Hardy Amies

Michael Pick, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and formerly an exhibitioner in history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, is the author of seven books on design and the decorative arts. A founding committee member of the Twentieth Century Society, a British preservation group, he has contributed to numerous publications, including The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Apollo, The Connoisseur, Tatler, Harpers & Queen, and Vogue. Michael has worked with fashion PR Percy Savage and was responsible for the renovation of the famous Mayfair art moderne Norman Hartnell salon. He also wrote BE DAZZLED! The Life of Norman Hartnell, about whom he has lectured at the Victoria & Albert Museum, aboard the Queen Mary, and at the Chichester and Oxford literary festivals. 'Hardy Amies' draws on conversations with Sir Hardy Amies, who asked Michael to write about his life.

British designer Hardy Amies (1909-2003) emphasised the tailored construction of clothing, as worn by HM Queen Elizabeth II and seen in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.