Buy, buy... (From Living Northeast)

Buy, buy...

11:55am Thursday 21st January 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
•  

Reece Hutton’s life is one long shopping trip. He tells Jenny Needham about his passion for fashion.

REECE Hutton is the buyer for the North-East designer fashion store Van Mildert, which might sound glamorous but is pretty full on. “Every point of the year is busy,” he says. “It’s a fast-changing business and we can’t afford to rest on our laurels.”

When I spoke to him, Reece had just returned home to Durham from a buying trip in London, before he rushed back to the capital and then off to Paris and Berlin. He makes regular buying trips to all the major European cities.

The 31-year-old, who is originally from Gateshead, has had a love of clothing from his early teenage years. “Me and a few pals would save up our money and hunt down the things we wanted.

They wouldn’t always costs a fortune but, by hook or by crook, I would buy the best I could,” he says.

Reece started work as a sales assistant at Van Mildert when it first opened in Durham in 1996. “It was the first proper designer label shop in the city and I fell in love with it and the concept behind it.

It was the shop to be seen in and to be seen buying from,” he says.

Fourteen years later, he’s still with the company… and still getting a thrill from fashion.

What is your earliest memory of an item of clothing?

When I was 15 I bought a pair of Armani jeans from Cruise Flannels in Newcastle. It seemed to take forever to save up but I was hooked. A group of us used to make a trip to Newcastle each Saturday to visit Marcus Price and then shoot down to High Bridge Street. There wasn’t a wide variety of clothes available in the stores then and we all thought we were into something quite unique. My passion for clothing and fashion developed from there.

Whose fashion wardrobe would you like and why?

It’s difficult for me to answer this one as most of the style icons I admire are for specific looks or ideas. I have some friends in Paris who work for Hermes and one in London who is a stylist for Gucci and their wardrobes are amazing.

Describe your style

I have a thing about well-made products that are just that bit different. I love the relaxed effortless style of Paris, the attention to detail, and the overall concept of Belgian design, but I also enjoy the historical charm of well-made English clothing. So it’s quite complex!

What is your favourite outfit for a night out?

Having kids, I don’t get too many nights out. The disco shoes were retired many years ago, but when we do go out I tend to dress down, like most guys, in smart/casual, jeans, shoes and shirt. I love what the brand Folk are doing. We have stocked this since 2004 and it has grown into a something quite special.

What is your favourite outfit when dressing down?

We deal with so many cool brands and fantastic products, from CP Company and Stone Island through to Lyle & Scott and Adidas Y3 so come the weekend I’m all fashioned out. A T-shirt and jeans normally suffice.

What is the most you have ever spent on an item?

I’m sure if I worked out how much I spent over the years on clothing it would be shocking. The most extravagant and ridiculously priced items I have bought were a Jil Sander T-shirt for £300 and a pair of hand-crafted Jil Sander shoes for £565. I must have been mad. I still have them somewhere. I could never throw them out.

I was very tempted to buy this season’s key piece, a £1,500 20th anniversary CP Company Goretex jacket, but you have to have some self control.

What was your best bargain?

That would have to be any eBay purchase. I don’t often buy from eBay, unlike my partner Sara, who is addicted.

I have had a couple of things from there although when they arrive you sometimes realise why they were on there so cheap. Working in the fashion industry we do also get a lot of free samples and gifts.

What’s coming our way in the stores this spring/summer?

Trends come and go so quickly. Quilted Barbour jackets dominated the Christmas period and early spring.

Bright heritage Polo shirts remain wardrobe staples, moving away from T-shirts. But for overall trends there are so many. Embellished clothing is very strong, especially on denim and T-shirts from brands such as Elvis Jesus and True Religion, and there are still a lot of check shirts, the best from Nudie jeans and Lyle & Scott.

Denim is getting lighter and much narrower, knitwear is worn oversized, deck shoes are still around but not to everyone’s taste. Brogue shoes are the alternative.

These themes, twinned with vintage and technical sportswear, will dominate next season What shouldn’t we be seen dead in any more?

Bootleg jeans. I hate them. So unflattering. Leave them to the cowboys.

VAN MILDERT AND TYNE TEES MODELS SEARCH FOR A STYLIST AND A MODEL DRAPERS 2009 Independent Fashion Retailer of the Year, Van Mildert, is looking for the region’s next top model and also a fashion stylist as part of a competition led by its Darlington and Durham boutiques.

The upmarket retailer has teamedup with Tyne Tees Models to offer budding fashionistas the chance to be on the books of the agency and to take part in a fashion photo shoot using designer clothing from Van Mildert.

The winners will also receive £500 each to spend in Van Mildert’s Darlington and Durham boutiques, which both stock brands such as Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith, and Lyle & Scott.

Tyne Tees Models, which represents more than two thousand faces from across the UK, will help the winners build a portfolio of work and will offer them the chance to be on their books for a year.

Both males and females between the ages of 16 and 35 can enter the competition.

Model entrants require a photo and wannabe stylists are asked to include three photos of outfits styled from pieces in their own wardrobe, together with a synopsis of future trend predictions.

The deadline for entries is Monday, March 16. Information about where to send them can be found at vanmildert.com, Van Mildert’s Facebook page or collected at the Darlington Menswear, Durham Menswear, and Durham Ladieswear boutiques.

Don’t miss your chance to shine!