The A-list's secret weapon: meet London's coolest tailor

With designs loved by the chic set, 27-year-old Hattie Glendenning is leading a renaissance in custom-made clothes to keep forever

- JOE BROMLEY

Under the domed Serpentine Pavilion, on a searingly hot evening in the heart of Hyde Park, the capital's freshly fat-jabbed high society types cackled over champagne, caviar and mostly untouched chicken nuggets. It was the Serpentine's annual summer party and, as ever, the outfits on show fired off at every end of the fashionable spectrum: from Cate Blanchett's extraordinary, appliqué seashell creation right down to the plague of figure-squeezing, ruched poly-blend dresses which populate these sorts of get-togethers in 2025.

But it was one electric pink tweed dress, with its low scooped back and rather short hemline, that caught my attention through the crowd. The frock in question belonged to Lady Amelia Windsor, the Duke of Kent's granddaughter, and had been custom-made by Hattie Glendenning, the founder of HAX Tailoring. "Having it tailor-made for me made me feel like I was going back in time," Lady Amelia says. "I also have a matching cropped jacket that means I can wear the look in winter and summer. I really will treasure it forever."

In a world in which it-girls and actors alike tend to borrow off-the-runway looks for parties before being woken up by couriers, ready to motorbike their freshly stained Versace frocks to a magazine shoot on the other side of town, there is something charming about a renaissance in bespoke outfits designed to last longer than the canapé course.