His Lordship's designer Gerry Broughan started in the fashion business when he lived in London in the late 1950s. He worked with John Stephen, who turned London's Carnaby Street into the holy grail of youth fashion. Broughan returned to New Zealand in 1961 and in 1963 started a mail-order men's fashion business called Mod Man of London. This was surprisingly successful, so he opened a shop of the same name in Wellington in 1964. The following year Mod Man became His Lordship's, and by 1967 there were branches in Auckland and Christchurch. His Lordship's catered for the fashionable young man about town. The business closed in 1978 and Broughan moved to Sydney. Here a model wears a His Lordship's shirt in 1969.