Interview
SCOTT SIMPSON A rainy day in Worthing seemed like the perfect setting in which to meet a young fashion designer whose new collection evokes a 1950s French Riviera. John Minns spoke to Scott Simpson about how vintage is the backbone of all his designs, his early mod influences, his views on the paucity of youth subcultures and what exactly ‘retrospective modernism’ means
O
n your web site you state that vintage has been your guiding hand since the very beginning?
When I was 16 I started getting into scooters, so while at college I got myself a little Vespa. Then I joined a scooter club in Brighton, and they would take me along to soul clubs and teach me what mods were about. I’ve always believed in studying anything as much as you can to build up informed knowledge.
Yes, vintage is a foundation for me, for the whole brand, for my whole identity. I was born and grew up in Hong Kong, and my dad, who has been a huge inspiration for me and my clothes, brought us up around plenty of old stuff. He took us to school in a Morris Traveller, and he’d pull us along to antique shops, all of which made me appreciate older things.
Did your father’s passion for antiques have a bearing on how you studied the mod scene? Very much so. The clothes I designed at the beginning were an exact reflection of what I needed.
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