He may be an international rock star, but in both his music and his impeccable sense of style, Paul Weller remains quintessentially English. I live around the corner from him and I have never seen him looking anything but immaculate. Even when he sets off in his Mini Cooper to get the paper in the morning. I caught up with him to discuss the finer points of style…
What started you off on this lifelong style mission?
PW: When I was a kid in Woking [a large town in London's commuter belt] it was always about dressing up – every kid dressed up. It’s a working-class thing. You had to dress up and look your best and if you didn't you weren’t part of the crowd. You had your part-time job and you saved up for the choice gear that you saw the top boys wearing. Then you went to the local football club’s little dance every week and put your best gear on, danced to ska and soul and did your best to look the bollocks only to find that the top boys had moved on and were wearing something else. It was very competitive and it really mattered… but there’s me roots mate; and they’ve stuck with me.
When was this?
PW: Late 60s, early 70s. We were too young to be proper skinheads but were all suedeheads – sort of post-skinheads, but smarter. We didn’t have a lot of cash but we could still manage that American Ivy League look: you know the Loake loafers or wingtips and white socks, the Sta-Prest trousers, the buttoned-down shirts, sleeveless jumpers. And we’d always wear a Harrington [Baracuta G9] on top –which is one of the most iconic jackets ever designed, it played such a huge part in my youth and is something I still wear today. Today I can afford the real G9 but when I was a kid it was a market copy. In my opinion, it’s the perfect jacket – a real classic – it will never go out of style.
How about Ben Sherman?
PW: A few years ago I designed a limited edition set of shirts for Ben Sherman, based on an original 60s one I was given; I added a few little contemporary touches and they turned out really well. But, back in Woking when I was a kid, I had to really save for my first Ben Sherman, as they weren’t cheap so we used to buy Brutus shirts, which were much cheaper but Ben Sherman was what we all wanted. I must have been 12 or 13 when I got my first one which was lemon yellow and I’ll never forget it as it was much too big for me but I didn’t care: it was a Ben Sherman and I grew into it anyway.
What personifies true style?
PW: For me it’s all about the detail and the love of it, which is a Mod thing, but I suppose, it comes natural to me now, as I’ve been obsessed by the detail for so long. It’s about exactly the right hankie folded to go with the right suit and the right shirt or that little detail on the cuff of a jacket or a boot kick trouser. But, as I said, for me it all goes back the whole skinhead thing in the late 60s/early 70s, which must’ve made huge impression on me. I just love the minutiae of the cut or the width of a trouser or a shirt collar or a lapel – always have – and, like my music, it has to be right. But I'm sure all my mates at the time, in the 70s, aren’t anywhere near as obsessed as me.
But they aren’t Paul Weller?
PW: Well, I guess there is that.
Paul Weller appears on the BBC's flagship music show Later… with Jools Holland on April 13 and his latest LP, Wake Up The Nation, is out now. You can also hear music from Paul's back catalogue, visit his official website or connect via his MySpace page.
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