#hemingwaydesign

What happens when you hear the name Wayne Hemingway? Are you instantly transported back to the world of the Blitz kids, Acid House and Thatcher’s Britain? Do images of designer Doc Martens, subverted corporate logos, and the Bros watch-topped shoes fill your mind? We had the pleasure of catching up with Wayne about what he’s been up to recently.

Having started from humble beginnings selling second hand clothes on a market stall in Camden Market with his then girlfriend Gerardine, the pair went on to create the fashion industry’s first affordable designer label, Red or Dead. Eventually they exceeded all their expectations, winning the Designer of the Year awards and catching the eyes of famous fashion stylists, clubbers, and fashion industry pros. Even Australian songstress Kylie Minogue wore Red or Dead on the front cover of Smash Hits in 1988 and erstwhile pop icons Bros wore their watch shoes everywhere. Red or Dead had become as big as Alexander McQueen, but more affordable and with more emphasis on street style.

The brand Red or Dead was sold in 1999 giving the Hemingways (by then married and bringing up four children) the necessary resources and time to take on exciting new ventures. HemingwayDesign was established and began to focus on varied aspects of design from small products and artworks up to large-scale housing projects. The design team feels passionately that regeneration provides an obvious social benefit and have worked on urban transformation programmes all over the country. When asked about their design influences Wayne explains what motivates him and his team: ‘We are driven by societal need, everything that we do has got to have a social, people-focused purpose behind it... All of us at HemingwayDesign are driven to design for the common good. We wouldn’t design a private home for somebody rich. We would only design affordable housing and don’t subscribe to the oft elitist stance of many large designer brands’.

As we chat to Wayne, it’s apparent that HemingwayDesign would not be where it is without him and his wife’s combined efforts and Wayne states that ‘everything we did, we did together’. Wayne met Gerardine in Lancashire when he spotted her wearing an eye-catching homemade outfit. Gerardine always made her own clothes and it turned out the pair were both obsessed with dancing at nightspots like the legendary Wigan Casino. 

Even at this young age Wayne had had an interest in clothes, as both his Mother and Grandmother were seamstresses and sometimes made clothes and outfits for him. A telling pair of photos shows a very young Wayne dressed as a cowboy and an ersatz Tarzan. Wayne was promenaded around his birthtown of Morecambe by his proud Nan, and as he grew older his Mum did not mind if he went off to rock concerts around the country. Wayne notched up his first Bowie gig aged 11 and then the Sex Pistols in 1976 at the start of the punk movement. It was shortly after that, Gerardine and Wayne headed to London to do more dancing and watching bands. A type of thrifty homemade approach defined punk fashion and this influenced the Hemingways later when they setup shop.

I asked Wayne what he thought of the ‘fast fashion’ of today, something which is in stark contrast to where he came from. Are people falling out of love with this sort of approach to clothing I ask? Wayne says: ‘For certain. Growth in the feeling that second-hand clothing is a badge of honour, and not going shopping for shopping’s sake, is a significant element of the downturn of the High Street. In wearing secondhand, upcycling, making our own clothes, we were a tiny minority for most of our lives, but all of a sudden it’s seen as the right thing to do’. Wayne relates this shift away from fast fashion with an example, ‘at a dinner party you now get more caché from saying you’ve put a decent outfit together from jumble sales or charity shops than you would from saying that you wear D & G or something. There’s no doubt that’s a major societal shift’. Again he proves his point with an example - this time a ‘Boutique by Shelter’ shop they designed the interiors for at the new Coal Drops Yard retail district in Kings Cross. Charity shops are undoubtedly major players on London’s high streets these days.

Wayne doesn’t like the idea that consumers would purchase something and dispose of it quickly, and in his opinion slow fashion is better for the pocket. He makes the point that ‘most people do crave newness in how they dress, it’s part of being a human being, but it’s far more fun doing it creatively than letting some unimaginative businessman who owns some boring chain doing unethical practice produce that for you. That wouldn’t make sense to me.’

One of HemingwayDesign’s events coming up next month is the Classic Car Boot Sale, a weekend micro-festival of sustainable shopping giving people a chance to make money from trading clothes, upcycling and selling street food. Wayne states ‘if we are in a position to do that, then that's the kind of thing we should do’, again showing his genuine commitment to creating events that have social benefits. Other events from HemingwayDesign taking place this year are Vintage by the Sea, The Festival of Thrift, The National Festival of Making and First Light Festival in Lowestoft, which will be worth a visit.

Just as we start to wrap up the interview, I squeeze in one final question, ‘What is your definition of exceptional design?’ He tells me that if it looks at an issue that needs addressing, like, making transport accessible, providing affordable housing, or enabling  growth for all sectors of society  in deprived areas then in his mind it’s good design. As he says ‘if you move things along to another level and if it makes people happy, then that's good design’.  I love Wayne’s egalitarian view of the world and I applaud how the lessons in thrift he learned from his Grandma still apply today in his quest for sustainable design solutions.

Written by Julia Nelson and Matt Fletcher

Photographs courtesy of Wayne Hemingway MBE

www.hemingwaydesign.co.uk

I grew up going to charity shops with my style-savvy Mum from a very young age, so I’m not precious or snobby when it comes to shopping in them. They’ve survived all the recessions up until now and perhaps they’ll be the only shops left on the high streets in ten years time, won’t that be weird? Can’t see TKMAXX going anywhere though.

I managed, without really intending to, four of FARA Charity’s large flagship charity shops in three years and it took over my life. I still think about it. Probably because it was so life consuming at the time I guess and hard to forget.

If only some people could comprehend the amount of work that goes into running charity shops (it’s intense physical work), they would be gob-smacked and maybe not ask for discounts..yes people REALLY DO ASK THAT. One very famous customer even asked me once and I couldn’t believe it. Obviously, some second-hand shops are totally worth rummaging through (I just know this from scanning them in a few seconds) and others, again, I JUST KNOW, aren’t worth my time.

It all comes down to the person in charge of sorting, technically the person managing the shop and training the staff how to sort. If the person sorting doesn’t have the eye for stylish and good quality pieces, then the whole thing doesn’t work. Then there’s the visual merchandising and the pricing (you have to know the original price of every, individual item before you can calculate the selling price) etc etc it’s a whole big production let me tell you. If the shop window or the rails don’t look stylish and cool and playful, then, I personally am not inspired to browse. Too much stock on the rails is also very irritating and deters people from selecting items to try. The words ‘less is more’ are tattooed on my brain.

I used to separate my designer stock from the low, mid and high-end high street brands by implementing a designer-only rail in the shops and this ramped up the sales. Sounds a bit basic, but it was very effective to the sales and the customers loved it! And the competitive sales targets felt no longer out of reach. People just don’t have the time to sort through the designer from the high street and some people just want designer, which is fine.

I used to pick out key trends well in advance of Season change, so we could launch the Seasons with really style-forward items. I would highlight items that were really on trend or timeless and classic or just beautiful in the windows (and keep replenishing them when they sold) and mix colour palettes and prints on the rails that blended and clashed and looked visually fun and hip! I’d get really creative with combining colours and prints, dressing the mannequins and styling the shop windows - it was a lot of fun. I felt like a Stylist a lot of the time.

The only way to display the stock that got donated non-stop every day of the week was to group everything into categories, so both the customers and staff knew exactly where everything was. If a bloke came in for records or a t-shirt, he’d go straight downstairs and check them out with a real sense of purpose it was very cute. Grouping (as we called it and this method of arranging things works in your home too) was the only method of managing and displaying the constant and chaotic drop off of donations. We’d group anything made from glass together, books, ties, men’s shoes, ladies shoes - we grouped everything into separate categories. The donations were relentless as was tidying up the shops. Amongst the generous donations were some brand new designer pieces STILL with the labels on. We had our fair share of famous donators and customers.

As a loyal and long-term fan of charity and vintage shopping in London and abroad, I simply prefer vintage and second hand to high street. Not only does it benefit your own budget, it also helps save the environment by cutting down on manufacturing demands and keeps more items out of landfill. Re-wearing and recycling old and pre-worn clothes displaces the need to make new virgin fibres. Dressing in second hand and vintage (ethical fashion to be fair) is the antithesis of throwaway fashion. Why isn’t there a Vintage Week might I ask? If people keep buying fast fashion they’ll be no vintage left. And who wants to look mainstream when you can find rare, one of a kind pieces?

Charity and vintage shopping advocates sustainable living and isn’t it better to contribute to conscious consumption by re-using old clothes instead of buying new bland items from the mass market? Recently, I purchased an 80’s mohair cardigan from Peckham-based vintage clothing brand ‘Little Sister’ at the annual classic carboot fair in Granary Square in Kings Cross (a celebration of classic design including vintage fashion), a khaki green military shirt/jacket from the original Rokit vintage shop in Camden and a pair of leopard print pumps from the charity shop Traid in Camden. Could I get something like these from Gap on the high street? I don’t think so. I wouldn’t even bother looking in there. I’m not saying you should only buy second-hand but maybe mix it up a bit and mix some old with some new? I bet if you do, you’ll start warming more to the old stuff. That’s what happened to me. Wearing the same high street brand or designer brand from head to toe communicates no imagination or creativity and we don’t get to see that unique personal sense of style in the person. We were all born creative so there’s no excuse not to get creative with your style.

The Classic Car Boot Sale is the latest venture under HemingwayDesign’s sub-brand, Vintage Festival and the next one is in April 2019. We hope to see you there for a bit of vintage shopping! The selection is going to be so fabulous. In the meantime, go visit your local charity and vintage shops so your money stays in your community.

FARA CHARITY SHOPS http://www.faracharityshops.org

CLASSIC CARBOOT SALE  https://www.classiccarbootsale.co.uk

LITTLE SISTER VINTAGE SHOP @ littlesis_rocks 

ROKIT VINTAGE SHOPS https://www.rokit.co.uk

TRAID CHARITY SHOPS https://www.traid.org.uk

Gosh, in my long old breaks from not posting I had got up to lots of exciting things (and even more not so exciting things - but thats life eh!). Back in 2015 Judy & Ada were asked by Tilly at Hemingway Design to model for the flooring she had designed for Forbo.

Tilly put on some up beat music & the girls danced around laughing & singing & chasing each other & were rewarded after with plently of chocolate biscuits.