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We caught up with the menswear designer to talk brutalism, musical influences and why a solid outfit always begins with good shoes

‘Ugly good’ and ‘off the radar’. Two terms, that after walking around the picturesque sun-bleached streets of Bloomsbury with Oliver Spencer, quickly become apparent as what you might call ‘Spencerisms’.

Ugly good refers to things that, as the name suggests, are ugly but good. Brutalist architecture and (although he’s not fond of them) the grotesque ‘ugly sneaker’ trend would fall into said category. Off the radar meanwhile, refers to things that are so cool, they’re unable to be picked up by your standard radiowave detection system. David Byrne’s recent show at Hammersmith Apollo? “Off the flipping radar.”

Most people would agree that Oliver Spencer himself is off the radar. Starting out as an art student, before abruptly leaving education to work on a market stall selling second-hand clothes on Portebello Market, an early sense of street-honed entrepreneurial spirit has never left him. His first stock came from house-clearing sales that he found listed in newspapers. The formation of formalwear brand Favourbrook soon followed, with the film Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) providing the perfect advert for the brand’s tailoring.

A decade after the launch of Favourbrook came Oliver Spencer the brand, a significant departure from the former’s eccentric country estate tailoring. His namesake brand kept the principles of quality and love of textiles, but added a contemporary and relaxed spin. If Favourbrook was attire for the manor-dwelling monopoly man (and woman), then Oliver Spencer the brand was for their city-dwelling creative alter egos.

Thinking back to his time as a student, Oli admits he wouldn’t have done anything differently. “At the time, I was plain and simply, too busy for art school. Too much going on.” He tells me. For him, the practical side of creative education was and still is lacking. It’s one thing making something, but you’ve got to learn how to plug it too.

We first meet Oli on Lamb’s Conduit Street, the quaint and leafy home of his first store and the shopping street equivalent of The Kinks song, The Village Green Preservation Society. People on cowhorn bicycles idle past revelers basking outside cafes and pubs, as the odd delivery lorry parks up for loading. The briefly Channel 4 famous The People’s Supermarket is a few streets down.

I ask Oli about the future of shopping and his response comes with a grim warning for the high street. “The high street’s going to die a death. People around there are cheating people. Delivering stuff to them that costs 10p and selling it for £10. All wrong.”

Oliver Spencer’s own stores are carefully curated boutiques, with his Lamb’s Conduit Street stores (one for clothing, another for shoes and accessories) feeling especially homely. Channeling the Paul Smith school of shopkeepery, the spaces are punctuated by the odd trinket, as well as beautifully curated clothes. One or two open notebooks in the shops dare visitors to sketch and every visual detail feels well thought out. There’s stuff, but no clutter.

We leave the shop and head into the surrounding streets to take photographs.

Despite the sweltering temperature and the chore of having your photo taken being tedious at the best of times, Oli is in good spirits. He’s been busy of late, but found time to enjoy the World Cup. To escape the heat, he’ll be watching tomorrow’s game (England’s 2-0 Quarter Final win over Sweden) in an air-conditioned basement. I assume he’s referring to his office, but it’s difficult to tell.

Walking around Bloomsbury with Oliver Spencer and our chat follows a varied course. Football gets a good run-out (Oli is in the running as one of Coventry City’s most famous fans; others include various members of The Specials, Westlife’s Brian McFadden, darts player Seb Hines aka. the muffin man and sexism’s very own Richard Keys) and so does architecture. As we walk through the nearby Patrick Hodgkinson-designed Brunswick Centre, Oli crowns the brutalist structure as peak ugly good.

His love of Bauhaus is widely known and if you ask him about it, he points to basic themes of the movement which he channels into his own work. “Straight form, classic design and no messing.” He says. If architecture is one of the biggest inspirations for Oli, the other is music. Today, he’s been listening to The Fugees.

“This afternoon, I was designing and I was like, Spotify, play me that Fugees album, the one with Lauryn Hill in between the two guys on the front cover [The Score, 1996]. I haven’t listened to it for 15 years, played it for the afternoon. It’s a brilliant album.” He says. “You know what music does? It takes you back to a time and place. I could tell you the girlfriend I had then, tell you where I was travelling then, tell you everything I was doing whilst I was listening to that Fugees album.”

Music has been a constant throughout Oliver Spencer’s work. Whether it’s the carefully curated soundtracks to his shows, going to David Byrne gigs with Brian Eno, kitting out musicians (Oli’s friend William Gilchrist styles The Rolling Stones, more often than not in Oliver Spencer) or simply harvesting inspiration from the odd documentary (Cream-founder and absolute nutjob Ginger Baker in 2012’s Beware of Mr. Baker inspired AW16).

When I ask Oli if there’s a classic band that has managed to pass him by, he revels in pondering the question before giving his answer. “Steely Dan. I’ve just never really sat down and given them the time of day. I know loads of mates who’re in bands and in the music industry and everyone says Steely Dan is it. I can’t tell you the name of an album, I can’t tell you the name of a song. I’ve never really listened to them.” I ask him if he’s waiting for the Desert Island Discs call. “Let’s face it, I’d love the call. Everyone would love the call. I’m not shy to say that.”

As we sit in the pub later in the afternoon, talk turns to sustainability, a fashionable buzzword of a topic, granted, but one that’s pressing. Oli puts the heightened awareness down to one gentleman in particular. “I think David Attenborough is pretty much solely responsible for getting it in front of us all with that documentary, it was incredible.” He says. Closer to home, his own priorities are rooted in the reduction of plastic.

“All I need to talk to you about is plastic. It’s awful. Sustainable or not, we need to get rid of the plastic. We’re going to get rid of all the plastic out of our shirt packaging. My guys worked out that we use about 20 tonnes of plastic a year in our packaging. That’s enough to fill an entire double decker bus and we’re done with it.”

Elsewhere, mill’s stances on organic cotton are a problem, but Oli insists he and his fellow designers need to use their buying power to encourage a sea change. “I force my play, I say look I’m not going to be doing anything else with you.” The conversation also takes in other aspects of an overall strategy. The appropriate use of textiles for instance; using more linen in summer and British woolen mill-sourced wool in winter which has a better longevity. His stores meanwhile, are powered by energy sourced from wind and tidal.

With buying less and buying better in mind, I ask Oli about the basics of stylish dressing. Happy that we’re finally moving away from the oasis of sportswear, he already sees more men buying shirts and “buttoning up”. When it comes to the basics though, it all begins with what’s on your feet.

“Start with shoes. Get yourself a decent pair of shoes. Trainers box fresh. Goodyear welted shoes at any age, but the more bashed up they are generally, the better. Really nice trousers are the key to everything, then you can just do a t-shirt with a bomber jacket and I love that.” He says.

Before we wrap up, I ask Oli what advice he would give to his younger self. Like a reflex, he responds with one word: womenswear. “Don’t do womenswear. Womenswear has been a nightmare. They want everything on sale. They’re too used to buying everything for cheap.” He tells me. I ask him what advice he would give to other shopkeepers.

“We’ve got to be better shopkeepers, deliver better service, better in-shop experience. It’s all going to be about niche, having a product you can’t get anywhere else. Having a product that is value for money. Having your green sustainable credentials. Talking about organic. Being organic. Living in an organic way. Getting rid of all the packaging. But just delivering a great experience in store.” A little sprinkling of ugly good doesn’t hurt either. EJ

oliverspencer.co.uk

Words by Davey Brett
Image Credits Milo Brown