Ted Lapidus

Ah, the Swinging Sixties; arguably the most influential decade in terms of style evolution for both men, and women. Yet, today's post is primarily one for the boys...

There's no denying that the 60's were a culturally defining decade in many ways, and there were four Liverpudlian lads in particular who helped shape and redefine men's fashion... The Beatles were an overwhelming social, cultural and musical phenomenon who dominated an entire decade. In retrospect, it is fair to say that The Beatles epitomised and defined the sixties, thus their sense of style was heavily influential at the time; they possessed the ability to eclipse other fashion trends and truly make their own mark on the industry. So, we were more than excited when we stumbled across this vintage gem; an original Ted Lapidus suit. Ted Lapidus was a fashion entrepreneur who designed the famous white suit worn by John Lennon on the Abbey Road album cover. Lapidus started his fashion career as an apprentice for Christian Dior solely because he didn't have the money to put himself through medical school; yet he went on to revolutionise the fashion world. Lapidus was the first designer to put high fashion fabricating techniques into industrial production; he caused a storm in 1951 by collaborating with Belle Jardiniene and mass producing his designs to sell at the budget label, but as they say....there's no such thing as bad press.

Lapidus went on to become one of the most influential designers of the 60's, not only was John Lennon a fan of his work, but Lapidus was also the first designer to persuade Twiggy to wear a suit and tie as opposed to a mini skirt; Lapidus pushed the boundaries of styling and challenged the trends to turn fashion on its head. He injected a sense of quirkiness into the generation and offered a further breed of fashion to a decade that was already jam-packed with revolutionary styles.

Our Ted Lapidus suit will be available online this week, and is a true investment piece. Owning a suit designed by such a fashion hero from one of the greatest generations of all time has surely got to be the next best thing to having lived through the era first-hand, right? Ah, to have lived in the glory days of seeing The Beatles live in The Cavern Club; the perfect, flicked eyeliner smudged under my eyes and my bouffant askew from all the twisting-and-shouting - what a dream!