Tom Hardy turns fashion designer

From bicep-skimming T-shirts to jogging bottoms with bigger pockets, Tom Hardy’s first menswear collection – for clothing label Blag – is just the thing for a stylish actor who wants to stay cosy between takes

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Ever wondered how Bane dresses in his downtime? This – the debut Blag menswear collection, co-designed by Tom Hardy – might offer a few clues.

Comprising navy blue jogging bottoms, printed T-shirts, a sweatshirt with cut-off sleeves and a hooded, sleeveless gilet, the line has a comfy, off-duty feel. These are the kind of clothes an actor might cosy up in on-set between takes, perhaps, or might put on for a stylish post-gym look.

“Personally I’m not really into fashion,” says Hardy. “I just like to be comfortable and have good kit. I’m quite practical. I wear a lot of Crye kit [a military brand] and jeans and sneakers, tees and ball caps, so it makes sense to make my own.”

The collection, which launches online at Selfridges.com on Tuesday, was created as part of the Blag clothing label, of which Hardy is a director. His co-designers, Sarah J Edwards and Sally A Edwards, founded Blag as a style magazine more than years ago. “This is not a regular celebrity endorsement,” says Sarah J Edwards: “It’s an ongoing brand. We met Tom about 10 years ago and found him really inspiring. A couple of years ago, we decided, as friends together, that we would do a clothing venture – and it became bigger than we had initially thought.”

“There is a slightly Japanese vibe to the collection,” she adds. “Everything was inspired by armour.” Ideas also came from the desire to create clothes that the trio couldn’t find in the shops, with initial samples modelled for fit on Hardy. For Edwards, that meant creating simple designs with attention to details – deeper jogging bottom pockets, for example, designed to ensure nothing falls out of them. Cuts were also carefully considered, to ensure they were flattering. “This is a menswear collection cut based on a flattering a man’s body,” says Sarah J Edwards, “working with where shoulders develop and the contours of an arm; skimming in exactly the right place on the bicep.”

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