'Lovat green, a dash of red and a hint of blue in the background’ is fashion designer Jeremy Hackett’s tempting description of the new tweed he has created for Country Life. It’s an appealing combination rich in historical resonance. Lovat is the green-blue shade found in many working tweeds. Almost 200 years ago, it was developed in response to early-Victorian Lord Lovat’s view that Highland hills in springtime combined the dun shades of birch and bracken with brighter flashes of bluebell and primrose flowers, with white shores in the distance.
Translated into woollen yarn, the lovat mix of blue, yellow, ochre and white creates a soft, misty, but fresh effect; in the new Country Life cloth, woven from Cheviot wool by Lovat Mill in Hawick, forest green, red and watery flecks add liveliness without brashness. The small check suggests pale skies and heather — a dense, fruitful, rich landscape. It’s a pattern called a ‘gun-club’ check, a three-colour combination of dark, medium and light so called after an American gun club adopted a Scottish estate tweed of similar configuration.
The Country Life tweed features a lovat mix of blue, yellow, ochre and white Cheviot wool.
Now available in a selection of Hackett shops and the company’s bespoke headquarters at No 14 Savile Row, London W1, the fabric has a timeless quality that is also engagingly modern. ‘It’s something Edward VIII would feel very comfortable in,’ suggests Country Life’s Editor-in-Chief, Mark Hedges, of the man who, as Prince of Wales a century ago, brought a distinct jauntiness to his tweed-wearing.
That a new tweed pattern should feature among commemorations of Country Life’s approaching 130th anniversary in January 2027 is entirely appropriate. ‘No other fabric is more strongly associated with Britain than tweed,’ Hedges says, and no other magazine is as uniquely British as Country Life. Perennially, the magazine celebrates everything that’s best in our island story, from landscapes and the built environment to our cultural, sporting and social history, the quirks and peccadillos of this infinitely various nation and its peoples, the gorgeous kaleidoscope of British life, stamped by the past and boldly looking forward. For 130 years, Country Life has offered topics of conversation for drawing room, grouse butt, board- room and garden tea, celebrating tradition and shaping innovation: its new tweed is every bit as timeless and versatile.
‘We wanted to make something that could be worn comfortably wherever you are,’ notes Hedges — a cloth that would be of use far beyond the Cairngorms. The 14oz weave has all the toughness necessary for an English winter, Hackett explains, with none of the bullet-proof weightiness of thicker tweeds.
Country Life's ladybird has crawled from the cover to the suit label.
This year’s is not the first Country Life tweed, nor is it the first time the magazine has partnered with Hackett to create its own equivalent of an estate cloth. In 1995, Hackett oversaw special tweeds for both Country Life and Horse & Hound. Although the earlier Country Life design in green and purple — a colour long associated with the magazine — featured a bold overcheck, the absence of any overcheck in the new gun-club pattern creates a softer, less assertive design that nevertheless remains striking and buoyant.
Hackett’s choice of Lovat Mill ensures the tweed is both British made and of the highest quality. The mill is the last surviving weaver of its sort in the Border town of Hawick where commercial tweed-making originated. At the head of its roster of distinguished clients is The King. Luxury brands such as Bentley, Chanel, Gucci, Schöffel and Dolce & Gabbana have all used Lovat Mill tweeds: Hackett’s decision to work with Lovat’s design director Alan Cumming ensured the scheme’s success. ‘One has to realise one’s limitations,’ Hedges observes, who entrusted design decisions to Hackett, confident that his experience and the expertise of all at Lovat Mill would result in a tweed of which the magazine can be proud.
Editor Mark Hedges with Jeremy Hackett, founder of the eponymous brand.
Indeed, it has. The new design, declares Hedges, ‘makes a gentleman look very elegant and to some extent an individual’, as well as responding to changing attitudes to formal dress following covid, with its imposition of working from home. Lockdowns led to more informal work dressing: the Country Life and Hackett collaboration takes into account the return to suit-wearing, albeit with a twist of unpredictability. ‘There are certain things you can buy and wear that make you feel better about yourself. A well-cut tweed suit is one of those things,’ affirms Hedges whose own newest suit, appropriately, is made by Hackett from the Country Life tweed. Its label will feature the ladybird that hides on the magazine’s cover.
Others, of course, will be able to share the Editor's good fortune. Hackett has chosen to use the new tweed for ready-to-wear and bespoke pieces, including tweed caps. A picnic blanket is also among the offerings and Hackett staff anticipate orders for dog coats, especially from the house’s American bespoke clients.
The best tweed clothing is built to last, with heavier-weight garments often surviving through generations. The new design, devised by Hackett in association with Lovat Mill before being selected by the magazine’s Editor, offers the same longevity. Available in a limited edition, it may not match Country Life’s record of 130 years. Echoing the magazine that inspired it, it will remain fresh, engaging and an enduring source of comfort, style, rightness and pleasure, a nod to beguiling traditions that remain serviceable and reliable.