Designer Dish: Tom Scott
Posted On July 2, 2010
At first glance, Tom Scott’s deconstructionist knitwear can leave you scratching your head. A cashmere dress from his Fall 2010 collection features a startling four sleeves—and can be worn upside down. It’s befuddling at first–but then: “You take the sleeves and turn them into a belt,” he says, demonstrating the look in his Chelsea studio. Suddenly, it all falls into place.
As the perspicacious adage goes, one must know the rules in order to break them. “Most of my designs start in a classic place,” the designer says. “And then I rethink them and twist them around.” We, in turn, get inventive knit constructions that blur the lines between outfit and accessory. A scarf can be a top. A button-hole cut-out freeform knit piece can be a dress, or a layering piece. His most recent hats mimic human hair—if you have a pixie cut, they could serve as a wig. This isn’t your mother’s cable-knit sweater, though Scott, who loves to re-appropriate old pieces, would find a way to make that work, too.
It’s clear Scott has done his fashion homework better than most. He gets his love of textiles honestly; he was born into a family of artisans. His father wove carpets; his Scottish grandmother was an expert knitter and lacemaker. “I guess I didn’t realize how much my lineage featured into my career path,” he reflects.
He spent a lot of time in Scotland growing up. “My grandmother taught me how to crochet at a very young age,” Scott reflects. Nearby, textile history was omnipresent. His grandmother worked at the Quaker Lace Factory. Not only that, but “Pringle’s headquarters was nearby. It was inspiring.” Proximity to the Scottish heritage brand was one of many things that sparked a lasting interest in knits. By age 11, Scott’s obsession with textiles fully cemented.
“I learned how to knit before I could sew. Actually, I still don’t really sew.” he laughs. After debating whether or not to turn his passion professional, ended up studying “art textiles” formally at Philadelphia University, then Scottish College of Textiles. Before starting his own line in 2001, he worked as a textiles designer during gigs at both Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein.
Fast forward to the present. Scott’s visionary knitwear presaged the mid-2000s “avant-garde knit” craze in Europe (spearheaded by Louise Goldin), won an Ecco Domani award in 2007, and manifested a certain cult following among both women and men from New York to Russia and Hong Kong. Among the the high-end purveyors of his line are Barneys, Ikram, Project. No 8, and Creatures of Comfort–retailers that cultivate a certain art-minded luxury client.
Scott, whose nondescript upside-down label is the antithesis of a logo, believes the relative anonymity of his pieces speaks to the integrity of their design. He has faith in his customer’s judgment. “They find my pieces for a reason,” he states. Scott remarks that he’s impressed by his clients’ advanced style sensibilities, which further diversify the versatility of his renegade ensembles. “They wear me in ways I’d never expect—and in turn, their ideas influence my own. It’s a cycle of inspiration.”
Scott still believes in the aesthetic value of prioritizing fabric and form over styling. “I like to think I see shapes and textures in things that might not conventionally lend themselves to fashion.” As you might suspect from a vanguard of distortionist attire, Scott has culled inspiration from unlikely sources, indeed. Anatomical guides, vintage patterns, and the work of Françoise Sullivan have all sparked the genesis of a new season for Scott. Last season, he became enamored with so-called “hair culture”. He pulls out a book, rubber-banded with hair elastics. Here, literally, is Hair Culture, the book.
“I found this,” he says excitedly. “It’s an old book written in the early 1900s on how women should take care of their hair. It was so random, humorous, and era-specific and exactly the type of thing that can trigger huge inspiration.” Before long, Scott was cut and pasting photos of unconventional hairstyles and biomaterial textures and–most ludicrously–tails into this dilapidated handbook, which now serves as Fall 2010’s official tactile lookbook. Suddenly, all the loops, shaggy fringes, and interesting frizz of the season have a new, witty context: follicles. Braids become cable knits. Curls became woolen ringlets. “It’s so important to retain a sense of humor in fashion. I find it really lacking in general.” Fittingly, Scott presented the Hair Culture collection at the infamous Beauty Bar, with his models in hair rollers.
Where will Scott’s proclivity for kinetic textiles take him next?
He’s already explored the requisite domain of home wares successfully. One of his favorite recent creations: the husband pillow, done in cashmere. A novelty item imbued with a sense of lighthearted luxury—how very Tom Scott. He loves the synthesis of intimacy and invention.
“I want to get more into unisex wear,” Scott notes. “I just love the idea of a cool boyfriend and girlfriend sharing clothes. What a intimate concept. What a modern couple.”
With very cool sweaters.
