim fit and hip details. However, the shirts never stray from the quality materials and craftsmanship that have defined Hamilton for over 100 years.

The first thing that caught your eye was the Camo Print shirt, which seems appropriate given the steady influx of military-inspired pieces into menswear collections from runways to catalogues. The styling is classic, as it is with all of the shirts in the collection, which allows the bold print a bit of range. You could see yourself wearing it with a sport coat.

A number of the shirts feature details that harken back to the long and rich history of Hamilton's past customers. One loyal wearer, an oil man, was robbed, which prompted him to have his shirts made with a tiny hidden cash pocket just above the shirttail. His request for a place to stow extra dough (in his case a $100 bill) is reproduced on some of the Fall 2010 shirts, marked with a barely perceptible dollar sign. There are also a number of shirts embroidered with old monograms, like "Special Brand," for a customer who wanted a special brand on his shirt. He didn't expect the shirtmaker's literal interpretation, but loved it enough to have all of his shirts made that way.

From workwear-inspired detailing (as in the Field and Utility shirts) to a wide assortment of plaids to the classic oxford, you find the Fall 2010 collection from Hamilton 1883 to be seriously tight. You wish you could swap out all of your shirts for these.

Field.

Taupe with "MINE" monogram.
Western.

Cash Pocket.
Camo Print.
Utility.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Awesome. Shirts look great. Thanks for the breakdown.