Unique red riding breeches take centre stage as menswear exhibition explores Savile Row flair of 1930s aristocrat

‘Tailoring an Image’ shines a spotlight on one of the most fascinating menswear collections in the UK, a rare survival of bespoke 20^th century clothing, belonging to just one man – the last owner of Anglesey Abbey, Urban Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Lord Fairhaven (1896 – 1966).

Lord Fairhaven was known as a stylish dresser, regularly featuring in society magazines in the 1930s. Family wealth enabled him to enjoy the finer things in life, from collecting art to shopping at the world’s most prestigious tailors and makers. He left the property and its collections to the National Trust on his death in 1966, including his wardrobe which contains everything a fashionable man needed to cover morning, day and evening wear.

Roisin Semple, Property Curator at Anglesey Abbey, says

“Lord Fairhaven’s extensive wardrobe is a rare example of a 20th-century menswear collection that remains in the original setting of its owner’s home. Unlike most museum fashion collections – often dominated by women’s clothing and detached from their original context – this collection offers an opportunity to learn more about the garments and the man who wore them.”

Many of the items were hand made for him by his Savile Row tailor. H. Huntsman & Sons, along with Bates Gentlemen’s Hatter and bespoke London shoemaker, Henry Maxwell.

Several of the items in the exhibition made specially for him by Huntsman are unique in their existence: Lord Fairhaven’s bright red leather cropped riding breeches, of which there are no comparable examples in museum collections or riding dress history literature, and his wine-coloured velvet smoking suit.

Roisin continues: “There are 16 pairs of different coloured cropped riding breeches, including a bright red pair, in the collection, and most were made in the 1950s. It is unclear where the idea came from, but the choice was presumably motivated by the durability, comfort and control they gave Fairhaven in the saddle. The length, colour and material make the style unique to him.”

The breeches, from cherry red to inky blue, are made from soft sheepskin, goatskin or buckskin leather. Each pair has Huntsman-branded buttons for attaching braces and securing the front flap opening (known as split falls). They feature two pockets, and the legs end at mid-thigh length. Two different colours will be on display as part of the ‘Tailoring an Image’ exhibition.

Roisin added: “We have photographs of Lord Fairhaven wearing the breeches with long leather gaiters and a tweed jacket when horse riding. He also wore the gaiters and breeches with a sheepskin jacket when spending time in his gardens at Anglesey Abbey.”

The two-piece wine-coloured velvet smoking suit on display was ordered from Huntsman in 1962. Men changed into smoking jackets to preserve their dinner jackets from smelling of after-dinner cigar smoke. In contrast to black dinner jackets, smoking jackets were traditionally made from coloured velvet. It was less common to own an entire smoking suit.

Fairhaven ordered a blue velvet smoking suit from Huntsman in 1959 and another in wine-coloured velvet in 1962. The suit was cut so that the nap (pile) of the velvet runs up the garment, making it appear darker in contrast to the glossy silk lapels and adding to the luxuriousness of the ensemble.

Fairhaven ordered the smoking jacket first, with a note in the company ledger recording that he might order the trousers later, suggesting he was wondering whether a whole suit was the right choice. This more relaxed outfit complements Fairhaven’s preference for entertaining at home in small, private gatherings.

Roisin Semple made a number of visits to see the team at Huntsman to study their historic ledgers. Together, they discovered entries detailing Lord Fairhaven’s clothing orders right up until the last year of his life in 1966 and found a pattern of tweed that Lord Fairhaven had chosen for one of his outfits.

Roisin concluded: “Through working with the team at Huntsman and researching their archives, we now know more about Lord Fairhaven and how he used bespoke tailoring to create one-off garments with a unique flair. Studying an individual's clothing is a uniquely personal way of understanding who they were and how they wanted to express themselves. In turn, the exhibition invites visitors to consider what their own clothing says about them.”

A wide range of outfits, fully mounted on mannequins, will be on display throughout the house, including Lord Fairhaven’s velvet smoking suit, evening suit, his silk dressing gowns and accessories including shoes and hats.

The exhibition room in the house will be transformed into a space inspired by a Savile Row workroom and a specially commissioned film will feature as part of the exhibition, enabling visitors to delve deeper into the world of bespoke tailoring. On display will be original ledgers showing some of Lord Fairhaven’s clothing orders, a saddle horse that customers would sit on to be measured for their riding clothes, and a sample book of fabric swatches.

Campbell Carey, Head Cutter & Creative Director at Huntsman, remarks, “A bespoke Huntsman suit represents the work of at least eight pairs of hands and over 80 hours of handwork and so Lord Fairhaven’s wardrobe demonstrates hundreds of hours of craftsmanship.”

The exhibition will coincide with the National Trust’s new publication 100 Things to Wear: Fashion from the Collections of the National Trust in 2025, which features Lord Fairhaven's wine-coloured smoking suit, and goes on sale from September 2025.

The ‘Tailoring an Image’ exhibition at Anglesey Abbey is open from 1 July to 31 October 2025.

For more information visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/angleseyabbey