Moving Mountains

One September during the last decade, meek patches of snow sit atop the rough peaks of Switzerland’s Upper Engadin. In St. Moritz, the glitterati are yet to down tools from the Venice, Deauville and Toronto film festivals and the well-heeled investment bankers are frittering away their remaining summer recess provisions on the St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster. And instead of hoarse winter jet-setters, convivial and cultural partisans are roving with stops at Hauser & Wirth art gallery, opposite the entrance of the Badrutt’s Palace Hotel, and then a 50-minute minibus along a paved mountain pass to the alpine village of Susch, where the visionary Polish art collector, entrepreneur and philanthropist Grażyna Kulczyk had masterminded the sensitive and highly inventive excavation into a mountain of a former 12^th-century monastery and adjacent brewery into the Susch Museum. On the route of the ancient pilgrimage from Rome to Santiago de Compostela, the mesmerising intact details include a water trough for pilgrim’s horses.

The Engadin is revered for enjoying more than 300 days of sunshine a year, and on a short sojourn I was lucky to embrace the light cascading down on the valleys, only separated by barren tundra spaces at higher altitude and lush green larch trees below. The Fluela Pass of the Engadin reaches an elevation of 2,384 metres, as opposed to the Furka Pass of 2,429 metres, and the latter’s landscape scenery will be familiar to James Bond buffs. Swinging around a hairpin turn on the Furka Pass, the location of the fabled Hotel Belvédère, Tilly Masterson (Tania Mallet) and 007 (Sean Connery) are separately pursuing Auric Goldfinger in the eponymous 1964 film. From a vantage point on the windy Urseren Valley, Bond parks his Aston Martin DB5 and peers down at Goldfinger. Suddenly, an assassination attempt on Goldfinger nearly strikes Bond. He ducks and looks behind, only to find it’s Masterson, prompting Bond to trail and force her car off the road. Some aficionados regard that Alpine scene as the most iconic in the franchise’s history. And to add to its legacy, the Anthony Sinclair-made Barlycorn tweed hacking jacket with Cavalry twill trousers is on the podium with the most emblematic 007 costumes.

The single-breasted jacket, with a 2-button front, narrow notch lapels, three slanted flap hip pockets, a ticket pocket, 4-button cuffs, and a deep single rear vent, emanates that out-of-town inquisitiveness. For such secretive escapades in indifferent transitional climates, the lambswool and angora fabric blend is a rather telling choice, given that comfort and respectability are synonymous with 007. Heralded for its softness, warmth, and durability, its high lanolin content, which helps to repel water, contributes to its natural insulation and moisture-wicking properties. And the finesse and softness are only enhanced by its scrupulous production processes, thus awarding it premium cloth status.

The Swiss Alps have a long-standing tradition of sheep farming, primarily for their vital role in the Alpine ecosystem rather than for their wool. But if looking for a lambswool companion in the upper-echelons of clothing design, one has to immerse one’s spirituality in the Andes mountain range in South America. In August, Cusco, the heart of the ancient Inca empire, becomes the epicentre of the Pachamama celebrations, where travellers and pilgrims from all corners of the globe join descendants of the Incas and indigenous communities to pay homage to Pachamama. In Inca mythology she is an “Earth Mother”, a fertility goddess, and so vibrant rituals are undertaken to express gratitude for the preservation of the earth and seek her blessings for bountiful harvests. The angelic and good-natured alpaca, cherished and integral to Andean history, plays a crucial role in these ceremonial activities in the Sacred Valley, home to the classic 4-day Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

Alpacas are members of the camelid family (Vicugna pacos) and were domesticated by the people of the Peruvian Andes 6,000 years ago, primarily for their luxurious fibre. It contains fewer microscopic scales than sheep’s wool, which elicits a smoother silky texture, and is free from oil, making it hypoallergenic. The fibres also possess a high tensile strength, which makes them extra resilient, a valuable attribute for high-end apparel. And these specific qualities have elevated alpaca wool to become a visual marker for Peru and, separate from the mythical celebrations in the Andes, where the alpaca is indelibly ingrained, in January and February, when alpacas give birth, the weavers’ community, the Centre de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco, holds a traditional fibre blessing ceremony called alpaca chuyay.

Roaming over vast Peruvian Andes highlands at around 3,800 meters above sea level, the topography shares many elements of the Alps. Here, small herding groups raise alpacas and, along with their coat, which is developed to deal with harsh conditions, alpaca wool is esteemed for its durability when spinning into yarn for clothing. In addition, alpacas benefit from an unparalleled ethical, social, sustainable and solidarity-based economic approach, making alpaca wool a standout leader in terms of global sustainability.

And so, encompassing all of the aforementioned superior properties, in the realms of fashion design fabrics alpaca wool is uncommon, mainly because of its fathomable high value. But it is not only because of its accepted price tag – also, for designers, it requires a tactful vision. The sartorial industry frequently faces criticism for its staid and unimaginative nature. However, even before Alexander Kraft launched his eponymous label, Alexander Kraft Mont Carlo, he consistently demonstrated over the years, through his dress attire, a prism of individuality within the confines of sartorial menswear.

The latest introduction of four jackets that are handcrafted from an alpaca/lambswool blend in a family-owned atelier, does render discreet subversive qualities to the impressive AK MC line. The beige herringbone alpaca/lambswool version, cut on the revered Signature model, brings a sophisticated yet wondrous air to one’s pastimes. Given its bespoke touches, such as real leather “football” buttons and an Alcantara undercollar, its reasonable cost defies expectations and reflects a deep knowledge of craftsmanship. In Central Europe, the advection of hot air is beginning to wane, and so transitional outfits are soon to be at the forefront of your dressing focus. AK MC has always carried a plethora of enticing seasonal options, and pairing the jacket with an open-collar denim shirt, white Gurkha trousers and a handmade Belgian loafer in caramel suede is synonymous with relaxed engagements in the countryside.

AK MC has sourced the finest alpaca and lambswool fibre to reveal the new highly creative launch, testament to the label’s continuation in only selecting the very best cloth.