LONDON — Coldplay’s bassist Guy Berryman says he’s not a designer’s designer, but looking at his label, Applied Art Forms, contradicts that.
The brand doesn’t have his name on the label; its headquarters and design studios are in Amsterdam; and there’s no season attached to its collections. Case in point, the brand’s latest drop, which falls into the fall 2024 category, includes pieces for spring and the colder months.
Key pieces include Gurkha shorts based on ‘40s British military attire; vests that take their cues from fighter pilots’ rescue vests; pleated camouflage trousers in shades of gray, and bomber jackets inspired by ‘50s U.S. MA1 flight jacket.
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“This is just what I like. I think it’s really important that whoever is at the helm of a fashion label is allowed to have their handwriting on the brand, but of course, you always have to build commerciality into your business, otherwise your business dies and you don’t get to design anything,” said Berryman in an interview from his design studio.
All his designs are built around the garments he’s collected on his travels with Coldplay, as well as his own solo adventures.
He calls Japan a treasure trove of utilitarian clothing. “The Japanese have had a long history of going to America, raiding all of the American flea markets and bringing all the best stuff back to Japan, hence all the good stuff now sitting in Japan,” said Berryman.
“If I go to a city, I like to go and find the flea markets, thrift stores, vintage and charity shops. I’ve never really been much of a shopper in terms of buying new stuff — that’s never really been wildly important to me, but I always like finding those old, character-full objects,” he added.
When he’s collecting items of clothing, he does it purely on face value as if they were a piece of art that he would hang on his walls at home.
Eighty percent of Berryman’s archive collection consists of outerwear and it’s where his core focus is for the brand. He enjoys adding the detailing, such as adjustable drawstrings; convertible sleeves; double pleats and the positioning of the fastener at the wrist.
“Everything gets built up around the outerwear. There’s a lot of love poured into the details and they’re always the most complex pieces — it’s an opportunity to add complication and detail, whereas you can only do so much with a T-shirt or a hoodie,” he said.
Berryman gets to play the role of an architect and engineer in the studio — subjects he studied at university. His interests started with designing chairs and lamps, but has eventually grown into making clothes.
Making the vests in this collection has been a highlight for him. He’s added as many pockets as he wanted and he feels it “really elevates the rest of the collection,” even if customers aren’t running to buy it instead of the T-shirts, which are one of the brand’s bestsellers along with denim and hoodies.
Berryman is hyper aware of what constitutes a business decision and what is a creative decision — yet he doesn’t mind blurring the lines.
He understands that the brand’s colorways in shades of white, black, gray, khaki green and navy are “quite commercial,” but they’re also colors he loves wearing as he’s never been someone for bright pops of red or blue.
“I’ve certainly learned that starting and operating a fashion brand is very complex and challenging. It’s probably one of the toughest industries anyone could get involved in, simply by the nature of the amount of product that happens. A lot of other businesses will design a product and that product will then be marketed and sold for years without really changing,” said Berryman.
He’s made sure that his brand doesn’t follow the model of selling things at full price and then marking it down within two to three months. Applied Art Form pieces range from $177 for a T-shirt to $1,319 for one of the cargo jackets which are made in Japan.
Even though Berryman has spent a majority of his career with Coldplay, in his downtime or in between festival gigs, he’s glued to his laptop replying to emails; organizing photoshoots; dealing with newsletters and courier services; and human resource admins.
He launched Applied Art Forms four years ago and said the brand is growing at a steady pace.
It’s currently stocked at Mr Porter, Dover Street Market, ModeSens and LN-CC online — and it has retail partners in Los Angeles, New York, Berlin and Japan, which is one of its largest markets with nine stockists that include Freedom From Commonsense, Lister Ginza, Revolution, Super A Market and more.
Berryman is excited for the future of his label, although he’s mum on specifics. “A lot of things are happening, but I’m not in a position to talk about them yet. There is change afoot though.”
He hinted that in the next few months he will be expanding Applied Art Forms’ collections and will “do something interesting with the accessibility to the brand.”
Berryman’s fashion aspirations are fixed on making practical clothes with a design edge. He doesn’t dream of fashion’s theatrics or politics.
“I don’t think I’m ever going to get into haute couture, or types of fashion which are very flamboyant and kind of over the top for the sake of something. I prefer this [Applied Art Forms], as everything I like is rooted in a deep sense of practicality,” he explained.
