KIM JONES & HARDCORE

Kim Jones is the head creative director at Alfred Dunhill, which is one of the world’s most prestigious, fancy and expensive men’s fashion houses. A sought-after darling of the fashion world, nominated three times for “Man of the Year” by GQ magazine, and Kanye West’s personal go-to guy for his new Pastelle label, he is truly a giant of modern fashion.

Mention his name in a room full of people who really care about fashion and heads will turn, drinks will spill from cocktail glasses, and everyone will instantly tell Kim Jones anecdotes about how much Kim Jones’ work means to them or how important Kim Jones is to clothes and hats and bags and accessories.

Unbeknownst to me, I had met Kim many years ago with mutual friends from the London hardcore scene, but up until about two weeks ago I had no idea that the cute little kid who always wore the Bold shirts and had a tuft of bleached blond hair was the Kim Jones. So yeah, that shows how much I know about the theme of this issue. Sorry, Carl Lagersfield.

Vice: Hello again after all these years! Let’s talk about hardcore. How did you get into it?

Kim Jones: It was through some friends that went to the Nutley Arms! It was just by chance really, through one group of friends. I liked the “no drink, no drugs” thing and the energy!

What was your favourite band?

Well, I think Gorilla Biscuits, Bold, then onto Youth Of Today, then, later on, Into Another, which was less straight-edge!

Were you in a band?

No, I just hung out really, like we all did back then!

Were you actually straight-edge?

Yes, I was, but I think we all stopped being straight-edge once we started going to raves! It was too much temptation. But I did start again for a good few years later on.

Who was your “crew”?

It was near Brighton. It was Simon Goodrick, Robert Cripps and Jan du Boulay. We would also hang out with Tony Sylvester and Vique Martin [who now runs Revelation Records] in Brighton. We would just spend time buying Jordans, Vans, Stussy and vintage amongst other things. I guess it was all slightly competitive but very stylish. I suppose hardcore was one of the first things that got me into fashion.

Where did you get these shirts from?

That’s a bit of a stretch of the memory. Er, some were bought at gigs, some were ordered from Revelation Records and some were traded and swapped, which was done very frequently!

You don’t remember specific stories about them at all?

Hmm. Not really, no. I think I traded the Minor Threat one with Simon. It’s an original.

Stolen from Vice.