John Michael Ingram

During the mid 1970s, Ingram moved out of fashion retail and established the fashion forecasting agency Design Intelligence, which published guides to fashion trends. As a fashion forecaster, he was revered for his track record in retailing and renowned for his ability to deliver commercial lines to fashion retailers at a time when few companies had their own in-house design teams. Ingram continued working at Design Intelligence up to the age of 81.

During 1965, the John Michael empire became a PLC with 17 stores and was a flag-bearer for Swinging London – stocked alongside Mary Quant in J.C. Penney, as well as being exported across Europe and to Japan. Ingram opened a head office in Savile Row – home of traditional British men's tailoring – where he created updated versions of men's suits. One of these suits, known as 'spirit of old Broadcasting House' (a reference to the BBC), is now in the V&A archive. Ingram also consulted for other manufacturers and employed people who would go on to establish their own successful tailoring brands, notably Jeremy Hackett and Tom Gilbey. By 1971, Ingram's retail brands also included the store Guys and Dolls and the jeans store Westerner – one of the first dedicated jeans stores in the UK.

He has also been credited as one of the pioneers behind the rise of the King's Road, Chelsea as a fashion destination. In an interview for the magazine Drapers, former Moss Bros managing director Manny Silverman described Ingram as: "one of the leading commercially innovative retailers of the 1960s; always a leader, never a follower. Without him, the King's Road might never have happened".

In 1957, Ingram opened his first menswear store in Chelsea – just down the road from Mary Quant's Bazaar – and sold men's shirts in unusual prints and fabrics, such as Swiss voile and gingham, targeting younger buyers who were keen to wear clothing inspired by Italian menswear trends.

John Michael Ingram (1 February 1931 – 13 June 2014) was an influential British menswear designer and retailer of the 1950s and '60s who founded the John Michael fashion brand, followed by a range of successful retail concepts, before establishing one of the first fashion forecasting agencies in the 1970s.