Gusto hits us with some news, in conjunction with Autumn/Winter 2014. Keeping things local, the London-based luxury streetwear brand led by artist/creator Deep Gill has produced iconic garments that are a far cry from his ‘affordable’ streetwear days. As a clothing brand, Gusto is now on the verge of breakthrough, and is set to be stocked by ‘Opening Ceremony’ and ‘Present’ (Shoreditch) alongside its own online store: www.GustoStore.co.uk. With its popularity growing, we seeked to gain further insight into Gusto, its story and ambitious plans. We sat down with creative mastermind Deep Gill to learn more about the talented designer and his aspiring label.
Read on for the full Q&A session with the Londoner.
Were you involved in fashion before starting Gusto?
Not involved as such, but I’ve always been enthusiastic towards art, in particular fashion & music, so that’s where the attention originated from. Before running with Gusto I was doing graphic design work alongside stand up comedy shows/sketch comedy. I always wanted to produce a platform for my creativity, and aspired to create something that made people feel good. I feel that through creating Gusto I’m going to be able to achieve that and create a long-lasting project that will continually motivate & challenge me.
Can you remember what drew you to fashion and streetwear in the first place?
Before I started Gusto, my graphic design work was getting attention, mainly from friends, friends of friends (on Facebook). This small amount of attention inspired me to create a more formal platform, then came t-shirts with graphic prints, solely designed by myself, followed shortly but sweatshirts, jogging bottoms, hats etc. It all evolved gradually as apposed to a sporadic thought. Another major influence come to think of it, is my older sister; who I’d describe as a ‘fashionista’, she’s definitely been a major influence.
In terms of streetwear, I love the culture, especially because I feel connected to it. I fell in love with Hip Hop since the Marshall Mathers LP (Eminem) and was immediately hooked. The music I listen to has a colossal influence on my work, so everything I design, I do it with Hip Hop and Soul playing in the background. My roots are with streetwear so I always want to remain faithful to that, keeping it in the connotations of my brand, I never want to be pretentious, even when I design formal wear. That grittiness and rawness of this culture needs to remain, as its something I value.
So that’s where the original idea of Gusto came from, from being successful with your own designs?
Yeh initially, I was always meant to do my own thing, working a 9-5 was hard to get used to, and even when I was, it was never my long term aspiration. My designs were getting attention and that passion for fashion (excuse the lame rhyme) was ever present, so to be honest even if my designs hadn’t gained any attention, I liked them so I would have started graphic prints. In terms of the name, Gusto, this was actually inspired by a track called ‘So Outrageous’ by rapper ‘Thee Tom Hardy’.
The hook went ‘We ain’t got swag no more we got Gusto’. This fitted in well with my USP at the time, the streetwear brand who’s aim was to eradicate swag, the overused and played out word that motivated a lot of disdain, just because of the kind of people that threw that word around. So Gusto was introduced as that antidote for the virus that word had become. I think this is why the brand is so conceptual now, Gusto’s always had some sort of concept, everything needs a reason right?
Do you think of Gusto as a distinctly London label?
Not at all, I mean yes it’s a London Streetwear brand if you were to look at it literally, but I am trying to make Gusto something bigger than that, so I don’t want people to just think of it as a London Streetwear brand. I want the general public to think of Gusto as an experience, I want to redefine fashion, create a unique feeling for those people that wear the brand, that same feeling you experience when you have a fresh hair cut or when you put you on a new top that you just bought, and you feel like a king. It feels like no one can touch you because you’re the flyest ma’f*cka in the world at that moment. Imagine this, but every time you wear Gusto.
This is my reasoning behind the short films with ‘the4our’ line. Each top embodies a persona. I challenge the wearer to feel this persona, not even just that persona the video displays, but the feeling that they can accomplish anything. The films are based around dreams and pursuit of your ambition, specifically, overcoming sin and evil, temptation of the devil, blocking you with his truck on your road to ambition.
This ‘experience’ runs right through to my social media activity, our packaging and of course the designs. The whole consumer experience is an exclusive experience. The feeling that there is more to fashion than clothes, its more psychological, its an emotion, a therapy, a drug. I want to open people’s eyes, show them there is more to it all than simply finding clothes you like, buying them and wearing them. I want to create an inception, giving people a feeling of empowerment.
How do you plan on spreading the Gusto message? Is it through music and international stars like many other labels?
A lot of thought is being put into every aspect of the brand now, I don’t think people understand how much happens behind the scenes. The demands I place on Gusto is a tailored perfection. I am still involved with the UK Hip Hop scene, but its not longer a Hip Hop streetwear brand, as it previously was seen. Yes, I still want to have an element of streetwear so I never completely loose the people who repped Gusto from the very beginning, but higher quality garments is what’s in store now.
I guess if celebrities want to wear Gusto then great, but that’s not something I’m necessarily focusing on. Right now its about forming a connection, sparking up interest with the type of people we think will respect Gusto, its purpose, values and style. The plans over the next year are to promote in Japan, as many of my pieces have ancient Japanese Royalty and Samurai attire influences. With this in mind I hope to really push the brand in a positive direction, taking it from strength to strength.
How did the brand fare when first starting out?
It did well, I was able to design pretty much anything and stick it on a garment, so this was a good experience as the graphic printed t-shirt market caters to a much wider audience, almost everyone in the western population wear t-shirts so there will always be consumers for seek such products. But my new direction hones into a very niche market, something I feel provides Gusto with a more vivid image and a deeper connection with those that wear it.
Your latest collection released on Oct 4th. What is it based on and what is the main inspiration behind the designs?
The latest line plays with the themes of dreams engulfed with the themes of good Vs evil and the pursuit of wealth. The dream state is where we often battle with the two paths and our choices in life reflect this. We have to be faced with evil in order to choose good.
I wanted to fuse fashion with cinema and music, and feel I achieved that with the video and collection. The film plays a large part of ‘the4our’ range, it embodies and personifies the garments, in a way that hasn’t been done before, we didn’t want to do a normal brand video, I wanted it to be conceptual, thought provoking and deep.
The garments are influenced by sports luxury and street luxe, with hints of the samurai and ancient Japanese Royalty, fused with an English aristocratic style, using fabrics such as garbadine and neoprene. The garbardine is very thick structured cotton like a straight jacket, drawing the consumer back to that spiritual/sub conscious state in which we make all of our impulsive decisions.
There is an underlining tone of evil and a spiritual element, Gusto stands for ‘Give Us Sin To Overcome’, it doesn’t promote evil, just makes it apparent that it exists, and that good always overcomes it. I feel that the spiritual world will always intrigue the human race, there will forever be the debate whether spirits exist, this is something that has always intrigued me, though this is only an underlining theme which ties into the concept of ‘the4our’.
What else can we look forward to from Gusto in the future?
The Spring Summer 2015 range will be released at the end of February/beginning of March, and will be called ‘Dark Summer’ ‘The5ive’. The only thing I can confirm right now is that the line will consist of 5 sets, a top and bottom. I’m really excited for this range! Some internationally stockists are on the way next year too, alongside various outlets in the UK!
For more info on Gusto and to shop the collection head over here.
Get 30% off @GustoStore clothing, using promo code: ‘TINMAN’ > > > http://t.co/V9mfWkLYGW
— TinManLondon.com (@TinManLondon) November 4, 2014