I’m originally from Hertfordshire, it’s in the county just north of London, about 45 minutes from the metropolis. It is in Jane Austen’s character Mr Darcy’s country – truly, quintessentially English. I’ve lived in Milan for four years now and it has become a kind of home to me. I love this city. It’s a good place to live, a good place to set up base. I’m very close to home (London), Paris is just one hour away, and skiing is just an hour away as well.
Design has always been something I’m very interested in. I was not so interested in the academic subjects in school – I liked literature and I liked English and I liked History but the scientific subjects like Biology, Physics and Maths were not my strong points. Then naturally, I went to arts school, which I really enjoyed. Fashion was something that came to me a little bit later, but I remember always liking to watch TV programmes that had fashion shows!
For my pre-foundation course at Central St Martins, I had to study all the different disciplines before I went into fashion design and marketing. We had Vivienne Westwood and people like that come to do seminars, and also architects, etc. Fashion is very much hands-on, and for me it was something that I related to very quickly. I eventually graduated in womens wear. I did womens wear for three to four years before I had my first experience in mens wear. The two areas are absolutely, completely different. With mens wear, I try not to design things just for me. I think that that would be too narrow, which is not good.
“I’ve concentrated on moving all the construction in the tailoring, really changing the internals. I’ve done a much softer structure – the jacket itself is very precise, very clean and sharp. It is very determined on the shoulders but it is very light, it is modern.”
I’ve worked in different companies such as Jil Sander, Burberry, and Calvin Klein but the English heritage and British style is instinctive to me; I have lived in many different countries. I came of age in New York. It is a great place to come of age especially when you are a young adult – 23 to 27, it is a big part of who I am. Of course I’m obviously British, but I do not feel necessarily connected just to England. Naturally, as you go away from working for another brand to becoming your own creative director, you take some time to get into your stride. Some people start straight from school and they work on their own collection, and it is pure self-style.
And some designers, like myself, who have worked in the industry and worked in different brands, take some time to remove the “doing-for-someone-else” to find and connect to a style. And that is what my objective would be for Z Zegna. British style to me is something so vast: you have heritage and then you have street, while the beauty of Italian style is in the manufacturing. It has been a common question for me: how much of Britain is in your collection and how much of Italy is in your collection? But I think I have a more international, global style, because I travel a lot.
At Zegna, I have many choices with very few limitations. I wanted the collection to be a foundation rather than a statement. I wanted to renovate the foundation that was there, without causing too much of a ripple within either the market or within the collection. I wanted to really embrace the sartorial heritage at Zegna but also add some urban edge to the collection. I have a lot of inspirations – like the fashion in the 1920s. The elegance of the 1920s is style heaven! It was when elegance became hugely important, it was about chic and the invention of chic. And lifestyle and architecture and cars, everything seemed to gel – everything became about lifestyle.
I’ve concentrated on moving all the construction in the tailoring, really changing the internals. I’ve done a much softer structure – the jacket itself is very precise, very clean and sharp. It is very determined on the shoulders but it is very light, it is modern. Technology is not just about making something gimmicky or sci-fi, it is about changing your techniques and modernising it.
I am not somebody who constantly looks back, there is no point looking back. We have to look forward. For me, it is important that whatever we do is not thrown away. Even if it is fashion forward and extreme, it has to mean something either through construction or fabrication or through style or point of view. The next collection will be more of a singular idea explored which is more of a fashion approach. This collection is more about the wardrobe, more about the real-life situation for a real-life man. Next season, I would like to reduce the overall variety and come out with a singular point of view supported with a solid commercial collection.
Fashion moves so quickly, there is no point waiting for it to happen. You have to take risks. The market below us is so sophisticated and fast paced. Today the high-street is collaborating with the highest level of designers. We have to embrace that change. We have to embrace fashion. But to me, it is important that we stay within the integrity of what the brand is and we stay true to the DNA of the brand. But we can go forward and make things with a point of view which is right and calculated. We have a loyal customer already so it is not really about trying to find a new customer, it is about re-educating the customer and then branching out from there.
I went into auto-pilot while designing this collection. It is a self-protection process. You have to protect yourself otherwise you crumble. It is very easy for me to be visible because I am the face. And it is very easy to be rewarded very quickly but behind me there is a network of support. This support is very crucial in the development of the collection. It is nice to have the opportunity to spend some downtime and have intimate moments to thank them for helping me get through this rather challenging six months. For myself, I took a bath with black pepper, not the spice, but black pepper, my favourite bubble bath, and a glass of champagne.
By Paul Surridge
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