On a journey to London Mr Jeremy Langmead muses on form, function and the future of fashion.

Journeys, for most people, are things to be endured. An irritation between the comfort of home and the excitement of your destination, dead time to be blotted out with books, box sets or podcasts. Not for everyone, mind you.

Take Mr Jeremy Langmead, MR PORTER’s Brand & Content Director, a man in a hurry if there ever was one. He sees things quite differently. For him, the two-hour journey from his home in Suffolk to his office in west London is a welcome part of his day – a time to think, he says, and an extension of the rural quietude that greets him every morning when he wakes.

“I love being driven,” he says. “I don’t like talking in cars. I like thinking. My husband Simon always says, ‘you never like chatting in a car’. And I don’t. Cars do this thing where they relax me. It is the sense of movement; you watch the world go by.” He isn’t simply watching though; he often finds himself thinking about the future of the industry he leads – and also the future of cars. “With artificial intelligence capabilities moving at the speed they are now, both the way you drive and the way you dress will be increasingly enhanced by technology that can second guess what you want next before even you yourself know. AI is the future and we have to be prepared for that.” It is this forward-thinking outlook that has kept him at the top of his game for many years.

Mr Langmead has not always had this opportunity to ruminate on his way to work. For many years he lived in Primrose Hill, close to the Mr Porter offices in West London. Eight years ago, however, that all changed tired of the frantic pace of city life, he moved to the countryside from Primrose Hill. “Before then, I used to consider Hampstead ‘country’,” he jokes. Before long, though, he had settled into the regular routine of country life. “I like to get up earlier than everyone else in the house,” says Mr Langmead. “I like that feeling of peace, of not having to talk to anyone. Then, I walk the dogs around the garden with my coffee.” After spending a while feeding his various animals – dogs, chickens and fish – he eats a couple of pieces of toast and selects his outfit for the day, checking his work diary to see if it is a day for chinos and a bomber jacket or a Prince of Wales check suit.

Soon, it’s time to leave. The Audi A8’s doors click softly behind him; insulated by the double-glazed windows, the outside world and all of its distractions suddenly seem a distant concern. The experience of being driven is quite unlike other forms of transportation. Compare it to the doom-laden anxiety of a flight or the rigid linearity of a train, tethered as it is to endless parallel lines of a track. In a car you have privacy, space, and most of all, the ability to go where you want and satisfy your curiosity. If a car is large and comfortable then it is a place in itself, a sort of sitting room on wheels rather than just a vessel to transport you from one place to the next. As the playwright Mr Michael Frayn once wrote, rephrasing Mr Marshall McLuhan: “The journey is the goal.” In this case, it certainly is.

After Mr Langmead climbs into his car, he switches on the Bang & Olufsen sound system, flicks to the opera – Les Boréades by Mr Jean-Philippe Rameau – and then simply sits and thinks. “There are not many places in which you sit that are as comfy as a well-designed car. No other form of transport has seats as comfortably designed, when you think about it. Cars are quieter, just a light hum [compared to a plane], so it is like stepping into a protective capsule. And from there you can see what people are wearing, whatever the weather. I find that fascinating as I move between places, country and city,” he says. It is not merely that the car affords Mr Langmead a view on the world – it is also a reminder, he says, “that everything is about form and function. That things need to look good, but they need to work well, too. No matter how good a car looks, for instance, if everything isn’t on top-form mechanically then it doesn’t work.”

It is not merely that the car affords Mr Langmead a view on the world – it is also a reminder, he says, “that everything is about form and function. That things need to look good, but they need to work well, too. No matter how good a car looks, for instance, if everything isn’t on top-form mechanically then it doesn’t work.”

“The way the door closes quietly, the way the touch of a switch changes the temperature, the way the music system is just right – it is like clothes, the whole of it has to work. Clothes and cars are hugely similar in that way. Form and function have to work together. With an outfit, the pieces need to come together to make the perfect ensemble – the button on the jacket fastened just so, the trousers falling onto the shoe at just the right length, the accessories adding exactly just the right nuance to an off- or on-duty outfit. And Mr Langmead is a man who should know.

Mr Jeremy Langmead rides in the Audi A8. A7 and A6 models are also available, which feature WiFi hotspots, voice controls and MMI touch displays, for a unique experience.