Pretty Green's Pat Salter On Working With Liam Gallagher And More

As head of design at Pretty Green, Pat Salter is Liam Gallagher's right hand man, charged with turning the Beady Eye frontman's vision into a wearable reality. The former head of denim development at Ted Baker, Salter was appointed after a chance meeting with Liam in London last year. During his tenure, he has kicked the three-year-old brand up a gear, introducing the smarter Black Label line as well as expanding the denim offering from three pairs of jeans to a whole range of hard-wearing workwear.

GQ.com talked to the designer to pick his brain about what is like to work with one of the most outspoken individuals in British music.

GQ.com: How does the creative process work between you and Liam?
Pat Salter: Liam's a very hands-on boss. At the beginning of the season we have a design meeting and discuss where his head's at with the collections - what sort of mood he's feeling and what he's into at that particular time. Then I go away and create a mood board around those ideas. Unfortunately I can't buy the amount of clothes that he does but he has a huge archive of clothing that he selects from his wardrobe to build the collection around. He doesn't sit there drawing, but he's got a lot of ideas - being in a band, he's a creative guy.

Who is your best-dressed British man?
It's got to be Brian Jones. Obviously if you dressed like that now you wouldn't get very far walking down your local high street, but every picture of him is cool. I also like late Sixties/early Seventies Michael Caine. You've got to throw Michael Caine in there too. Don't get me wrong, that's not how I dress - I don't walk around with big floppy rabbit fur hats with feathers in them, but you can't deny how great those guys looked: clashing shoes, clashing patterns, clashing fabrics, velvet, corduroy. It was chaos, but it worked.

What are the five items a man should have in his wardrobe?
Firstly, a decent pair of well-fitting selvedge jeans from Japan. Not a reproduction pair - a real hardcore pair of wear-in-yourself Japanese jeans. Then a white v-neck T-shirt and a cool bit of outerwear (I would go for a Stone Island CP parka). On the shoe front you need a pair of classic sneaker pumps. Finally you need a slim-fitting black suit tucked away in your wardrobe that can be worn at smarter events.

Who is your Bond of choice?
Straight away my brain went to Sean Connery, but I'm going for Roger Moore. Those tailored suits with nipped-in waists and pastel colours: you couldn't wear his stuff unless you were a make-believe secret agent.

Will Pretty Green ever do black tie?
Liam goes to a lot of smarter events these days, so, I can't definitely say yes, but it's a distinct possibility.

What is the most stylish film and why?
Get Carter is the obvious answer, but I'm going to say Star Wars. Just look at the Stormtroopers: those costumes are as cool today as they were when they came out in the Seventies.

Can you recommend a good book?
Ideas from Massimo Osti. He was the brains behind a lot of great brands - including my favourite, Stone Island CP -  and this is a photographic biography of his genius. Sad times, good book.

What do you have planned next?
We want to do more on the accessories side of things - we have a completely new shoe range launching next season which is exciting. The next big thing is our showing at London Collections: Men in January…

After Liam presented his GQ Men Of The Year award, will we be seeing Bradley Wiggins in the next campaign?
They struck up quite a rapport at the GQ Awards, didn't they? Wiggins is a dude and he's into the same scene as us, but as to whether he'll do stuff with us? Watch this space.

Check out the current collection at prettygreen.com

Source: www.gq-magazine.co.uk