Award-winning fashion designer Jeff Banks has enjoyed a long illustrious career dating back to the decadent swinging 60s.
He started life as fashion’s jack of all trades designing, creating and selling his own women’s clothing range, and tomorrow he’s harking back to his roots by advising customers at his self-titled outlet store in Cheshire Oaks.
He explained: “My range reflects my personality. I have this sort of ethos that if I’m not going to wear it I’m not going to sell it.
“I’m really fussy that everything I do I’m happy with personally.”
The 1960s not only marked the starting point of his career and his flair for fashion, but has influenced his work ever since which translates through to his current menswear collection.
“My background stems from the early 60s when I first got involved in fashion – most of my influences I’ve drawn from that and I guess forms very much part of what I do,” he said.
“As luck would have it, it comes round again and again, so they’d find it very difficult to get rid of me!”
This period shaped an entire generation who shrugged off the shackles of post-war austerity and embraced the advances in science, the excitement of the space race and a more ‘modern’ approach to relationships.
“Our parents had suffered the Second World War and what made the 60s special for our generation was the opportunities in music, art, culture and fashion that came about, which gave us the opportunity to dispel all the rigidity our parents inflicted on us,” he said.
“My mum would buy a Mars bar and cut it into seven pieces. We weren’t allowed the whole thing at once – instead it was spread across the week.”
Nowhere was this societal change more strikingly illustrated than through fashion trends.
“I loved, and still love, clothing which reflects that anarchic streak – I still look to things I wore back in the 60s such as trousers that were too tight and stiff-collared white shirts that a banker would wear,” Jeff explained.
“The look has come back really strong especially now TV presenters like Ant and Dec are reverting to that style.
“Customers now resonate with the look, whereas with older shoppers it takes them back to their youth.”
And with many contemporary design houses including Prada, Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton sending models down the catwalk in 60s-inspired looks this season, Jeff’s style is very much in vogue.
He said: “Back in the 60s when I worked in womenswear, I would take inspiration from a suit George Best was wearing and turn it into a mini dress.
“Floppy hats, miniskirts and polo neck jumpers were really fashionable and that is very much the look for now – the current men’s look is parallel to that style.”
Moving on from the swinging 60s to co-founding Warehouse in the late 1970s Jeff continued to enjoy huge success which was cemented when celebrities looked to him for design advice.
He said: “I’m really proud of the work I did back in the 80s when I was doing clothes for Eurythmics, designing clothes for Annie Lennox and David Stewart – I look back on that time very fondly.
“Another influential one, though completely different, was when I redesigned the Brownies and Girl Guides uniforms.
“To design something for one and a quarter million members – that was a biggy!”
His latest venture Jeff Banks Pink Pants aims to help raise awareness and money for breast cancer charities.
“The idea of pinks pants was just a crazy idea, but seems quite fitting given that Angelina Jolie is in the news after having a double mastectomy,” he said.
“Men want to support women but don’t know how – by buying a pair of pinks pants they can show their loved one they really care about them and support a great cause.”
Jeff is due to make the eight-hour round trip for his visit to Cheshire to meet and greet shoppers and offer a wide variety of fashion and grooming trips.
“I’m still a shopkeeper at heart, which harks back to my own shop in the 60s,” he explained.
“It’s a bit Mr Selfridges – talking to customers, helping them try stuff on trying something they would never have done.”
Jeff will meet and greet customers at the Cheshire Oaks Jeff Banks outlet between 11.30am and 3.30pm tomorrow.
Image courtesy of DebenhamsRetail via YouTube, with thanks
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