Storytelling came naturally to me, a confident nipper, I loved history and black and white movies. Notebook in hand I used to watch people and imagine what their lives were like. Living in suburbia and working as a waiter, doctor’s receptionist, fashion curator/ journalist and correspondent with Old Hollywood has provided me with a rich tapestry of characters, from those with godlike egos who gossip over the humble garden fence to the unassuming film legend who waves to the tour bus every hour “because otherwise they never get to see a star”
Austin
“How does one tell the twins apart?” was often the question people asked. ‘Well, Austin is the outgoing one, and Howard is the quiet one’. That generalisation made me want to retreat into my shell even more! Old Hollywood had a way of me feeling better about myself seemly due to the fact I didn’t have to talk about me or answer any embarrassing questions because ‘they’ did all the talking. If Austin was the storyteller then I was the archivist, keeping a neat record of every visit, anniversary, conversation and phone call in a large A4 diary. Subsequent correspondence would be met with a shock, “You boys know more about me than I can remember myself!” I never left home without my journal and still don’t now some 30 years on!
Howard
Away from Hollywood, Austin and Howard found their careers took a similar path. For almost a decade, Howard was the Senior PR Manager and brand ambassador for the Dockers chino brand under the umbrella of Levi Strauss & Co. Prior to this, he worked as a PR consultant at various London PR agencies on such clients as The Crown Estate, Pal Zileri and Anouska Hempel.
Austin was for many years the curator at the House of Hardy Amies on Savile Row. The former womenswear couture house responsible for dressing HM Queen Elizabeth II and since 2009, a menswear label.
Hardy Amies held a special place in the brothers hearts, since their late aunt, Brenda Consolé had once been its house model. It was Austin who rekindled the brands links with the House of Windsor and its ties with Hollywood, notably project managing a special partnership with the Deutsches Filminstitut, Warner Bros. and Jan Harlan, the culmination of which was touring exhibition of the Stanley Kubrick archives, including the costume designs created by Amies for Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi masterpiece ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’. The exhibition opened in Los Angeles in 2012 and has since travelled the globe.
Austin been associated with the original sportswear brand Kent & Curwen since 2007, and as its ‘History man’ is currently its historic brand advisor, giving valuable advice on how the past 90 years of this historic menswear label can influence its current creative team (under CCO David Beckham) and position of the brand today.
Austin has been writing for various British newspapers for the past 20 years, specializing in film obituaries for The Independent, The Guardian and more recently solely for The Daily Telegraph – his success being, ‘the more obscure, the better!’
Austin resides in Surrey with his wife Joanna and son Nathan.
In June 2016, Howard moved to Geneva and joined ZEDRA, a prominent independent global specialist firm in Trust, Corporate and Fund services. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, Howard uses his past expertise to build the brand’s marketing and communications arm.
Howard lives in Lausanne, Switzerland with his partner Ferhat.