INTERVIEW: JEREMY SCOTT

Interviewer - Verbal (V) Interviewee - Jeremy Scott (JS)

V:Hi again, Its like an interview day for you, flying all around the world! Can you tell the listeners where you've been so far?
JS:Sure, well I started in LA, where I live, and then I went to New York for New York fashion week, and then from there I went to Paris for Paris fashion week, and then from there I flew to Hong Kong, Beijing was where I was last, I'm here now in Tokyo and tomorrow I fly to Seoul Korea. Before on Sunday arriving back home in Los Angeles.
V:So how long have you been out of town for?
JS:It's getting on week six, I believe.
V:Wow, you don't get calls from people like, "Where are you? Where you been?"
JS:No I think everyone just follows the twitter and they kinda see that I keep popping up in new places.
V:How do you take care of yourself? Your body must be like screaming, like confused!
JS:Confused yes exactly! Soon as I got to Hong Kong I definitely went into the W there and got a massage and tried to assimilate getting into the right time frame. Did some feet massages too in Hong Kong that were good. And just try to eat right.

V:Well now your in Japan, you've been here many times, you got your crew here, the posse that always gathers when your in town but tell me what you've been doing since you got here.
JS:Pretty much hanging out with the kids. I went shopping around Harajuku Cat street checking out everything new what's going on, saw the kids, and yeah just being out and about seeing the inspirational City that I love.
V:Where do you like to go shop? I heard this rumor that you don't like to go shopping
JS: Partly thats true actually. I really don't ever go shopping and I really don't like shopping but I do love being out here and walking around and seeing all the stores and seeing everyone out and about. I mean I love a Sunday in Tokyo because of how many people are out and about in their Sunday finest. So thats just already something I love but yeah...
V:So when you do go shopping, is it like your job, like your switch just comes on like "Thats cool, this is totally a reference for my design..." or can you just switch off and just be a shopper?
JS:Mainly if I'm shopping I'm seeing the stores that are selling my clothes and just kind of connecting with them and checking in saying "Hey" and sometimes I find things for myself that I like to wear of course. It's all kind of together either if I'm finding things for myself to wear or kind of seeing on the business side like what's selling of mine and how its going and what the stores have to say about it.

V:I'm trying to tie this in with the whole Adidas tour, this big thing. You've been doing this Adidas x Jeremy Scott Originals by Originals. You've been doing this collaboration for a while. Where do these ideas pop up from? Do you go to like Adidas warehouse full of old references or do you just walk about and go to some vintage store and find a cool piece like how does it all come together?
JS:Well every idea has its own incubation but I mean, I've really especially for the apparel, I think I've worn so many different Adidas track suites I kind of understood them very well so when I work on the track suites I m kind of working off one or two of the most classic, Superstar and Firebird. They're the first track suite as well so I kind of use that as the base and go from there with the different fabrics that they would normally traditionally be in. And then adding my element of either print or embellishment color choices and then everything else is really kind of just the way I would image things to be. I mean thats part of my brain, the way it works is that I see things and then I redesign them just like part of walking down the street. A building, a watch, a door, clothes, this is the way I would see it, this is the way my brain would flip it like " Yeah I would wear a football jersey if it had lots of studded lime stones all over it. Hmm I like to have that". So in one way its very one plus one but in a way its kind of... Its one plus one in my head but I don't think its one plus one for everyone else in a sense that its not really laid out in front of me. Kind of like some how the way my brain puts it together it seems very obvious but I think in the end its surprising.
V:Do you research online as well or are you more like a foot person like you like to go see things and meet people?
JS:Both. If I was looking at say a military jacket for instance I would do both. I would look and see what's on line, also you have to imagine I've been wearing my own personal clothes for a long time that I have collected things over the years that I've bought and worn and loved, I just also go to my closet first and foremost and be like "oh I love these kind of metal buttons cause they represent to me an old military style." So if I took inspiration from them I could probably find in my own closet firstly.

V:The reason why I ask is because a lot of kids, as convenient as internet may be, I feel like that researching just became more virtual rather than real. In Japan as well there's a lot of kids who just so into the virtual and they don't really communicate anymore seems like.
JS:Its a big phenomenon here thats actually become a crisis. The whole mentality can really get scary.
V:Because they feel like they can just "I m fine online just meeting people online" which is kind of fun and to a degree you can feel the same sentiment. But its different because when it comes down to it you didn't actually meet that person. Tying that into fashion there are some kids who similarly feel like "I checked that party online so I know what the parties like" but its different when you actually go to a party versus seeing it on line. Do you think kids like that could be Original? Can kids who just look at things on line be a creative genius? Could a Keith Herring be born in cyber space?
JS:I'm sure everything is possible. I think what your saying is definitely changed a lot of how things go and progress and process because its like just like when you mentioned Mark the Cobrasnake you instantly think of Corey and then his pictures of Corey which turns her into kind of an international icon of youth culture. The "It" girl and then I would see girls that emulate her look which is hard to decipher because its not totally clearly defined either, which I think is probably the real charm of it for those who really love her style. And then I don't know, Do some of those girls who emulate her then spawn from that and become their own thing and do one of them become?... like I don't know its a very interesting point. I think its a great tool and its definitely something that is going to keep continually changing the way everything comes out. I know a lot of people have mentioned to me, "well people don't do their research anymore" because its so laid out for them even about movies or things, its just they didn't have to try so hard, but I don't know. In one way if it makes everyone aware of things that I feel like are cool or interesting, then I should feel like its good, because I m not necessary trying to hide those things. I think if more people saw some John Waters films and some of this and this and this. Definitely I've seen so much through YouTube that I missed that happen when I was growing up things I didn't even know about obviously even things now. So many times I watched YouTube thinking I wouldn't have been able to watch that because I was working or I wasn't watching television that night or ten minutes later its on YouTube something happened on David Letterman someone performed and its definitely altered everything.

V:When you were in Kansas how old were you there until?
JS:I lived in Kansas City till I was 17 and thats when I moved to New York.
V:So one day you were like "whoop" let me go to New York!
JS:I have moved out of Kansas City mentally like when I was 12 but my body was physically there till I was 17.
V:What made you mentally move out of there?
JS:Magazines, television, I just dreamed of another life, dream of another place, dream of another life where everyone did dress exciting and cool and people did listen to the kinds of music I liked and where people did live in these exciting glamorous kind of designed interesting environments. Where it wasn't so drab or dreary or people didnt always except what was handed to them but created something new to hand to others. But I had legally stayed there and finished High School till I was able to be emancipated and go on to discover the world more for myself. I was lucky because I was able to come to Japan when I was 15 and lived in Fukuoka, Kyushu. So I had a really eye opening experience of another culture and a culture that I love very much, the Japanese culture. Then I studied the language. So I already started seeing the different part of the world earlier on. Went to Paris for Graduation form High school so I was grabbing both of still two of my favorite most dominant cultural influences at an early age.
V:So what was going on in Fukuoka? Was it an exchange program?
JS:No, when I was growing up watashi no ii tomadachi wa kanojyo wa Half Nipponjin, half Americajin (my close friend she was half Japanese and half American) so I went and stayed with her family.
V:This was a friend from Kansas City?
JS:Yeah, I knew her since I was little. So then I lived with her family in Kyushu for like three months over the summer and thats where I started learning Japanese and started learning the culture and then came back to America and studied it. While I was in high school I took night courses learning Japanese. But without practicing as much as I should I don't speak it as well as I used to when I was littler. But I still love and appreciate the culture very much and I think I was very lucky to have had that experience.

V:You don't want to whisper Japanese next to Jeremy, he'll know what your talking about!
You've been doing a lot of these collaborations, you also did collaborations with let say Longchamp and stuff, what's your switch? Is it different when you do your collection versus Adiddas versus Longchamp. What are the inspiration and differences in the design process?
JS:Well sometimes, one thing for instance about Longchamp and Adidas are that these are very iconic brands that have created products that are globally renowned not only for being number 1 but also for becoming an icon. For Longchamp the Pillage bag is an icon, it's a French icon its an icon of their brand. So for me to come in and rework it and totally change it to make it totally mine but at the same time its theirs. Thats something I love to do because I work arty with icons being symbols or even actual icons as physical people in my work already so much. From Mickey Mouse to Madonna to McDonalds, these are all icons the trefoil, these are all symbols that everyone can understand readily all over the world and thats what makes it so much more powerful to work with those images and archaeography. That way you can spread the message so much further. So that's what seductive about it for me in that sense because I love to communicate and this is my form of communication. Talking more about when I'm designing I think the difference is when I m designing the Adidas line I think more selfishly about myself. I think about what I would want to wear first and foremost and what my friends would want to wear so it comes more from that perspective the male perspective. When I design my own main collection I think about what I imagine a women would want to wear. It just goes down a different pathway in my brain perhaps thats why there is a different voice at the same time there's a lot of similarities and continuity.

V:There's a lot of listeners from all over the place listening to this show and obviously there's a lot of people who's really into your work. What do you recommend or suggest for kids who's like "ahh maybe I m interested in designs" or they're not sure about what they want to do in the future but all they know is they want to be in fashion or they want to be in this creative mold. But they just don't know the first thing to do. Maybe they're in Fukuoka right now. What do you suggest for people like that?
JS:I think that the thing you should do is really immerse yourself in all that you love. Get every magazine, look at all the blogs, go to every store, then if you could get yourself into school go to that school and if you can get internships then go intern and work for free so you can be around the things you love. And be specific as possible to go spend the time with the things that you love the people you love the places that sell the things you love and from that you'll just take every opportunity like be backstage helping dress out a fashion show, what ever it is. I used to stand in the stores that I loved in Kansas City when I was 14 and helped them fold clothes even though I didn't work there just to be around the clothes. I dressed any kind of show I could while I was in college and helped in any kind of press office or any kind of thing that had products and designs that I loved, and I felt a passion for so that I can learn more and get to know more. I really think thats the thing. Is just to try to immerse your self as much as possible.
V:So after immersing yourself what was your first break? Was there like the "IT" situation or the "IT" person? That changed the course of your life or career?
JS:I feel like to be real honest, hopefully it comes across the right way that I realized that I had to be the "IT" person for me. I couldn't wait for someone to discover me, I couldn't wait for someone to decide that I had talent or try to bring me up in front of everyone else's attention. So I knew that the thing for me to do was to just believe in myself and just to go for it and to be full on. So there really was no such and such discovered me or this happened it was a progression of doing my first show getting my clothes out there.
V:So you invested in your self.
JS:Exactly and I think thats the most important thing also that could convey to one of your listeners that no matter what they're doing is to believe in themselves and to whole heartedly believe in what they're doing and their passion whether its making mixtapes because they're making music and they want to get their music out there and giving that to people or making their own pirate station playing the music they want to play or whether its anything what ever it could be in what ever kind of field just to believe in themselves and to just get out there and do it.

V:Any lasts words, messages for this Fresh Vision listeners out there? Who's aspiring to be like Jeremy Scott?
JS:Just live the dream... live the DREAM!