Singer-songwriter
Paul Weller has partnered with Sunspel on a capsule collection, for which he
has created a personal edit of wardrobe staples. We met Weller to discuss the
Britpop era, fashion's overuse of the British flag and why a polo shirt is a
wardrobe essential
“I’m not
waving a flag at all. In fact I’m sick of flags, if I’m really honest with you,
as they just reek of nationalism,” says Paul Weller. “I’m just sick of everyone
waving their flags about. Increasingly I only think of one world and less about
nationality. I’m fed up with flags and borders. That’s how I’m feeling at the
moment.”
Weller is
talking about the lack of Union Jacks on his first collection for Sunspel, the
160-year-old British clothing company renowned for its polo shirts, T-shirts
and boxer shorts. He likes the fact a British factory produces the clothes (he
recently visited the company headquarters in Long Eaton), likes the fact it’s a
“proper” family-run business, but he’s “not flying any sort of flag for any
nation, man. I think the world is too small for any of that nonsense.”
The
Woking-bred musical icon has been asked countless times to lend his name to
branded products, starting with Jam shoes in the heady days of punk and then
made-to-measure suits during the Britpop phenomenon of the 1990s, but Sunspel
appealed to him because of the nature of the company, its products and,
saliently, its “vibe”. “It’s a quality brand, so it’s as simple as that. Also,
I’ve bought their stuff a lot over the years, so in the end it all made sense.
I just didn’t want to cover anything with a flag.”
Over the
years, flags have been big business for Weller, from the Union Jack jackets he
wore in The Jam to the innocent flag-waving during the Modfather and dad rock
years, but the banner has too many other connotations these days for him to
endorse it. Nevertheless, his Sunspel collection is all the better for it, as
it contains a fine selection of polo shirts, cotton twill trousers, lightweight
macs, T-shirts and jumpers. With no flag in sight.
I didn’t need
a designer. I just kind of put my ideas in. I’ve always got ideas, it’s just
whether they’re any good or not, so I put a little selection of ideas in and
waited to see if they liked them. I tried to keep it within their means and I
didn’t stray too far from what I thought they could do in terms of their
capability. Basically I did my funny little drawings and then worked on those
and then transferred them to the computer and we worked it out from there. But
I was always really involved in all stages of it. I mean, I looked at the
fabrics, the samples, everything.
Was it important to have a polo shirt
in the collection?
Well, I know
they’ve done polo shirts in the past. I just wanted something a little bit
different with the collar, so I kind of based it on a Brooks Brothers polo
shirt I bought a couple years ago. But I tried to put my spin on it. Also, I
wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything they felt they couldn’t handle.
There’s only one thing we had to outsource and everything else they made in the
factory.
Why is style still so important to
you?
I think it’s
just something that’s kind of been drilled into me from a very young age, you
know, growing up when I did, being too young to be part of the 1960s, as such,
but still being old enough to be affected by it and influenced by it.
Everything went hand in hand with me, music and style. It was how you looked
and what music you listened to and probably, at the time, what football team
you supported. All those things, they were all cultural touchstones, so it’s
just sort of ingrained in me really. Whatever kind of music you were into
reflected in the way you dressed. For me it was that period in the late 1960s, when
I was around ten or eleven that I properly got into it. From there it grew into
the whole skinhead thing, which was a massive influence then and still is now.
There is obviously a huge mod
influence in the Sunspel collection…
Always, of
course. That will always be the way, as they are definitely mod influenced. How
could they not be? But I tried to make it broader as well. So, you know, there
weren’t any of these fucking targets and all that nonsense. So you wouldn’t
have to be a mod to be into these clothes. I can see a lot of people wearing
these clothes, regardless of how old they are. I think there’s certain things
you can wear at any age, to be honest with you.
I mean, we’ve
done two pairs of chino-like trousers that could suit anyone of any age and you
wouldn’t look stupid if you were 65 or 70 or whatever. Same if you’re 18 or 20.
Generally, I probably wear the same sort of clothes I wore in 1971 or 1972. You
know, there might have been a few changes along the way but essentially I’ve
always looked very similar.
It’s funny,
when I see some of my mates from my estate in Woking. They all kind of dress
pretty similar. They all still wear Harringtons and monkey boots or DMs and
jeans and they’re my age now and they look fine in it. I think especially with
this range, anyone can wear it, any age and any type of person.
How did you feel during the whole
Britpop period in the 1990s, when every young band seemed to want to dress like
you? Was it flattering? Or annoying or funny?
I don’t know
if I even thought about it. I don’t know if I gave those sorts of thing
consideration or not, to be honest. I do know there was too much use of the
Union Jack. I mean, it’s a great looking flag because the colours are great,
and it’s great as a kind of piece of pop art. Red, white and blue are great
colours together, but whether we should be using it as fashion, I don’t know.
However, I don’t see too many dresses or shirts in a German flag or the Czech
Republic colours.
Will there be another Sunspel
collection? Will you do more?
Well, it
depends if they sell this one, I suppose. They might ask me again. I hope they
do, because there’s other things I'd like to do with them. And they’re nice
people, you know? They’re nice to work with and there was no fuss and no
problems. I don’t like problems.
The Paul Weller for Sunspel collection is out on 16 February www.sunspel.com
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