DANNY LOMAS' UNIQUELY MODERN BRITISHNESS

Since the unfortunate and premature end of PAQ back in 2019, Danny has continued to further cement himself in the world of fashion, working on campaigns with Gucci, Ralph Lauren, and seminal British designer Nigel Cabourn. A champion of blending classic Britishness with a modern sensibility, Danny has situated himself as an icon of the contemporary age – uncompromising in his approach to style and encapsulating traditional British wit.

Distinctive and instantly recognisable, classic British menswear has remained ever-present within the fashion canon, despite general shifts towards an American-centric outlook rooted in streetwear, and luxury fashion's ever changing sensibility. Rooted in tradition, British menswear's influence on Danny's outlook has culminated in a melting pot of influence - a modern and unique combination that offers a new vision of what contemporary British menswear style can be.

Sitting down with Danny Lomas, END. discuss the importance of classic British design to his style, modern subculture, and his hopes for the future.

Having come up through streetwear, you’ve cultivated a distinctive stylistic approach that couples classic British design with a modern twist - what is your style inspired by and how would you define it?

I love the phrase “old school cool”, and I think that style has carried over through the ages, with clothes that are pretty timeless. It comes a lot from my family – my mum was a mod and my auntie and uncle were punks - so I’ve always had a love for British subcultures and the music that goes alongside it. My music taste probably inspired a lot of how I dress – I love Northern Soul, Motown and Ska, as well as mod music and the mod ethos. I feel that now if you take it too far, it can look a bit fancy dress, like you’re in This Is England, or you can just look really dated. There’s some elements of how I dress that still incorporates the streetwear side of things that comes together really nicely. I can wear suit trousers from a mod brand with Our Legacy boots and a Martine Rose t-shirt. It’s nice to be able to stay in the fashion world and up to date with contemporary designers and incorporate it into the way I dress. Rather than thinking “I’d love to wear new brands - I’d love to wear whatever designer” but feeling that I can’t because I’ve got a mod cut and I’m always in suits. You’re missing out on half the fun then. I think I’ve found a nice little hybrid in the middle of it – to be able to enjoy both sides of it.

What initially piqued your interest in classic British style?

Even though my family have always dressed “normally” since I’ve been alive – my Mum will wear paisley dresses and my auntie and uncle still wear Dr. Martens and band t-shirts now - seeing photos from when they were younger and going all out with the style is really cool. It opened it up to me because it didn’t feel too alien – I never needed to have that rebellious moment where I stuck a safety pin through my nose - it felt much more normal. With brand’s like Fred Perry, for example, I would always go and look at the clothes and get dressed in it by my parents as a kid. When I got into streetwear, I moved away from it a little bit. But, especially in Driffield, people would go out in town in adidas, jeans and a Fred Perry – you always had a brand new Fred Perry for the night out. I really found my love for it again when I started to find the cut and sew side of what they did, especially the Bradley Wiggins collaborations – with the funnel neck polo shirts and merino wool pieces. It was really sharp and cool, and I was at the right age where it felt a bit cooler, compared to wearing the classic polo shirts when I was a kid.

Your style seems to draw a great deal from subcultures of the 60s, 70s & 80s – what is it about the subcultures of the past that inspires and appeals you? Do you think that modern subculture informs style in the same way?

Obviously, I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t addicted to my phone. I love the idea that back then, there were no phones about, but the music and the style was fantastic and still holds up now. The atmosphere around it all meant that you had to find your own style and niche – you couldn’t just look online and see what someone in Japan was wearing. You couldn’t just see what celebrities were wearing day to day. Magazines, shop windows and your mates were the main influence back then. I love the whole thing of something being traditionally linked to a specific area. We’re in the age where we can find any information instantly at our fingertips, but back then it was so much more difficult. Someone would make something for one use, and it would take an entirely different trajectory and end up becoming the staple piece for something else entirely. I’m fascinated by how things became a fundamental part of a subculture. I don’t think we’ve really had a huge new subculture since Grime, maybe. That seems to be the most recent subculture that I can remember. Obviously, Y2K is a bit of a trend now, but it’s just repeating the past. Grime had a rawness and grittiness, complete with an aesthetic that shook the world and spoke to a generation. I like that it had a style to go with the soundtrack. Every good and interesting subculture has a soundtrack behind it driving it. You just don’t get that as much anymore.

One of the founding members of PAQ, the show kickstarted your career in fashion – did you find that becoming a TV personality connected to fashion meant that you had more or less freedom to express your own personal brand of style?

I got more free, to be honest. In some of the first episodes that we filmed – I don’t even know if they got aired – I remember thinking, with my mum being a mod, that it would’ve been blasphemy if I got a leather jacket. We were doing an episode and it was rock’n’roll themed, so I ended up going to Lewis Leathers in London. The store was amazing, and it was incredible to hear about the history of the brand and the ethics behind it, the people who have worn it in the past, and how they bring the past to future. I left thinking that I could easily buy an £800 leather jacket based on what I’d just heard. It’s that sort of feeling that PAQ really opened me up to. I kept my style - I didn’t just switch it up out of nowhere - but it definitely opened my eyes to a lot more variation and shone a light onto brands that I maybe wasn’t aware of before through chatting to the people behind the scenes. If you really admire someone, and they tell you that a specific brand is particularly good for this niche thing, it really makes you want to go and check it out. Working on PAQ expanded my style, but kept it rooted in what it was originally, too.

Beginning PAQ as someone out with the fashion industry, what were the most surprising things you learnt from your experience on the show?

I’d always loved clothes – when I was younger I’d go shopping on my own in Hull, at Topman and River Island back then – I always knew I wanted to work in fashion, but I didn’t know quite what it was that I wanted to do. In college, I was shit on a sewing machine and I couldn’t write about fashion. I used to love reading about it but didn’t enjoy writing in depth about it. I was a stylist’s assistant, and I got casted for a Margiela runway that I never ended up doing – I stayed in contact with the guy who casted me, and I ended up assisting him for a week. I think that taught me a lot about the fashion industry and how it works, what goes into a shoot for a magazine or a brand etc. So, I went to PAQ with that background. I started PAQ in September and had done that maybe in the March/April before. As it progressed, it was eye-opening to see different avenues of that. It would be hard to pick out any singular thing because what really resonated with me was that everything you had previously thought about it was wrong. So much work goes on behind the scenes for everything – especially runway shows. With the jobs that seem glamourous and easy on the surface, for example – it’s definitely a rather you than me sort of feeling. I’ve no idea how people do it day in day out. I’ve been very fortunate with PAQ, as it has allowed me to infiltrate this world without having to do any real work, in a sense (laughs). Obviously, it was hard work, but I didn’t have to work for a brand and work my way up – we were able to go in and work with the brands, see what goes on behind the scenes and meet incredible people. It was amazing to get a full 360 degrees view of what the industry is like as a presenter. That’s why I loved it so much, because no two days were ever the same and you never knew what you’re going to find that really excited you. It was always full of learning.

Is presenting something that you want to continue to pursue in the future?

I like the idea of it. When you think of presenting, you often imagine TV shows – I wouldn’t mind that per say, but I loved that with PAQ it was almost like journalism, rather than TV presenting. It would be amazing to do something like that again, working in the fashion world from journalism perspective. What I loved about it was that it wasn’t going in to interview someone to hear them say the same thing they’ve said a million times before. It was letting them talk about their history and letting them sell their dream to you. I loved that aspect of it, and I don’t think there are really many jobs where you’re able to do that.

Working with Nigel Cabourn over the past few years, you seem to have struck up a great relationship as both friends and collaborators. How did you first meet Nigel? Were you already a fan of his work at that time?

I’d seen his clothes before and had heard about him before after working in the menswear scene, but I’d never really seen them up close before. It’s quite rare to see people fully kitted out, head to toe, in Cabourn in the UK. The first time I met him was when my friend Dill, who was the buyer at the Priory, had an appointment with his daughter, Sophie. Dill invited me along afterwards for drinks, and we became great friends straight away. Sophie is like a big sister, I love her to pieces. The first time I met Nige was at a sit-down interview event, and Sophie introduced me to him before the event started. He really is one in a million – he’s the most gentle, funny bloke. As he was doing the sit down talk, his collection was hung up behind him, and I remember him just interrupting the interviewer and getting me to model his clothes as the interview was going on. He’s just so unapologetically himself. From that moment, we just got along straight away.

With Nigel’s interest in archival clothing and your interest in classic British style, there seems to be a common fascination in clothing of the past. Do you think that there was a connection between you because of that shared interest?

Definitely – because with Nige, how he dresses is so wild but it suits him so well. I took a shine to that, because it really is just so interesting. Hearing him talk about why he likes it makes it ten times better as well. It’s not like he accidentally has stumbled into it all. He gets references from the military, the navy, the air force etc – his approach is so rooted in the history behind it all. His archive has about 3000 pieces of military garments, with a huge library full of books. He just has such a huge passion for it, and that passion is just so infectious. Seeing how he is just makes you want to do it too. That kind of passion makes it feel like a subcultural thing where you just feel so cool when you’re a part of it. Obviously, you can wear Cabourn with anything, but when you wear full Cabourn, it’s such a strong look and it’s so identifiable. I really love how that translates.