Wellington College Yearbook 2010/2011 | страница 110
the wellington college year book 2010/2011
110
It’s a bit like the British Army, you don’t turn
up to battle in whatever you want to wear.
Of course it’s restricting and if you weren’t
allowed to wear casual clothes ever it’d
be a different matter. I don’t think it’s that
important for people to develop their own
sense of personal style at 15. You grow out of
clothes so fast. Plus your mother has to sew
in name tapes to all these fancy clothes !
j: Did you have a teacher at Wellington that
was particularly stylish in your opinion ?
m: I think Wellington teachers weren’t the
most stylish in general.
j: This is going into a Wellington magazine just
so you know …
m: I know, I’m not afraid to say it !
But seriously there’s a certain appeal to
general teacher fashion, like we still make
corduroy trousers, and even jackets with
leather elbow patches, because it’s cool. I
don’t honestly remember many people having
a good sense of style. I remember the Master,
Jonty Driver, and all he wore was that gown.
d: He used to wear a cool waistcoat
though.
j: Recently Wellington have introduced a textile
department which is really popular with the girls.
d: They didn’t have anything like that when
I was there, we had an Art department …
m: …which was like lino-printing
d: I got Art a level though — and I got an a !
m: If you’re interested in textiles and get the
opportunity to learn the process from a young
age, that’s extremely important. Especially if
you are artistic and creative, it’s important to
understand how fabrics are made and how
textiles are created or designed.
j: It’s become really popular. We had a fashion
show when I was there, featuring the textiles we
had designed. We got clothes from Nike and
Amanda Wakeley to put in it and raised money
for breast cancer charities — it was awesome.
So was Wellington the start of r & b ?
d: Well, we were at school together at
Wellington. Then we both went to university
in the north east, Newcastle and Durham, and
studied Geography and cell biology. Neither
of us studied fashion. Then we went into
different businesses. Marcus set up a pretty
successful telecoms business, I was working in
an investment bank. Marcus could take some
time off because he owned the company and
he did some travelling. He met a girl on the
To us, the in?uence
fromWellington,
is British Heritage,
married to the
streets of
NewYork.
beach in Mexico and followed her to New
York. She is now his wife. In New York
Marcus had the idea to start making some
men’s jeans, this was at the end of 2002. So
that was the birth of r & b, to make men’s
jeans — that led to a factory in Kentucky,
in the middle of nowhere. That was very
defining in a way as that was our baptism into
trying to learn about garment construction
and learn about clothes, how they’re made,
not just how they look.
j: In terms of the styling of your clothes, I
believe most designers get their influence from
past eras and trends. I’ve noticed some of your
influences can be traced from 1970s ski-wear,
some from aspects of the military. If this is the
case, what is modern fashion ?
m: You have to look back to look forward.
And no one’s copying. No one’s making 1970s
skiing clothes. They’re reference points that
you can take and make modern. It’s more a
question of looking back at a designer such as
ysl in the 70s and using it as an inspiration for
the modern era.
j: In the future what concept do you think
people will take from today ?
m: The definition of fashion in 2011 … I
don’t know, I mean New York fashion at the
moment is really exciting, not necessarily the
designers but the way people are wearing
designer clothes. People used to dress head
to toe in designer gear, but the ny girl now
wears like one piece from a designer, like an
Alaia dress or a Balenciaga jacket, with vintage
jeans, or an h&m top, Celine bag, sneakers or
Louboutin’s shoes. It’s a real mashup. I don’t
know if that’s specific to ny but it seems to be
inherent here.
People may look back at that.
d: Overall trends will always continue to be
fashion forward and challenging, runway stuff
is always amazing to look at. I think with r &
b, it really is defined by our experiences. In
terms of this factory in Kentucky, not really
knowing what we were doing, to now, we
have a brand, which is a reflection of a lot of
different things, and that’s been a big part of
our success. It gives us a voice and vision of
what we stand for. To us, the influence from
Wellington, is British heritage, married to the
streets of ny.
j: Why was it launched in US not UK ?
md: Fate
the wellington college year book 2010/2011
111
m: It wouldn’t really have been possible
in England. There’s a garment district here
which makes anything possible, a definite
attitude towards people trying new things in
ny which does not exist in London.
London semi-consciously tries to contain
people and keep them on a career path, that
is expected of them.
It’s so multicultural here — the American
spirit (it sounds really cheesy) but the
American dream thing is a real attitude here
in ny.
j: The phrase Rag and Bone is a British phrase
meaning junk dealer — supporting recycling and
reusing clothes. Are there any elements of that
in your label ?
d: In the way that you’re always referencing
the past and recycling ideas, yes. A lot of our
fabrics use traditional old British fabrics as
reference points, like tartan.
There’s a certain irony in the name. I think
it’s great.
j: Is the phrase known in America ?
m: No not at all.
d: r & b is really a reflection of our heritage.
Plus it’s a cool name ! Better than Wainright
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