Obituary: Sir Hardy Amies

Fashion designer. Died aged 93.

Sir Hardy Amies, dressmaker to the Queen, formed the last bastion of British couture.

He held twice-yearly shows where a small, well-heeled clientele filed into his showroom to sit on gilt chairs and view a collection of beautifully made but ultimately conservative clothes.

His perspective on the Queen's dress requirements followed similar lines: "The Queen's attitude is that she must always dress for the occasion, usually for a large mob of middle-class people towards whom she wishes to seem friendly."

Amies was born in London, the son of a surveyor and a Bond St seamstress. After leaving school in 1926, he spent some years abroad studying French and German, with a vague intention of becoming a journalist.

But once back in England, his mother's contacts secured him a job as manager of Lachasse, a traditional couture house, and he remained there until the outbreak of World War II.

During the war he was posted to Special Operations Executive because of his knowledge of languages, but kept up his connection with his profession. He used a leave in 1940 to organise Lachasse's spring collection, and caused a stir among the patrons by wearing battle dress on the opening day.

In 1946 he founded his dress-making business at 14, Savile Row, where it remains. He was appointed the Queen's dressmaker in 1955, and was responsible for most of her wardrobe, from ball gowns to day dresses.

In 1950 Amies extended his activities to include ready-to-wear clothes, which took him all over the world. He made at least 20 visits to New Zealand between 1965 and the early 80s, mainly for shows of his menswear.

The 1960s man was able to buy and wear Hardy Amies-inspired silk handkerchiefs, ties and dressing-gowns. His aim was not to "turn every Kiwi into a Britisher, but to put over an international feeling".

At a fashion presentation in 1967, the accent was on the slimline. Amies gave little thought to portly men. He particularly admired the strapping physique of his 12 New Zealand models, trained by ballet master Philip Chatfield in the precise and concerted movements required to turn a parade into outstanding entertainment.

Styles of the day included a high-crowned, narrow-brimmed hat worn forward over the nose, a coloured shirt, slim-fitting trousers and a "shortie" raincoat showing the knees.

Casual wear demanded dress shorts with matching coats and caps. By the next year, colour informed men's choice, with red trousers, purple suits and yellow coats all suggested by Amies.

Waistcoats were returning to the sartorial scene; sports jackets would be "brassily buttoned" and subtly seamed. He also designed shoes and created perfume.

A pet hate was cufflinks. He viewed them as a necessity when cuffs were so heavily starched that they couldn't button up, but after the arrival of soft cuffs they were just a nuisance.

Although best known in New Zealand as a menswear designer, Amies was regarded in Britain as an arbiter of feminine fashion. He was impressed by pedigree and dressed the grandest ladies, members of the Establishment. For two of them to be seen at the same function in the same Hardy Amies gown was regarded as corroboration of good taste rather than an embarrassment.

He also received commissions from varied quarters. One was to design an overall for workers in Walls icecream factories in England.

Amies enjoyed rich living and weighing the prestige of one invitation against another. He was always immaculately dressed.

He was also well-known for such pronouncements on style and appearance as: "It is a crime for any garment to be too tight."

And he once said: "I hate strapless bodices because any man looking at one thinks, 'How the hell does she keep the thing up?' Nobody has ever been elegant in a strapless dress."

He was, said his PR of 55 years, Peter Hope Lumley, "imperious, arrogant and pompous, a tremendous snob and proud of it, but saved by a great sense of humour".

He retired from his post as dressmaker to the Queen when he was 80, saying "she doesn't want an octogenarian crawling about her feet".

In his private life Amies made little secret of his sexual preferences, once saying: "I always knew I would never have children."

- Phoebe Falconer, Independent