The Alchemy of Fashion & Style with Harris Elliott

David M. Watts [: 00:00:01

Hello, and welcome to Just A Fashion Minute with me, David m Watts. This is more than a podcast. It's a movement. A call to redefine fashion and spotlight the talent that's shaping its future. This is just a fashion minute with me, David m Watts. On our last podcast, we had the privilege of chatting with Kenny, Anna and Jonathan, the innovative mind behind the mailroom sports marketing management agency and transmission media outlet. Kenny shared his unique insights into building bridges between athletes, brands, and culture, while also striving for economic and social independence within the sporting world. If you missed it, I highly recommend giving it a listen.

David M. Watts [: 00:00:47

On today's episode, we have the pleasure of hosting Harris Elliott. With over 2 decades of experience as a creative director and stylist, Harris has left an indelible mark on luxury fashion, art, and music industry. Throughout his illustrious career, Harris has collaborated with renowned brands such as Thom Browne, Nike, Adidas, and Puma, just to name a few. His expertise includes creative direction, styling, and lecturing at the prestigious Royal College of Art and Central Saint Martins. Described as a visionary cultural curator, Harris brings a unique perspective to our conversation. Join us as we delve into his creative process and his thoughts on the intersection of fashion, identity, and culture. But as always, let's kick the show off with my just a fashion minute roundup. Belgian designer, Dries van Noten recently announced that he is stepping down from the label he founded in 1986.

David M. Watts [: 00:01:45

Initially, with menswear, then his women's wear followed to great acclaim. The news was met with genuine shock and upset for many in the fashion industry, as Dries is one of those rare designers held in very high esteem by both his peers and his customers. Van Noten sold a majority stake of his business to Spanish conglomerate Puig in 2018. But at 65 years old, he has now decided to pass the creative baton onto a new designer. We will wait to see if there is a promotion from within the company or whether Puig will, like many other luxury fashion brands, want to bring in a new profile creative director. A potentially risky strategy given the business that had great success all these years. Puig need to be careful not to mess it up, and we wait to see what they do next. Van Noten's last collection will be his menswear spring summer 25 show in June.

David M. Watts [: 00:02:42

Apparently, the prices of his pieces on resale platforms has shot up on hearing the announcement. For anyone not familiar with the brand or the designer, there is a truly brilliant biopic documentary called Dries by Rainer Holzheimer, which shows his process and gives some insights into his work and home life in Antwerp. News of Dries van Noten started a flurry of press articles on the succession plans of other luxury fashion brands. It also caused rumors to swirl that American designer, Michael Kors, was also considering stepping down from his eponymous label. The brand is owned by Capri Holdings, a US luxury fashion mega corp, equivalent to Kering, who owns Kate Spade, Versace, Coach, and other luxury brands. And they have strongly denied the rumors that Kors is exiting the brand, but then they would, wouldn't they? Similarly, Prada Group, headed up by Miuccia Prada, currently riding high on very upbeat sales and financials. Following the Belgian designer, Raf Simmonds joining as co creative director, would suggest he might be in line for succession when Miuccia Prada, now 70 4, does finally step down. It also has to be mentioned that in surprising turn of events, Pier Paolo Piccioli, the creative director of luxury brand Valentino, was ousted from the top job.

David M. Watts [: 00:04:06

After almost 26 years of the brand, there was a general outcry from fashion media and fans of the brand as to why this had happened. Essentially, the Valentino business is about 1,400,000,000 in annual revenues, and that's not enough these days when brands are reaching 20,000,000,000 a year in annual sales. So one suspects the owners of Valentino feel it's time for a change. Rumors have already started to swirl that former Gucci designer, Alessandra Mikaela, is negotiating to take over Valentino, and that's something we now wait to hear about, but never a dull moment in fashion. Oh, and as a side note, Kering, who owns Gucci, also bought a 30% stake in Valentino recently with a view to buying the whole business in the next 3 years. So if the rumors are to be believed, then Alessandra Mikaela would be returning to work for his old bosses, caring a lesson never to burn your bridges perhaps. Rakuten, Tokyo Fashion Week concluded, perhaps its most successful addition since the COVID 19 pandemic. With more international guests and buyers returning to Japan's capital for the autumn winter 24 edition.

David M. Watts [: 00:05:15

It's a very important fashion event, primarily because Japanese consumers are very receptive to new and innovative international brands, as well as giving Asian brands a solid platform to present their collections to international press and buyers. Aris, welcome to Just A Fashion Minute. It's great to have you in the studio. How are you doing today?

Harris Elliott [: 00:05:36

Thank you for having me. Really pleased to be here. Alongside all of your other esteemed guests that you've had thus far. So, yeah, really pleased to to be in the room. Welcome.

David M. Watts [: 00:05:46

So do you have any thoughts on our Just A Fashion Minute roundup this week?

Harris Elliott [: 00:05:51

For me, the one that is probably dearest to me would be the fact that Tokyo Rakuten Fashion Week is back up and running with international buyers and press attending. I spend a lot of time in Japan working with a lot of Japanese clients, and so for me, that's good news. For many seasons, there's been talk about the Japanese economy not being at its strongest, so this obviously will be a good boost for for Tokyo and Japanese fashion in general.

David M. Watts [: 00:06:21

Anything else that you're taking?

Harris Elliott [: 00:06:23

Yeah. For sure. Dries, that was a bit of a shock, but I think it's good when people understand where they're at and decide to leave on a high rather than leave when a brand is ailing. Who that success will be, I would imagine, will come from within the house because the way that house works is has a very intuitive, intrinsic way of working, and it seems to be one of those brands that never really had a waning moment. It just has continued a beautiful ascent over all of the years, and it hasn't really dipped. And so in order to pull someone from the outside, I would think would be potentially scary unless they were looking to totally do something completely radical.

David M. Watts [: 00:07:08

Yes. I agree. Yes. I think in terms of, and having seen the documentary about the process, it's it seems to be very kind of democratic and collaborative within you know, there are team, heads of teams Totally. Men's wear, women's wear, and everybody seems to get into the whole process all the way along from the fabric development right through to the fashion and the styling and everything else. And it would be very difficult to change that, I think.

Harris Elliott [: 00:07:31

They have a really loyal team as well. One of my friends is one of their passing cutters, Mike. And he's been there for many, many years, and that often says a lot about a brand. If you can retain your staff, they wish to continue to grow with you and the brand, and clearly, the values that the brand actually holds itself is one that, other brands should look to aspire to. Indeed. Indeed. Brilliant.

David M. Watts [: 00:07:56

So now our topic this week is going to be all about fashion styling and your career. That's why you're in the chair. Styling is thought of as a rare combination of art and alchemy, some would say. We're sort of looking at this elusive fashion role and the creativity needed to deliver it successfully. And we're going to also talk about how this may be impacted by AI, artificial intelligence, a little later. But first, we're going to hear more about you. So, tell the listeners, Harris, what is your earliest memory of being interested in fashion?

Harris Elliott [: 00:08:29

There are 2 things, and both of them I attribute to my mum. One was, at Christmas, mum would always take me on the bus up into London to look at the Christmas lights and to look at the Christmas windows in a lot of the big department stores. So we went to Harrods, we went to Fortnum, we went to the stores on Oxford Street, Liberty, etcetera. And for me, it was a time of year that I always really looked forward to and found really fascinating. And it definitely had an impact on some of the work that actually led me into fashion. And the other aspect is my mum used to work at the Tower of London, so I used to spend a lot of my summer holidays running around the grounds of the Tower of London. Even though I wasn't aware of it at the time, a lot of my work involves militaria, I love regalia, and a lot of that detailing. And so now when I look back in terms of what I was seeing as a 7 to 11 year old were the yeoman warders who were based there, and also the Gurkhas who were based there.

Harris Elliott [: 00:09:39

So that sense of fashion, ceremony, and military had a huge influence on who I am and what I do. So definitely, it's between the shop windows and being surrounded by militaria, the regality, and the crown jewels is definitely what's influenced my first views of fashion. So my first work within fashion was involved in creating window display. So that obviously had an impact on what I do today.

David M. Watts [: 00:10:09

Oh, I didn't know that about you. And I've known you quite a long time. How interesting. Did anybody give you an opportunity or present you with an opportunity that changed the course of your career path?

Harris Elliott [: 00:10:20

Yes. Sadly, that person's no longer with us, but, it was the illustrious, the esteemed, the amazing Judy Blaine. And so it came from off the back of myself creating window displays or window installations for boutiques and stores in Covent Garden. I had some interest in fashion through other friends that I'd been at uni with, who'd introduced me to Judy's work. And, at that time, I came across Judy's number in a magazine back in the days when we had magazines and people And people published them. And people had landlines pre mobile. I rang, Judy answered, and he said, look, if you're interested in working with me, send me an interesting fax. For those listeners who don't know what a fax is, it's a machine where you feed paper into it, and and paper comes out the other end.

Harris Elliott [: 00:11:11

And so I created this collage, sent it to Judy, rang him a few days later. He dubbed me Mr. Tweed, Harris, Harris Tweed, and so from then, it was that interaction with Judy that actually spearheaded or became that pivot point for why I actually work in fashion today. So, Judy commissioned me to create some hairdressers for a show that he was doing, and he asked me to create 8 leather headdresses for this publishing company called Duckworth Publishing. I'd never created any form of millinery or headwear or masks before in my life, but, and for me, also, Judy, one of his best friends was Philip Treacy, so why he picked me and not Philip was has always been a mystery to me, but he obviously liked what he saw that I created after I went to see him. And so it's from that moment Judy then introduced me to Zoe and Brian of Boudica. I ended up creating metal helmets for Boudica for one of their early shows, and so I started assisting stylists, and it was also what Judy was doing at the time. He'd recently published a story and ID, which is where he'd covered all these models and what looked like oil and was a reference to pollution of how we dispose of so much.

Harris Elliott [: 00:12:25

This was 20 plus years ago, of course. And so he got slated by a number of brands who said to him, you can't do that because fashion is about celebration and fashion shouldn't really be dealing with politics or issues. And Judy, true to himself, was middle finger or the fingers up to industry, And it was at that point I was so not only did I have a stronger interest in fashion because of what I saw Judy was doing, but also the idea that you could use it as an art form to be political. And so that time period of working with Judy was a really inspirational time and a really inspirational moment, and that's definitely influenced who I am today.

David M. Watts [: 00:13:04

Amazing. So it sort of crystallized some of your creative process. So, before we take a break, I want to ask you a question that I ask all my guests. How do you define fashion?

Harris Elliott [: 00:13:15

These days, I try not to use the word fashion. I tend to think about fashion as identity. And so, identity because fashion is so much about attitude, it's about stance, it's about cultural context, it's about referencing. So when I think of fashion, I think of the body, but I think of not only what we wear, but the spaces that we inhabit. So for me, it's very much how we express ourselves, or how we defend ourselves, how we protect ourselves, and how we inspire those around us.

David M. Watts [: 00:13:48

That's very interesting. Maybe that's something to do with the spatial relationship of visual merchandising.

Harris Elliott [: 00:13:53

There's that. And there's also harks back to a project I did 10 years ago, returning to Rude Boy, which was at Somerset House, myself, and photographer, and filmmaker, Dean Chalkley. I had to think about fashion through the eyes of style. Of course, I'm a stylist, but often style and fashion, I don't see those two things as being the same. They're 2 very different entities. And so presenting a group of people who represent themselves based on their core values, and those core values would be exemplary sartor as well. And it's that balance between defining who you are through how you express yourself, but also creating a form of armor to protect yourself, which in itself ends up having an allure whether you intended it that way or not.

David M. Watts [: 00:14:45

Thank you. That's really interesting. We're going to talk more about fashion styling after the break, so please stick around. This is just a reminder that you're listening to Just A Fashion Minute with me, your host, David m Watts. Let's get back to the show. You join us as we're talking about fashion styling today. It's something that is described as a combination of art and alchemy. We're going to spotlight this elusive fashion role and the creativity needed to deliver it successfully.

David M. Watts [: 00:15:13

We're going to talk about how fashion styling, this role may be impacted by AI in the future. As the man in the chair, Harris, tell our listeners what a fashion stylist actually does.

Harris Elliott [: 00:15:26

I was wondering if you could tell me what a fashion stylist does. There's so many different ways in which that as a role exists. So speaking about it from my own personal experience of a number of years, As you've used the term alchemy, there is a form of alchemy that goes into it. It is something that is inspired, it's something that you do use your instinct, and you do use the referencing that are around you. My role is to be able to work predominantly with either artists, be they musicians, be they actors, and also fashion models, to be able to define a visual energy that allows them to project themselves to be able to tell a story. That probably still doesn't define that for your listeners because it sounds way too open and too vague. But in the nuts and bolts of it, it could be finding a dress, it could be a hairpin, it could be a head to toe look. A stylist might create all of the looks for a fashion show.

Harris Elliott [: 00:16:32

Some might ask, what does that actually mean? Because, surely, you have a designer, a fashion house, and so, therefore, what is the stylist's role? Stylists are often provocateurs, and so our role is often well, again, I can speak for myself, not because a lot of people don't actually provocateur. They kind of just they paint by numbers. But my role when working with artists or brands is to be able to challenge them, and so if working with a brand and they bring to your attention the collection that they're working on, it's your responsibility to be able to essentially give it another look that the designer maybe didn't see, or wanted your trusted vision, or way of seeing things, to be able to show that work to a wider audience. So a designer starts with their initial principles, and very often now work with a stylist to be able to amplify that vision in a way beyond how they actually saw it themselves. You almost become a bit of a magnifying glass, and you allow people to see things differently, and that can go from the simple to the elaborate. I work with a lot of musicians, and so very often the kinds of musicians I used to work with, I would be unseen in terms of my work. In that sense, I would be there to be able to define their looks, but without it looking like there was somebody behind what it was that they did, to the point where now many people are quite happy to announce that they have people working with them. I'm away drawing from contextually from my day to day travels, inspired by all of the places that I go.

Harris Elliott [: 00:18:10

It could be the way an an old lady has her hat tips on her head, or it could be a fabrication, or it could be 2 elements that are fused together. You're always keeping this mental and visual librarian now with the advent of having smartphones. You're always having that extra means of documenting different things that you see. And then that then informs, when working with a designer or working with an artist, actually, you've built up a visual library. And whatever's been inspiring you, you then often bring that into the mix when working with a collection or for a performance.

David M. Watts [: 00:18:46

That's a fascinating description. And in fact, the alchemy because rings true in terms of, you know, you're taking base metals and turning them into gold, but you're taking objects and you are even, you know, new objects like designer collections, but you are bringing a whole different essence to it. And that's sometimes really intangible, isn't it? It's just something that you do intuitively, but it's intuitively built up over many, many years of all the referencing, all the time, all the energy, the ideas, the creativity. It's fascinating.

Harris Elliott [: 00:19:16

Yeah. I mean, it's very hard almost to sometimes not necessarily justify, but be able to break down what it is that you do. I play with bits of fabric. I play with colors. I play with bits of metal. And yes, sometimes it's finite, very obvious things, and sometimes it's combining elements that you wouldn't obviously see put on the body, but actually there's a sculptural essence of, as you say, the alchemic sense of bringing different elements that wouldn't normally work together, but it's those combinations when you bring them together that something totally new happens. And so very much for me is about that essence, and it's about a feeling. And so casting is really important to me, to how someone looks.

Harris Elliott [: 00:20:01

And when I say how they look, I mean that from a sense of an attitude, not just whether they're pretty, handsome, or that. It's just kind of what are they projecting from inside out. And so it's combining the alchemy of the people that you're working with alongside the clothes that you're bringing in the setting that you're putting them in. And that's essentially where a really good stylist comes together and is able to kind of make something really impactful and present something in a way that looks like it's something new, even if a lot of the elements are very familiar.

David M. Watts [: 00:20:33

Really, really cool. Can you give an example of something that you did, something that you worked on with a client?

Harris Elliott [: 00:20:38

Recently, when working with gorillas, Jamie Huler and Damon came to me with their references of how they were seeing a particular campaign. And so I took their initial references, then remixed them through my palette, and then devised a whole pink look for gorillas on stage. So everyone was head to toe in different versions of pink and purple, which made a really beautiful statement on the stages as they were touring the world. So coming up with that look for gorillas, you've got 15 people on on stage all wearing pink. So much of what they do is being quite provocative, being the world's first animated band. And so being able to utilize the humor that they bring into their projects, but also me bringing in that sense of militaria allowed us to create what was almost like a gorilla, gorillas, in terms of the setting. So there's almost like this paramilitary pink outfit that was on stage, allowed to bring through this sense of a renegade spirit, but then was softened or even amplified by that visualization. Many years ago, I was commissioned by a New York client to work on a new era cap campaign, and so I was styling Pharrell.

Harris Elliott [: 00:22:07

Introduced Pharrell to vans for that campaign, worked with people like Benjamin Clementine, introduced Benjamin to Pearly Kings and Queens. We did a shoot for Interview Magazine, and so I brought along a number of Pearly Kings and Queens outfits to be able to have that almost obscure look on what it might mean to be British, and for a black British male to be wearing a pearly kings and queens outfit, which looked really powerful.

David M. Watts [: 00:22:36

Very cool indeed. Our stylists often overlooked or treated badly by brands and sometimes clients. Do you think that's the case? Can you give us examples?

Harris Elliott [: 00:22:47

Because it's very hard to define or it's intangible what it is that stylists do. Very often, brands will hire people because they know that they need to have that role, but I don't really fully understand what that role involves, Or they'll pick someone because that person is trending or popular, but that person may not be right for them as a in a particular setting. A lot of marketing teams need to be scrapped because they don't know what they're looking at or why they're looking at what it is that people do. And it's needing to understand what that role is and what different people will be able to bring into the mix in order to be able to produce good results. I think sometimes people did use to get a bad rap, and did get treated badly by brands. Again, through that pure ignorance, because people expect you to be able to do what it is that they want. Whereas, actually, as a stylist, we're all unique, and there isn't a cookie cutter version of each stylist will come and do the same thing, many different stylists will come through, and their way of working, that that intuition is what will bring something new to the table. And so I think brands will have probably treated people really badly because they don't know actually how to deal with this uncontrollable force.

Harris Elliott [: 00:24:12

It's a bit like the law of physics, immovable objects and unstoppable force coming together, and so you get a spontaneous combustion, and that either results in something brilliant, or it could result in something quite bad. I've had a few bad experiences where brands it's usually been around finance, where because they don't actually understand what it is that you do, they don't wish to almost demean you or expect that you work for a particular price to do a certain thing. Very often, brands will come to you, ask you what your rate is, you tell them, then they say, We've only got 5p, and they expect you to work for it. And so, it's so often that people come to you, want you to make magic, but not actually give you the resource or the tools to be able to do that. And the one thing that's often hard within styling is that you often have to go out and get the clothes before you turn up for a shoot, and that guessing of the clothes takes a large amount of time. And then once you've done the shoot, all those clothes need to be returned. In the past, sometimes brands have not wanted to pay for that time that it takes to return the clothes. It didn't arrive magically, and they don't leave magically.

Harris Elliott [: 00:25:22

And so those are the kinds of times where frissons, should I say, maybe arise, and the outcome doesn't quite combust in the right way. Okay.

David M. Watts [: 00:25:32

Point taken. Point taken. So I know that you have clients in Japan, with whom you work on many different projects, and I've seen quite a lot of them, and they are amazing. Do these clients get it in ways that other clients, perhaps in the UK, don't?

Harris Elliott [: 00:25:47

I love working in Japan. And if I say that again, I absolutely love working in Japan. I've done that for the past nearly 20 years. They definitely have an understanding, and those that are in fashion within Japan, for me, have a deeper understanding of how one can express that role within that marketplace in a way that doesn't take place here. When you're on the streets of Shibuya or Takanyama in Tokyo, and you see how people day to day compose themselves, one can only kind of take your metaphorical hat off in admiration, and you just don't get that level of elegance here on the streets of Britain. And so there's an understanding that when I'm booked by Japanese clients, they book me because there's an empathy or there's an intrinsic understanding between the ways in which I work and the ways in which the clients that book me also work.

David M. Watts [: 00:26:47

It's really interesting. I mean, I am an obsessive Japanophile, and it's one of the places that I've never been Wow. That you didn't know. It's on the list. It's on the bucket list. And I think it's very interesting in terms of what you say about how they respect and treat you because I think that's part of the culture, but also it is so enlightening. And having worked with, you know, clients and a company I worked, we had an office in Japan. The the entire attitude to creativity is so much bigger and greater that it just gives you that sense of, you know, oh, somebody gets it.

David M. Watts [: 00:27:22

I'm not just, you know, talking into a vacuum, and that is so powerful. But that's what I love about Japan.

Harris Elliott [: 00:27:29

It was also a pleasure to work there because people respect the craft. I feel at home when I'm there because, actually, what I do is totally valued whilst I'm there.

David M. Watts [: 00:27:40

You have recently been part of a trio of curators along with Andrew Eby and my good pal, Jason Jewels, creating a groundbreaking exhibition at Somerset House here in London called the missing thread. What was the concept for this show, and how did this come into being?

Harris Elliott [: 00:27:59

The missing thread was, as you say, conceived by the 3 of us. We formed an agency, a bold agency, to be able to put the missing thread together, but backpedaling a bit, the exhibition quite tortuously came off of the back of the murder of George Floyd. And so in 2020, whilst we were mid pandemic, the fashion industry started asking a lot of questions around identity and around the role of designers and a lot of notions around the phrase decolonizing fashion kept rearing its head, and how the fashion industry was gonna be able to respond to this. Andrew was on a Zoom call with the Fashion Council, and they were talking about being more supportive towards black British brands. And Andrew said to them, but what about the past 40 years? How do we create some form of balance or some form of narrative for those brands? He rang me after coming off that Zoom and said reminded me of an idea that we'd had a few years previous where we were gonna put together an exhibition and installation in support of a number of African diaspora designers that we saw coming through online, and he said, I think it's time that we brought that idea back back up to speed, and the time is now, and then that's how the idea of the missing thread was formed. And the premise of it was to be able to look at those designers who paved the way for so many of us, not just as black designers, but black British creatives who had served their dues, made really amazing work as Brits, but were never really given the applause or the credit for the work that they'd created. And then in order to tell this story, we realized that we needed to be able to create a context, and so that context meant being able to tell this story. We started the story in the early 19 seventies, and that was looking at the works of the likes of designers Joe Casely Hayford, Bruce Oldfield, Nineveh Como, Charlie Allen, and in the sense of context, we looked at what was it like for people living in the seventies, the eighties, and the nineties, and that meant presenting a visualization which showed that there were race riots, there was police brutality, we were going through the Thatcherite years, That we were going through a lot of heinous stuff, which isn't really talked about, but we knew that there was no way that we could talk about the brilliance and excellence that a lot of these designers, achieved over their career unless we presented the backdrop of what people had to exist through in order to be able to maintain or create the works in which they did.

Harris Elliott [: 00:30:46

So we crafted a journey. So we went from home through tailoring, through performance, through nightlife, and in our final zone, that was a celebration of the designer Joe Casely Hayford, and that was the largest offering of clothes within the exhibition. Leading up to that point, we had a number of artists from Chris Ofili, Faisal Abdul Alaa, Zach Ove, Horace Ove. Also, we were sharing artworks and photography and painting, and that sense that we needed to create that full sense of visualisation of how people chose to express themselves and how work would inform and inspire what it is that they did. We commissioned a number of contemporary designers, and our remit to them was that they had to create, a new piece of work that responded to the timeline to create a piece of work that looked at that time between the 19 seventies through till around 2010, largely a time before a lot of them had been creating. They were probably still at uni, or still at maybe even at secondary school, and it's the notion that to create something that looked back also moved the dial forward, and so we could then not just create a retrospective looking back at what people were creating, but how to bring a new audience in to see how their peers would be able to respond to our generation or their parents' generation, and what that might mean collectively as a whole.

David M. Watts [: 00:32:11

So the exhibition, The Missing Thread, what was the meaning of the title?

Harris Elliott [: 00:32:16

The title sums up 40 to 50 years of obscured, often intentionally separated or denied talents. And so it's the voices, the names, and the professions that have been denied, or that were hidden in plain sight. Those careers, those names, those professions, that's what was missing. And so, in terms of the idea, thread brings it back to that sense of fashion and tailoring. So the threads that are missing, these were the voices, the visual voices that have been missing for all of these years within British creativity.

David M. Watts [: 00:32:56

Fascinating. I was there on opening night, and it was truly, amazing. I mean, there was a huge crowd, a huge turnout, and it was incredibly busy. I loved the the juxtaposition of the art and the objects as as much as the fashion. And seeing some of these things that were just so uniquely clever, but then also with your amazing amazing visual conceptualization of it. The the placement of it, the way that it was positioned and exhibited was was fantastic. I particularly liked the Joe Casely Hayford tribute, which was amazing. I mean, he's a fantastically talented man, and a great loss to to fashion.

David M. Watts [: 00:33:36

It was really powerful and and a really different approach to exhibitions, which I think is really refreshing today. Is there potentially an opportunity to take the the show somewhere else at this stage? Can you say, or do you know that yet?

Harris Elliott [: 00:33:53

There's been a number of conversations about the exhibition going further afield. There's been requests. Can it go to the north of England? Can it go to America? Can it go to Paris? The jury is still out. We would love for it to travel somewhere else, but, anyone who's put on an exhibition knows it doesn't cost £5 and an Oyster card. It takes a bit more than that.

David M. Watts [: 00:34:13

So we'll do a shout out

Harris Elliott [: 00:34:15

So yeah.

David M. Watts [: 00:34:15

Live on Just A Fashion Minute for a sponsor, our potential sponsors who would like to find this actually, this incredible piece of curated work, at this exhibition to take it internationally because it definitely deserves it. So we'll send it out to the ether.

Harris Elliott [: 00:34:31

Can I say, I mean, we had a brilliant sponsor, headline sponsoring Morgan Stanley for the first iteration of the missing thread, and without them, it couldn't have taken place? So if they're listening or if anyone anyone else is listening, yeah, we'll be happily take it further afield.

David M. Watts [: 00:34:49

Fantastic. Let's let's try to make that happen. I wanna talk about the industry. As a black male stylist, do you think you're moving the needle on how stylists are perceived in the fashion industry?

Harris Elliott [: 00:35:00

My presence in the industry has meant that the needle has always moved forward. When I started out, there weren't tons of black stylists. All of them I probably knew or was aware of, and there were definitely often restrictions on or glass ceilings in terms of how one might move forward or navigate the industry, but hopefully my staying power, me finding a way that makes sense for my working, which is often with a lot of international clients who totally get what it is that I do. There's that line, I'm not sure if it's from history or Bible or wherever, but it says a prophet has no honor in his own home. It's not that I don't have any honor in the UK, but so often people say to me, why are you always in America or in Japan? And it's because people there kind of respect and respond to what it is that I do. And if I had more clients here, then I wouldn't need to get on a plane so often. But having that as part of my USP, and it's something that I've built into my brand and into my business and so much of what I do, showing that there's a way to be able to do things differently. There isn't just one way of looking at things or expected, tried, and tested past.

Harris Elliott [: 00:36:21

There's so many other territories out there that one can explore, that adds so much to what it is that you could do in ways that you could never imagine. And so, for me, that needle continued to move forward every time I get on a train, or get on a plane, or interact with new people, because it allows me to see things differently and present what I do in a new way, which will always be very different to how my peers present themselves.

David M. Watts [: 00:36:46

Indeed. So we are living in a world of digital mayhem. Artificial intelligence. Is AI going to impact on the role of the stylist in the future?

Harris Elliott [: 00:36:59

It's not in the future. It's in the now. It's already started to impact.

David M. Watts [: 00:37:03

How so? How's it? What's happening?

Harris Elliott [: 00:37:05

As an academic at the Royal College of Art, and I also popped my head in at St. Martin's as well, seeing how a lot of younger creatives are working. AI is integral to the ways in which a lot of people are designing and thinking about style, and just earlier this week, there was one particular creative who, post CSM, has been doing a lot of AI style works. Years ago, I think it was Burberry that had that app where you could go into store, and then you would you could scan yourself, and then you could see yourself in the different collections without having to try absolutely everything on. And so in terms of the technology, the technology has already been there. We've already actually been using it, but not necessarily aware of it. So combined with what I've been seeing recently, knowing with also what the industry already has, in terms of creating looks, in terms of putting things together, you'll just be able to instead of old, we would go through vogue.com as a stylist and pick specific looks that you would like to have for a particular shoot. You could just probably pick the the brands that you want and give the AI the theme that you want, and let that then pick all of the things that you need for you.

Harris Elliott [: 00:38:20

So then you don't even actually need to go through that tooling process. That will do it for you. And then and that's just on a basic format. And I think, moving forward, as some people artists might present themselves, there's gonna be virtual tours. I work with gorillas who were ahead of the curve 20 odd years ago, presenting themselves with holograms. Now that's not so in terms of what it is that they do. But the idea of this ego, this visualization on this avatar of self, AI already exists, and I'm someone who kind of would, of all, be way more analog and digital, but very aware that the ways in which I work, I try and create tangible digital works using tangible assets, So something that's very visceral or tactile, but then presented in digital format.

David M. Watts [: 00:39:12

But you're very hands on. You're very hands on.

Harris Elliott [: 00:39:13

Very hands on in that way. But also been aware for ages that my work has to live in a digital space. So, therefore, I think people just even need to get off the train or be aware that the train's already moving really fast, and so AI is already here. So how do you feel about this AI revolution? It's quite scary. It's a necessary Evil? Evil. Didn't wanna use that word, but it is a necessary evil that we have to interact with. I remember seeing Minority Report and Gattaca in the early 2000s, and this brave new world that was about to come, and so now living with it, and how we will adapt to it. I think a lot of beauty will come out of it, but I think we also just need to know how to monitor it because brands and clients could end up cutting out a lot of roles by not honoring those of us who've brought the industry to what it is to today.

Harris Elliott [: 00:40:12

And what about you, David? What do you think about it?

David M. Watts [: 00:40:14

Well, I I mean, I think you've made several points about the fact that, you know, the digital tech of it has been around for a long time. Funnily enough, I we were talking about minority reports and the holographic emails and etcetera. And Gattaca, which is actually one of my favorite films of all time Same. Which so few people have ever seen. It is a masterclass in sci fi. I still air on the side of that. You have to be creative to input, to get out of AI what people are gonna want. And that's gonna still need lots of really skilled talented people because the problem that we have, as you will know, you know, we have a lot of cut and paste and copy creative.

David M. Watts [: 00:40:55

Brands are really risk averse. They don't understand the value of creativity, which takes time. You have to sit in a room and give yourself space and time to come up with creative ideas. And they don't wanna pay for that because they don't understand how the value of it is. So I think that, yes, AI is gonna be big waves, but I still think it's gonna come down to having really talented people to be able to use it. And there, I don't see it's gonna be a problem. I I think it will be for some people, but I think if you have real talent, you'll be able to use AI.

Harris Elliott [: 00:41:26

But in what you said, do you not think that necessary evil in a time of austerity where people are cutting budgets? Do you not think that the use of AI means that people will start cutting even more, cutting those corners in order to be able to fulfill what it is that they think that they need.

David M. Watts [: 00:41:43

I think they will initially. I definitely think there will be casualties. But I think like everything else you've discovered, I mean, you and I have been around long enough, me considerably longer than you, that over time, these things will settle. And we know that, you know, it starts to flow to the surface, good and bad, and, actually, the talent will out, You know, because you're still going to need talent. And people, you know, you've you've already shown and actually spoke today about your clients in Japan, who completely understand the uniqueness that you bring to it. Now there will be people who are gonna cut corners and people on budgets. We know that. It happens now.

David M. Watts [: 00:42:21

And there will be people trying to take advantage. But I think, fundamentally, we will be able to learn to use AI to our advantage, but you'll still need incredibly creative people. At least that's what I believe. We're coming to the end of the show, but it would be good to have a fashion minute, with our quick fire questions. So do you wanna tell the listeners if you've ever had an embarrassing fashion moment?

Harris Elliott [: 00:42:42

I was DJing 1 New Year's, and it was a fancy it was a fancy dress affair. I used to be a big fan of Batman. I dressed up as the Riddler, orange hair, everything, green suit with question marks all over it, turned up to this venue. The bartender said to me, who the fuck have you come as? And as I looked around the pub, very few people were dressed in fancy dress. So for me, that was my embarrassing moment turning up.

David M. Watts [: 00:43:09

Love it. Love it. Do you have a favorite retail store, fashion or otherwise, anywhere in the world?

Harris Elliott [: 00:43:17

It's funny that we talked about Drew's earlier. When I first went to Japan into the nineties, the one store that impacted me was the the Drew's flagship store that they had in Tokyo. But now, a store that I return to again and again is Christopher Nemeth. It's a really small boutique in Aoyama. It's been recreated from its original design. The walls are covered in dark brown paper, A3 pieces of paper. The whole shop is a work of art. It's this collage of Chris' hand drawings, which have been reproduced on these pieces of paper.

Harris Elliott [: 00:43:58

Every drawer, every door, every surface is as is this collage that you step and walk into. And so for me, whenever I go to Japan, I always love going to the Nemo store because it's almost like an old curiosity shop that I've never ever been to. But I feel that's what that shop does for me.

David M. Watts [: 00:44:17

Love it. I love it. Today, is there any unsung hero in the industry that you would like to give a shout out to?

Harris Elliott [: 00:44:26

I would love to give a shout out to Takeo Kikuchi. Takeo is a designer and collaborator of mine. Takeo is in his eighties. Very few people know him here, but what I always find remarkable about Takeo Kikuchi is of the same age period group of Yoji and Reiko and Kubo, but Takeo never chose to set up shop in Europe. He would always choose to bring culture to Japan, Nena's first trip to Japan and Ochereh's first trip to Japan was going to do a show for Takeo Kikuchi. Takeo employed the original stylist Ray Petri to style all of his early shows. Takeo would bring over mods, gospel choirs, rosters, all different manners of culture to Japan, and so he would have it in its purest form in Japan. And I've been blessed to be able to work with Takeo the last 10 years, and then also being in that lineage of Ray Petrie, which was then handed to Barry Kamen, and now then got handed to me working with Takeo.

Harris Elliott [: 00:45:34

He's someone that very few people know in the UK, alongside the other Japanese names that most people are aware of. But actually his influence on bringing British culture to Japan, there isn't any other designer like it. And so I'm a big fan. We also share a birthday together, so we have that other synergy. And so, yeah, my big shout out is definitely for Takeo Kikuchi.

David M. Watts [: 00:45:57

Fantastic. I shall certainly go and check him out. Lastly, describe to the listeners what you're wearing today and why you chose this outfit.

Harris Elliott [: 00:46:06

Why, thank you. My fresh minute. So I'm wearing a red, black, and green bucket cap by Le Tings, which is one of my projects. I'm wearing a jumpsuit, which is a navy melt and wool jumpsuit that I picked up in a secondhand shop in Belgrade a few months ago. Underneath, I've got a pink patchwork Aries hoodie, and I'm wearing my Gelo Salomon collaborative sneakers.

David M. Watts [: 00:46:38

Which look very smart, I might add. Fantastic. So before we close, is there any Instagram locations that you wanna give us that people can find your work or see or reach you?

Harris Elliott [: 00:46:51

There are 3 Instagrams that I'm gonna point you to. Firstly, would be LaTing's. LaTing's is my brand and project that I launched 3 years ago, which is looking at the African diaspora through the lens of the market. It's really fun. It's a celebratory, unconventional way of creating an Instagram and also website. There is We are the Bold Agency, those of us who create the missing thread. And there's my personal page, which is at harriselliottstudio. I post from time to time, but you will get a sense of who I am, definitely.

David M. Watts [: 00:47:25

And Elliott is 2 l's and two t's.

Harris Elliott [: 00:47:27

It most definitely is.

David M. Watts [: 00:47:29

Good. Good. I have really enjoyed hearing about the world your world of styling because I think it's something that, as you were saying, a lot of people just don't really understand or get to what extent, but you you have you've given a really interesting insight into your technique. And I I know I've known you for quite a long years. Quite a long time. And you do have a very specific, distinct individual style, which is incredibly creative and I'm very envious of. So people should definitely go and check you out. But it's been really interesting.

David M. Watts [: 00:48:00

I hope the the listeners got a really good insight into into the world of fashion styling. And thank you very much for joining just a fashion minute today.

Harris Elliott [: 00:48:07

Thank you for having me.

David M. Watts [: 00:48:09

In our next podcast, we are joined by fragrance expert, Christopher Yu, to delve into the luxurious world of perfume. We explore how scent can evoke memories and discuss the industry's move towards sustainability. Christopher will also share his personal journey in the fragrance world and will teach us the language of smell. Be sure to check it out. Thank you for listening to Just A Fashion Minute with me, David m Watts. If you haven't already, please give the show a follow on your podcast app and on Instagram. For more information, you can email us at podcast at just a fashion minute dot com. This show was produced by One Fine Play.

David M. Watts [: 00:48:47

Matt Cheney is a series producer. Kasra Farrugia is a producer and editor. Selena Christopheides is the designer. I have been your host, David m Watts, and this has been just a fashion minute.