All You Need To Know: Neil Barrett Detailed Update

Menswear designer Neil Barrett uses the most rigourous of traditional tailoring standards to make modern, attractive clothes for the contemporary market. By Daniel Goh

Neil Barrett, 50, is waxing lyrical about his first denim designs for his eponymous label in the lounge of Upper House, during the press briefing for Blackbarrett’s Spring collection (Hong Kong, November 2014). He fairly gushes about his first foray into denim, which he professes to not having worn in the last 15 years, excitedly, and triumphantly extolling his superior take: It’s really dark indigo colour, almost black; it’s pristinely non-washed, even and dense; it stays rigid and creaseless; there’s a stiff body it that gives it that military bearing. “It’s perfect. I tried to make clean denim. It’s super lovely. I was trying to work out how to make it so I would wear it. How do I make it modern? Why would my client wear it? How do I make it relevant to me?” he enthused with evident pride, swiping at the looks on his iPad. This dressy denim is very much a metaphor of what Neil Barrett stands for – he’s all about a certain formality in design and craft, much more about rigour and traditional techniques even though he works very much in the contemporary market, especially with the trendy men’s label Blackbarrett. This purist bent can probably be traced to Barrett being born into a family of English tailors: He’s the fourth generation in his family to follow in those sartorial footsteps. “My family's business began at the end of the 19th century and we specialised in military tailoring. That's the root of my life's passion and inspiration,” he said.

Barrett is a graduate from London's prestigious Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design as well as the Royal College of Art. He entered the Italian fashion industry by working for five years as Gucci's senior men's designer under Tom Ford. Next, he joined Prada (“Miuccia Prada is the only designer I always look at”), where he established Prada's minimalist menswear line in 1995. “Spending more than a decade at both Prada and Gucci moulded me into the designer I am today,” he admits.

Striking out on his own in 1998, Barrett's first stand-alone store opened a year later, in Tokyo. In 2002, he staged his first runway show, at Men's Fashion Week in Milan. In 2007, he launched the diffusion label, Blackbarrett.

How would you describe the aesthetics of Blackbarrett and who do you design for?

I’m just trying to do good, desirable menswear pieces. I design for myself always; imagining myself as the client, in different fits, down to the super skinny – some of the kids over in Asia have snake legs - even our super skinny looks loose, so we had to start doing extreme skinny. We take into account the reality of the markets we sell to. I’m very aware of my markets. I’m very aware and very sensitive to my clients. Colour blocking is a signature, and the jogging pants. I’m not trying to make Blackbarrett crazily gimmicky. Many brands do gimmicks, so it’s very seasonal. My work is recognizable, but not so gimmicky that it cannot be worn in another season. I want my clothes to have longevity. I don’t design throwaway fashion. I’ve never been into instant fashion. I’ve always been believed that men buy garments, they wear them a lot and they become a favourite item, a favorite jacket, a favourite shirt or jeans. That’s a guy thing.

What qualities keep your customers coming back for more?

Most of my clients are repeat clients, which is very stable for us. I’m very attentive to fit and fabric. I always try to create new interest which is appreciated by the discerning. It’s not crazy, silly, gimmicky. I do subtle details which people understand and are happy to wear. I create a balance of wearability and desirability. It’s striking that balance that makes the difference between a gimmicky designer and a designer who has longevity.

Your passion for fashion is obvious; What moves you about this business?

I enjoy the whole wonderful process of fashion. It’s a fun organic process to make the vision in my mind into reality. Fashion is a learning process for me. If you’re a good designer you’re always observing, you’re very discerning about what you take on board. I listen to people who are astute. I love creating new fabrics – that’s one of my favourite things. I prefer to create my own fabrics rather than go around looking. I know what I want in my mind, I go to the best mills and we make it. I know the best mills to do things at the price point we want. 

You define yourself as being a menswear designer?

I’m a menswear designer who designs womenswear with a menswear point of view. I accidentally did womenswear. I had so many people buying small sizes of my menswear.

How would you define a stylish man?

Style should reflect one's character. To me, style is about knowing how to put together a look with nonchalant ease. A stylish man could be stylish in a way that I don’t like or in a style that I do like. A stylish man has enough taste to put something together in an attractive way. Someone who’s stylish takes care in putting themselves together and they look at themselves in the mirror in an objective way and they make an effort. Some people put too much of an effort and they look ridiculous. I like men to look like men.

How big is your team?

I have a 6,300sqf headquarters just outside Milan, with another 6,000 sqf factory. In Milan I employ 65 people; In London I have about five, in the factory I have about 55 people. I have four designers for Neil Barrett, not a very big design team, but I have a very big support team.

For Blackbarrett there are four designers. I basically give the direction for where I want to go in terms of story and theme and then we go into the designing process, then the merchandising plan, what I believe in, and expand on the bestsellers, and cover what you sold well and try to create new fabrics.

What motivates you to keep working?

After more than 15 years in the industry, I'm still always trying to improve on everything. I feel like you can never sit on your laurels and accept that this is the best. There are some things that I feel I can't do better, but there are products that I could do better, so I focus on those. I have a huge wardrobe, but I still wake up and feel like I don't have a specific garment with the right fit. So I'm always creating new stuff. That's why I love my job. My biggest kick in life is this challenge to keep creating something new, modern and relevant. I know that if I don’t like it, and I’m not going to wear it, then it’s not good enough. I could wear all my clothes.

Why do people still shop in this age when there’s just so much fashion?

The whole point of clothes is to make you feel psychologically more confident. Because when you feel you look good and you go out smiling in the morning you get compliments. I try to recreate interest and desire for fashion season in and season out. But for the whole digital era that we're living in, I decided that it was important to make things easier and recognizable from a distance, which has been very successful. I'm expanding the brand by adding these more graphic options. I’m applying that graphic everywhere, but in a way that I would wear it. As for myself, I don’t really have time to shop fashion. I buy furniture, I buy objects. I love interiors so that’s where I spend my money. The problem is I have too many things and I need to edit!

How do you differentiate Neil Barrett and Blackbarrett?

Blackbarrett is a contemporary line that is accessible, but designed. They are original works – not watered down versions of the first line. It’s accessible fashion – not just clothing. There’s lots of clothing companies out there but they are not fashion. Neil Barrett is made in Italy, (95 per cent is made in Italy – knitwear is made abroad), basically using all the new technologies to push new boundaries. It’s entirely owned by me, and the prices are quite high. Blackbarrett is made in Asia, to be sold in Asia. If you start exporting, the prices go crazy because of taxes, that’s why all the first lines from Europe costs so much here. Over the years, I’ve seen so many people who wanted to wear Neil Barrett but they couldn’t afford to buy the clothes, so it was a natural progression to start Blackbarrett. It was to be made available to a wider audience. I wanted Blacbarrett to be sold alongside Neil Barrett, as one concept. Two types of people wear Blackbarrett: People who are attracted to the product, the fit and image, and then there’s the younger ones who have just started their first job who are not interested in spending that money on clothing. It can be any age group.

What are your other obsessions? How do you unwind?

I try to eat well and I try and exercise three times a week at 7.30 in the morning before work. We are all attracted to youth obviously because it’s when we have most vitality, energy and beauty. It’s natural that people are going to be anxious to keep their youth. But I think that as long as you look young for your age, that’s all that counts. I believe I have a young spirit, so however old I become, I will always have a young spirit which keeps me going and keeps me smiling.

My friend are my other passion. Walking in the countryside. I love extreme, isolated places. I was born by the sea in Devon. I’m always trying to get back to the sea. We are always taking weekends away.

Are there plans to do a bags and accessories line?

For Blackbarrett we’ve just put in a jewellery collection this season. Shoes and accessories are in the works for both Blackbarrett and Neil Barrett. The usual reason for making shoes and accessories are when you have more standalone shops. It’s one of those areas that I’ve studied over the years – I designed a Prada men’s bag that I still see now after 20 years. When you have a good bag, you don’t need another. You can change the fabrication but that bag is good. Men are creatures of habit, unlike women. Once you get something that really works you can carry on and carry on. I’m looking forward to expanding into that area. For shoes it’s more about guaranteeing a minimum quantity for production so once there are enough stores then that’s when the shoes will be launched.

What is this obsession with bags?

Bags are objects, like a vase or any object that you have in your home – they are collectible. Clothing seems more expendable. Shoes are also small objects, easy to store and so they are a dream for selling.

PASSION FOR MONSTERS: NOTES

Parco dei Mostri (Garden of Monsters), a renaissance garden an hour's drive from Rome.
"Ogni pensiero vola" - "all thoughts flee".

Vincino Orsini, a warrior duke and poet, started arranging the garden in 1552.
Located outside the small town of Bomarzo, northern Lazio.
Villa d'Este at Tivoli.
Cerberus, a three-headed dog who guards the entrance to hell.

Demetria, goddess of the harvest.
Terme dei Papi, papal thermal baths outside Viterbo
"il sacro bosco" - the sacred wood

SPRING 2015 MENSWEAR: THE NUDE MEN UNCOVERED

Bottega Veneta

Calvin Klein Collection

This is a lesson in styling: If you look beyond the pale pink/ beige monochrome of these very different collections, you can see that the looks break down to pretty much the same items; I think the germ of the idea of athletic wear is there, also the idea of underwear, the referencing of women's lingerie but styling makes it all so different, and that includes the choice of model. Bottega Veneta's has a ballet dancer's langour, while Calvin Klein's has more of a pornstar appeal.

Bottega Veneta

Calvin Klein Collection

SPRING 2015 MENSWEAR: Z ZEGNA

I read with absolute dismay that Z Zegna, a label that I loved for so long, for its clear creative vision and beautifully realised designs by Paul Surridge, will now be merged with Zegna Sport to become a rebooted label. The first collection to be codesigned by Mr Surridge and Murray Scallon (formerly the head designer at Zegna Sport), though it tells a cohesive story, looks like it's been designed by committee. It has all the essentials of a second line, "youthful, high-performance clothes that focus on quality materials and slick Italian tailoring." In fact, more clothes that we don't need, not because they don't fulfill the brief, but because the market is already saturated with such-like. What we do need more is beauty and personal vision, not cynical calculation of what will sell.  Do you like what you see?

Four Movies and a Flight

On a recent trip, I buckled down with the goal of watching four movies by the time I got home, flying not being one of my favourite things to do. I don't like anything about flying do you? These were the four movies I watched: 
To Rome With Love

He's taken us to London, Barcelona, Paris and now Woody Allen has landed us at yet another luxury-tourist European capital, Rome. It's pretty and escapist and great in that honeyed sunset lighting and picturesque and familiar setting kind of way. In this ensemble/omnibus movie (it's got Judy Davis, who's always so droll!), not all the jokes come off, but on the whole it is engaging, undemanding fun with gags that are one-liners but milked for slightly more than its worth. It's a warm, slight movie, far from the greatness of his earlier ones, but fun nonetheless. I want to highlight that Allen's movies are always nicely styled, and all the actors look prosperous and attractive. I was especially thrilled to see the patrician Flavio Parenti (below), whom I first discovered in I Am Love in this movie playing the activist/lawyer Michelangelo. And Jesse Eisenberg who plays the architecture student is creamy-cute!

Bel Ami

Pat Pat and Kristin Scott Thomas

Can you resist a costumer with Uma Thurman and Kristin Scott Thomas? Robert PatPat plays a pale, vampiric Belle Epoque social-climber with greasy hair under his hat and suggestively poufy breeches and seduces both Uma Thurman and Kristin Scott Thomas. Of course I had to watch this! Adapted from a novel by Guy de Maupassant, the unsympathetic protagonist, a would-be journalist, Georges Duroy clambers clumsily from a roach-infested garret to the poshest salons of literary Paris. I've never read the book, and the movie doesn't make me want to, as the script seems sketchy and cliched and none of the characters seem particularly sympathetic or indeed interesting. I think the story's point is that Pat Pat  is both foxy and self-deluding, but Pat Pat just comes off as petulant and sulky and in need of a good shampoo. Pat Pat always looks clammy and unwashed and I'm sure Ms Scott Thomas (who seems to be in a separate, better movie) must have fought the urge to bury her nose in a hanky doused with Jicky. There's lots of Pat Pat's white, thickly-fleshy body in this movie if that's what you are into.
No judgements!

Farewell, My Queen

This much lauded period piece about the French Revolution is told from the perspective of a servant to Marie Antoinette in Benoit Jacquot’s rather claustrophobic film. Most of the film is situated in smallish chambers or hallways and seems unfamiliar, a sort of 'fresh take', I suppose, but one does like a bit of grandeur and pomp in period movies, doesn't one? Sidonie Laborde (Lea Seydoux) is the queen’s devoted “reader,” and Marie Antoinette (Diane Kruger), who spends most of her time considering patterns for new dresses and dithering over her infatuation with the beautiful Duchess Gabrielle de Polignac (Virginie Ledoyen in too brief an appearance) seems mostly bored out of her wigs. It's not escapist fare and I clutch at the introduction of  a handsome gondolier (Vladimir Consigny), who isn't even necessary to the plot. How sad. This movie could be of special interest to history buffs, who will appreciate the “behind-the-scenes” speculation, but I'm not sure this is all that good an idea for in-flight entertainment. Much has been made of Ms Kruger's portrayal of Marie Antoinette, but I almost want to say I prefer KiKi Dunst's in Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. 

Magic Mike 

Could I have missed this?
This is the perfect movie to watch just before you land because it's silly fun, and you can rush through it with your finger on the forward button and still enjoy it entirely. Inspired by Channing Tatum's stint as a male stripper, director Steven Soderbergh's comedy uncovered Alex Pettyfer for me, and that's enough. He's dreamy and a Brit and if you can hug his image all the way to the hotel like a double cashmere coat . Matthew McConaughey is the big daddy stripper, and despite the chocolate bar abs doesn't register as sexy. There's just a hint of erotic energy (unapologetically targetting the reliable gay dollar)- there's ample, if unthreatening, man candy, of course, fit for the mainstream. The script isn't polished or strong on character with no narrative originality or emotion, you don't really care about the girlfirends, and the poverty and drugs never seems real. But you can almost read this movie as a bromance because it seems more about male camaraderie and the buddy element is the emotional core of the movie. If anything, the friendship between Tatum and Pettyfer is the main narrative - it's Brokeback Lite. The Chinese uncle sitting next to me was so riveted by the stripping scenes that he actually leaned over and asked me what I was watching - I told him, pointing to the title in the the menu, and then he turned it on, put on his headphones and studiously ignored me me for the rest of the movie. Well, at least one person enjoyed the flight.

A FRESH START

Starting January 1, 2013, Stefano Pilati will be at Ermenegildo Zegna, as head of design for the brand's menswear lines, as well as creative director for Agnona, the house's women's ready-to-wear and accessories line. Mr Pilati was the brilliant, if troubled, head designer at Yves Saint Laurent post Tom Ford (since 2004); His Fall 2012 collection, shown in Paris last March, was his last for that label. 
His first collections for Ermenegildo Zegna and Agnona will be shown in June 2013.

Casta! Cast Her Faster!

"Laetitia has always bewitched us with her sensual and natural charisma: she is the perfect interpretation of  the Dolce & Gabbana woman of  today." - Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana

Dolce&Gabbana Fragrances's newest face is French actress Laetitia Casta, 34, mother of three. Ms Laetitia’s unparalleled sensuality and femininity brought her to the attention of  Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana who chose her to embody the Dolce&Gabbana the re-launch of their 1992 fragrance Pour Femme. She joins the long tradition of other curvy beauties favoured by Dolce & Gabbana in their iconography, va-va-voom figures like Scarlett Johansson and Monica Bellucci. 
“It’s not so much a re-edition as it is a fine-tuning. We altered the bottle a bit. The brand has evolved since the 1990s, and we’ve matured a lot since." said Mr Gabbana of the new edition of the iconic scent, which is refreshed with Neroli and Raspberry notes thrown into the classic mix.

The sensual, sun-drenched advertising campaign featuring Ms Casta was shot by the famous Mario Testino in Sicily. 

Top notes: neroli, bergamot, mandarin
Middle notes: lavender, sage, pepper
Base notes: sandalwood, tobacco, Tonka bean

Chi il Bel Sogno di Doretta

I'm really obsessed with this swoonsome Puccini aria right now! The best version is by Montserrat Caballe I think. I could listen to it over and over again all afternoon, and so can you: Turn up the volume!