Take flight: David Gandy and The Aerodrome Collaboration

The Aerodrome Collaboration came about through a conversation with Iain Burton, the owner of Aspinal. Aspinal of London is a brand that I respected and appreciated for a while. They have been a disruptive brand within the luxury leather goods sector and, of course, they are a British brand, which I always try to support and collaborate with.

I could see from looking at the luxury luggage market that no brand had really succeeded in creating an extensive range for men. There are some beautiful bags on the market, however, they were hugely expensive. I could see there was a market for stylish, high quality bags but at an attainable price. I'm also fascinated by the Second World War and I always go back to historic style for inspiration in my collaborations. Even with my collections for M&S, many of the prints and clothes are from vintage tailoring. History inspires me.

Iain and I started talking about the Spitfire being the most evocative piece of British engineering. I really wanted to bring back the luxury of travelling, especially flying, and it just so happened to be the RAF centenary. Iain called me one day and said: "Three Spitfires have just flown over my house, I think that's a message we should go ahead”. We wanted to almost design these bags as a tribute to the Spitfire but also the many young pilots that fought for our country’s freedom.

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The design process was quite long, about 18 months in total and about two-and-a-half years from our first initial talks. The range has come out better than I could have expected. Some of these pieces and hardware were a challenge to design, but Aspinal were very accommodating and really keen to push the design. In the briefcase, there's a lock and opening mechanism that's an exact replica of the actual Spitfire Mk1 firing button. It took a lot of effort and time but it's a functional piece that was well worth it. For the campaign and images, however, I didn't ever want to replicate a Second World War pilot, it was very much a nod to and respect to that time. It's quite a masculine collection but I think that men now, more than ever, are much more style-conscious. I've tried to make the collection as versatile as possible for every man and cater for everything a man would need for up to 48 hours of travel. All of the bags can include a tech pack, which we've made discreet, but can charge phones, tablets and computers. One of my pet hates is putting shoes in with clothing, so all the weekend bags have a separate shoe compartment too.

It was really important for me that the collection wasn't too expensive. I also don't believe in disposable fashions and items. These are substantial pieces of luggage that will last a long time but we've kept everything at an accessible price. That's what I wanted – and I think all of these bags will get better with age. I collect many items, suits, watches, classic cars, antiques, which I love – items like the Aerodrome range I almost would like to think are items to hand down to the next generation. You look after items you love: you polish your shoes, you look after your suits. People like my dad and grandad (because they didn't have much money), made their things last, whereas now people are used to clothes being disposable items. Everything I do is made to last.

I'd say my personal style has developed a bit over time but it's not really changed. I've always liked British tailoring so my style is based around classic pieces – I have a very utilitarian way of dressing. People often ask me what's on trend but I have no idea, I just know what suits me. If you look at people such as James Dean, Steve McQueen and Paul Newman, we call them style icons but none of them were particularly interested in fashion and they dressed in a utilitarian way. In terms of modern icons, Ryan Gosling gets it right every time. He doesn't do anything too complicated, he does what suits him and his body. He's also an intriguing person because you don't know much about him. That's what the old school Hollywood stars were like, they had that mystery.

The Aerodrome Collaboration, priced from £50, is out now; aspinaloflondon.com