Bold use of colour and pattern is always Duchamp’s signature. As well as all the fabulous wedding suits and pin-sharp business suits you’ll need, we are concentrating this season on smart-casual outfits, with a pronounced emphasis on some brilliant jackets.

There is a definite preppy inspiration to our collection, but we are not limiting ourselves to retro looks. We have put together a highly desirable contemporary range built around exclusive cloths, in slim and flattering shapes, all in a spot-on selection of sophisticated pale and tonal pastel shades, plus some really punchy brights.

Our jackets range from a superbly tailored wool-cashmere checked sports jacket to a multi-coloured gingham number in a super lightweight checked cotton. The jackets include a conventional tailored cut, a contemporary slim fit and a markedly unstructured style that offers lightweight ease for the warmer months. We are sticking mainly with 2-button single-breasted options, but we also have slipped in a very on-trend double-breasted jacket with patch pockets for a casual tip.

Navy and white are seen in shirts, jeans, chinos, fine merino knitwear and a Henley top. These reliable classic summer colours are complemented by a scintillating selection of tailored chinos, including purple, teal and bright yellow options.

Woven and printed ties and pochettes, in silk, cotton or linen, are plentiful in the new Duchamp collection. Look out too for the brilliant range of irresistible Spring Summer scarves. As always, many of the fabrics and designs in the range are exclusive to Duchamp. As always, we have worked with only the best manufacturers in the UK and Italy.

For summer shirts, we have gone big for big checks and potty for over-sized paisley in oh-so-comfortable 100% linen. Roll up the sleeves and wear them outside the trousers to take things easy while looking fabulous in high summer.

Duchamp is the No 1 choice for stylish grooms and for Spring Summer 2012. Our innovative ideas for a wonderful wedding include a silver-grey wool/mohair suit with satin trim on the lapels and a pink velvet jacket and waistcoat combination. We also have a cool wedding suit in an intense blue wool/mohair cloth; the slickly tailored singled-breasted suit is complemented by a shawl-lapelled double-breasted waistcoat. Just dandy!

In case the weather isn’t always warm and sunny, we have lots of great merino knitwear in bold plain colours or clever intarsia patterns. These are excellent as part of a layered look or out on their own. To see off the rain, we have a cool cropped single-breasted rain mac in ice-coloured proofed cotton and an outstanding our military-inspired double-breasted 8-button trench coat in grey bonded cotton.

The key Duchamp business suit for Spring Summer 2012 is 1-button single-breasted with a contemporary fit. The wool/mohair cloth has plenty of surface interest and a subtle matt-sheen contrast. The jacket has twin vents; the neat trousers are flat-fronted. We like to see it with a neutral shirt in an Italian jacquard fabric and mismatched woven silk tie and printed silk hank. Very, very sharp!

Never mind the Olympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the highlight of this spring/summer is the new Duchamp collection.

Store Managers Ian and Monika hope to welcome you to our new home, we hope we can replicate the success that our previous Regent Street home achieved.

Below are a selection of photos I’ve taken over the past 24 hours, from the build up and store preparation to the very first purchase in the new home.

We hope to see you all soon.

Preparation - Hugo and Anna attend to the window display

Mop Stuff - Store Manager Ian preparing the floor.

Last Minute Prep - The top floor almost ready

Ready To Roll - The store looks fantastic from the outside just before opening

Front View - The store is ready to go

Festive - The Christmas Tree is a big attraction

The best of the AW12 sock collection is available here

The shirts look immaculate

Brolly Good - A new addition to the Duchamp range, umbrellas have come in just at the right time.

First Customers - We welcomed Andrew Perry and his fiance, our first customers. We wish them all the best for their big day.

Andrea and Aislinn our Store Managers welcomed us all into their wonderful store in West London with drinks and nibbles. We have had a fantastic year in the store and its here you can find our full collections each season.

Oreste is a big fan of Duchamp. He found us at Regent Street a few years ago and loves Duchamp because of our wonderful colours. Here you can see him in the Micro Check Dress Shirt with a pair of our new Plain Cotton Trousers with the Bariole Belt.

Marcus, pictured below, is from Germany and has been living in London via Glasgow for the last few years. His favourite items are the bright multi striped shirts which he wears these for evening parties that always go down well.

Gerard is all the way from Kuala Lumpur and he found us in Selfridges a few years ago and he went away with three new jacquard shirts for the holiday period.

In this picture are Jasvinder and Ian. We managed to persuade Jas to go for a Purple Velvet Jacket and the Three Piece Sheen Flannel, this season’s big hit, so that he can look the part for his job at the prestigious bank that he works at.  It took some persuasion especially on the velvet jacket but he decided to go for it with the Clematis Velvet Jackets which will look great over the festive period.

Its always great to meet the true Duchamp fans and get your feedback.

Come and join us in the run up to Christmas as we celebrate the holiday season with a special homecoming.

I am delighted to announce that Duchamp are returning to Regent Street.

From Thursday 15^th December, we will be located at 80-82 Regent Street, which is at the front of the Quadrant Arcade.

Ian Bartlett, Store Manager from the original Regent Street store will once again be at the helm for us.

Come and join us as we get in the party spirit in our new old surroundings!

Recently hired to design for Duchamp, Head of Menswear Gianni Colarossi understands the importance of evolution, and how experimenting with even the minutest details can dramatically change the whole. This has led to a complete reconstruction of the Duchamp suit, while still maintaining those traditional techniques and cuts that, like bespoke tailoring, will never go out of fashion.

Check out the interview here on Duchamp TV – http://www.duchamplondon.com/shop-the-video/?video=32913364

Their platinum-selling debut album ‘Good Ol’ Fashioned Love’ broke into the Top Ten earlier in the year and Lachie, Mark, Darren, Mike and Timmy have been non-stop ever since so it was great that they could perform at the event midway through their UK tour.

On the night we provided the boys with the outfits that we knew would go hand-in-hand with the timeless pop melodies they perform.

Below are my favourite snaps from the event itself;

All for a good cause

My wife Alison and I

Rankin and his wife Tuuli, with auctioned Kate Moss print.

I could easily pass for the sixth Overtone.

Rankin, who has shot everyone from the Queen to Madonna, is synonymous with creative, dynamic and iconic photography and a highly respected artist within his line of work. With a back catalogue of impressive subjects, it is with great excitement that Rankin and Duchamp will host the first Scottish OxGlam fundraising dinner in Glasgow in support of the charity Oxfam.

As if the stylish charity auction from the OxGlam team wasn’t enough, we will present their key collection looks by dressing a handful of stylish guests including the band members from ‘The Overtones’, who will also perform.

Duchamp is proud to be supporting Rankin and his efforts to raise money for such a worthy project as Oxglam and hope we can help as many people through the generosity of our guests at this exclusive event.

The limited edition photographs have been selected by Rankin himself and feature some of the most iconic media figures and fashion designers in the 21^st Century including Johnny Depp, Barack Obama, Vivienne Westwood and the late Alexander McQueen. They have been shot by some of the world’s renowned photographers including Nigel Parry, Norman Parkinson, Miles Aldridge, Josh Olins, Jake Chessum, Juergen Teller and Martin Schoeller. There will also be an online auction, where Rankin will release one of his own exclusive prints of Kate Moss.

The money raised from the auction will go directly to Oxfam’s programmes in Honduras, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Sri Lanka. These projects will support people who are trying to work their way out of grinding poverty, through farming or running small businesses.

The OxGlam concept was set up by husband and wife team Rankin and his wife Tuuli Shipster and also includes key fashion figures such as Agyness Deyn, David Gandy and Henry Holland. Not only are the team involved in raising money by hosting glamorous events such as this charity dinner but they also visited Tanzania to visit one of the projects and ran the Virgin London Marathon with the determination to raise over £1 million for the Oxfam project.

With Rankin’s and Tuuli’s creative flair, and Duchamp’s inimitable finesse, the night promises to deliver style and substance – and all for a great charitable cause!

Too often overlooked or dismissed these days as a bad late 1960s-early 1970s aberration, velvet, in fact, has always been a black-tie favourite with Commandants of Cool like Brother Ray.

Duchamp is placing velvet in the spotlight for the festive season this year. And we are in good company as Tom Ford, Giorgio Armani, Dries van Noten, Canali, Brioni and Alexander McQueen are among the international A-list designers doing exactly the same thing.

At Duchamp, we like to party. And we like to party in velvet. Soft and smooth, this is a cloth that tailors well, feels fabulous, and acts as a versatile foil for shirt, bowtie, cufflinks, pochette, trousers, socks and shoes. Velvet absorbs light, so it lends itself very nicely to being the central player in a dark ensemble as shown in our photo. Conversely, it acts in a different way when paired with, for example, a white dress shirt and a more colourful (but tasteful) pochette.

Duchamp has three colour options for its velvet jackets this season – Clematis (a deep purple, as in the image above), Ocean (a hypnotic aquatic blue) and Police (a quietly authoritative black). Given the inherent richness of the cloth, we have kept the jacket shape clean and simple – we like to play to velvet’s simple, obvious strength. The sumptuous 100% cotton cloth itself was created by Pontoglio, an Italian mill that has specialised in velvet for more than 100 years.

With black trousers as a reliable and appropriate choice to pair with the jacket, we recommend that you go for some of our splendid cufflinks and add a dash of colour around the ankles with a pair of Duchamp socks. For the feet, black patent shoes always look good for black tie and celebratory outfits, but another option worth considering, of course, is velvet evening pumps.

Since medieval times, velvet has been a chosen fabric of the ruling classes. It represents indulgent luxury. And if you can’t treat yourself to something special at the festive season, when can you? Once you start wearing a velvet jacket for evening, however, we predict that you will bring it out during daytime too. The Duchamp velvet jacket goes really well with a favourite pair of jeans or casual trousers. Just a thought…

It was his idea in 1860 – just over 150 years ago – to ask Savile Row tailor Henry Poole to cut off the tails of his formal evening wear to create a more comfortable garment for informal gatherings.

The resulting “dinner jacket” was readily taken up by high society, which slavishly followed Royalty’s lead. In 1886 James Potter, an American visitor to a dinner at Sandringham, the royal country house in Norfolk, had the prince’s jacket style copied by his local tailor and wore it to considerable acclaim at his gentlemen’s club in Tuxedo Park, a wealthy suburb of New York. The dinner jacket became pretty much the uniform of club members and so became known as a tuxedo. (An earlier version of this tale attributed the introduction of the dinner jacket to Tuxedo Park to the splendidly-named Griswold Lorillard, whose family owned the club, but his claim to be the first to wear in the US it is generally discounted today. Interestingly, the place name Tuxedo is believed to have its origins in an Algonquin Native Indian word meaning “place of the wolf” or “place of the bear”. We prefer the wolf idea…).

Today a tuxedo, a tux, a dinner jacket, a DJ, a dinner suit, black tie, a penguin suit, an evening suit and Le Smoking (as it was used by gentlemen as they smoked after dinner, without the ladies, of course) are all terms for the same outfit. Whatever its designation, the rules are pretty much the same the world over. In the rank of formalwear, the dinner suit comes below the specialty that is “white tie” and below a “morning suit”. Both of these styles are characterised by tail coats, but the more comfortable dinner jacket has eclipsed them in the popularity since the 1920s and 1930s, when another Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII and then the Duke of Windsor, was very keen on its style.

David, as this Edward was known to his family, was a serial maverick who was determined to deflate the stuffy restrictions of the court of his father, George V. Prince Edward liked to turn out for dinner in a black tie outfit when all the other men were in full white tie and tails. He would sport a lounge suit-like double-breasted jacket with silk “facings” on the lapels or he would favour the pique dress waistcoat from the tails outfit with a single-breasted dinner jacket. Even before he abdicated in 1936, this extraordinary style-setter had dropped the old stiff-fronted evening shirt with its detachable stiff wing collar in favour of a soft, pleated-front dinner shirt with an attached soft turndown collar. We are still wearing that style today.
Comprising classically only black and white items, the dinner suit has the remarkable ability, if well-fitted, to make almost any man look elegant.

Despite its name, some people maintain that the best shade for a black tie is actually midnight blue, which tends to look better under artificial light (and most black tie events are held indoor). Midnight blue is very hard to find in ready to wear garments, but it is something to think about if you have a dinner suit made for you.

The shape of your suit jacket and trousers can reflect any prevailing fashion trend – slim-fit silhouette, narrow lapels, tapered trousers and so on – but a dinner suit should look different to a lounge suit, so take the opportunity to try a style that you would not normally wear to the office. The suit jacket can be either single- or double-breasted. A DB, which ought always to be kept fastened, will almost always be peak-lapelled. The SB should not have traditional notch lapels as this does tend to look somewhat ordinary, like a regular lounge suit. Better options are peak lapels or a shawl (or roll) collar, which runs from the collar to the button without interruption. Until recently, the peaked lapel on a single-button jacket was limited to black tie, but it has started to pop up on fashionable lounge suits too.

As we want as clean a look as possible, pockets should be jetted (that is, a slit without flaps). Trimming the edge of the pockets in the fabric used on the lapels can add a dandy touch. Pocket flaps only add a bit of width on the hips, which we don’t want. And there is no need for a ticket pocket on a dinner suit.

Although a formal invitation might give the dress code as “dinner jacket”, you are expected to wear trousers as well of course and these should be black, in the same fabric as the jacket. The outseam – the seam running the length of the outer side of the leg – can be decorated with a single stripe of the material used on the lapels. Never put turn-ups on black-tie trousers as they are regarded as additions to a more casual suit.

Ideally the trousers should be held up without a belt – side fasteners or buttoned braces (not clip-on braces, thank you) are required. If you do have to wear a belt, make sure that it is plain black with a small buckle. The main reason for losing a belt is that a classic dinner suit takes a cummerbund, the horizontally pleated sash that’s worn around the waist. The pleats should be worn upwards (originally so that you can put your tickets for the evening event in them).
The facings on the lapels can be satin (which is a flat weave and often with a discreet shine about it) or a dull ribbed silk (the fine ribs look good when running diagonally). As noted above, the stripe down the trouser should match the lapels.

Black tie requires a dress shirt that is specifically made to be worn with a DJ. As the whole shirt front is exposed, the least desirable shirt will show the buttons. Better than this is a placket front, in which the buttons are covered by a vertical strip of fabric. Adding to the sense of a special occasion, the shirt is even more desirable with a pleated front or one that has a marcella or pique panel (known as a bib front). Marcella is the British name for the woven fabric with a subtle cross pattern that can be found on shirts, tails waistcoats and white bow ties; it is also known as pique, especially in America.

For a 1960s dandy retro effect, you could always try a ruffled front shirt (if you can find one), but be warned that those frilly bits are very tricky to iron!

A modern take on the dress shirt is to wear a jacquard weave – one that has a pattern or pictorial image woven into the cloth in the same colour as the base. The pattern picks up the light very well.

A traditional dress shirt is closed with studs, which are tiny screw-in removable fasteners. You will not need these for anything else but a formal dress shirt. They are often sold in sets with matching cufflinks – a black tie outfit demands cufflinks. Discreet is good; so is showy – let your links reflect your personality.

A recent trend has seen regular long black ties being worn for evening events, but a classic guy will always go for a hand-tie black bow tie. If you can’t tie one, get someone to show you. It’s like riding a bike – it’s easy when you know how and you’ll never forget how to do it. Of course, a ready-tied one is fine – just make sure it doesn’t look too processed. Some people like to wear coloured bow ties (and matching cummerbund) and continue that flash of colour in your pocket handkerchief.

At ground level, you need very simple black shoes – patent leather is a classy option. Black tie is the only ensemble that looks good with male pumps. Avoid decorated shoes like brogues. Socks should be black, plain, as fine as you can find and long enough to cover any skin exposure. Keep it simple.

As a final flourish, wear a boutonnière or buttonhole. A small, neat bloom would be lovely.
PS: Depending on your confidence and the circumstances, you could adapt the black tie uniform with a velvet smoking jacket in a restrained but rich colour like burgundy or deep green. Or perhaps add a Caledonian note with a tuxedo in a tartan; the mainly green-and-black of the Black Watch pattern is very acceptable. Humphrey Bogart looked brilliant in a white tux in Casablanca; so might you in the right light.