Tony Sylvester: Future Accidental Beret Tycoon
A conversation with the man behind AWMS
I can’t quite recall the first time I heard about Tony Sylvester. It may have been nearly a decade ago when he took over as lead singer for a band I really like, but likely it was in Natty Adams’ and Rose Callahan’s I Am Dandy. The book is beautifully done, and the subjects all look incredible, but personally speaking, I found Sylvester’s style and sartorial philosophies to be the most relatable. Notably, he grew up in the punk and hardcore scene, but there’s also the whole “bigger guy” thing. As somebody who is built bigger, I was really happy to see a picture of Sylvester with a quote from him: “‘Oscar Wilde was a big man,’ he reminds us. ‘He had big Irish genes. History remembers him as a Quentin Crisp, but he wasn’t at all.’” That definitely spoke to me and made me an immediate fan. I quickly learned that Sylvester’s personal style and knowledge of numerous subjects make him a fascinating figure. He’s a man of many talents, and now he’s showing off his designer skills with AWMS.
Like any good DIY business, he’s started small. He started offering slippers that are handmade in England, with a price point that puts them in the same ballpark as Stubbs & Wooten or Del Toro, but stylistically different. The Tartan Scottish opera pump looks great, but I was immediately drawn to the Paul Bowles-inspired leopard print Grecian slipper. Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching The Nanny, but I’d really love to figure out a way to add more leopard print into my look. A pair of slippers might be the answer.
The latest addition to the AWMS store is simply The Beret. No fancy name, no wild backstory. Sylvester is a big fan of the versatile headgear and wanted to make his own. It’s 100 percent wool and made from a family that’s been making hats since the 1600s. I am personally a big fan of the beret and saw it as an opportunity to talk to Sylvester for The Melt. Among other topics discussed below: U.K hardcore bands, leopard print, chinos and suitcases.
Let's start with the topic that I'll consider the "peg" for this conversation: you are in the beret business now. I've always found the beret to be such a fascinating sort of headwear. What drew you to want to make your own?
I’ve worn one for a long time now, after I was lucky enough to pick up a decent older model about 15 years ago from the majestically named “Fandango” brand, sadly now defunct. At the time, there weren’t many people rocking them – I believe the first time I met Terry Ellis he was wearing one with a tan trench coat, and I had definitely seen photos of Simone Righi in one. It was absolutely a top tier dressers only affair. It took me some resolve to pluck up the nerve to join their ranks at first. For a good while there, I would always give ‘the nod’ to any gents I saw wearing one out and about.
I sort of have a reputation of championing them just through the frequency with which they appear on my head. I’m wearing one in Rose & Natty’s book I Am Dandy and was asked to write a small cultural history of them for Size?, the sneaker store a few years back. They have certainly crept up in popularity of late, and what with covid giving me more time on my hands, I thought why not try and develop one with a hat factory to my specs.
The size and shape that I favour is small and trim, which I find much easier to wear. Less ‘loud’ and showy. This was the headgear of their European farmer and factory worker, and doesn’t have the artistic, bohemian allusions of the larger, floppier ones you tend to see more often. Stylistically, It’s a suitable stand in for a watch cap in my eyes, with the added bonus of harmonizing with everything you can throw at it wardrobe wise, from the most formal to the informal.
The response has been way more enthusiastic than I’d dared to imagine.
“Accidental Beret Tycoon” - that would make a good business card.
I'll be honest, the first time I ever thought I wanted to wear a beret was when I was a little kid and watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off for the first time. Who are some of your beret icons?
Nice. Yeah, there was definitely a New Wave fad for them in the early 80s, focussed more on the military ones with the external leather bands.
When I think of iconic beret moments, I’m drawn to the American expats in the south of France in the ‘30s (Gerald Murphy, Hemingway et al), Dizzy Gillespie, and Robert Doisneau’s photos of mid century Parisian life. One of the most unexpected is NASA astronaut Gene Cernan pairing one with a G8 WEP flight jacket in those infamous training photos from Iceland in 1965.
You grew up in the hardcore scene in London and you've mentioned how chinos were a big part of the London hardcore kid uniform back then. I've always had an obsession with the idea that chinos are the great unifier: hardcore kids, Ivy style, skaters, Jackson Pollock, WASPs, boring businessmen, people in post-punk bands — everybody wears them. What is a perfect pair of chinos to you?
I like em high waisted and straight / loose fit - classic officer’s chinos. Bryceland’s make a dead on take on the US Army style. Vintage wise, you cant beat the French Army “Indochina” ones from the ‘50s with the double pleats.
I was surprised when I realized I didn't know many London hardcore bands from when you were younger. If I'm going to search eBay, what are the two or three bands or singles I should look for?
In my day, the hardcore scene was way bigger in the North. We had a smaller group within a more diverse, more punk focussed scene. For youth crew stylings, Long Cold Stare and Insight (not the SLC one) were the boys, and Harmony As One had more of a Neg Approach snarl to em.
The London scene got way bigger in the early to mid-’90s, around the nucleus of Knuckledust and Rucktion Records, and was geared toward a NYHC sound. That scene is still alive and kicking.
Probably my favourite UK hardcore bands of the past couple of decades are Rot In Hell, Voorhees & Deal With It.
A pair of your AWMS Bowles slippers showed up on Matt Sweeney's feet in a recent GQ photo and I love leopard print which is a pattern I don't think enough guys embrace. Why do you think that is?
Those particular slippers are based on a pair of Grecians that Paul Bowles wore at home when he wintered in Sri Lanka. I get pretty obsessive about things so a little like the berets, I set about trying to make a pair for myself, and then offer them up for sale. I gotta say Matt wears them very well indeed.
I know what you mean, there’s probably too many rockabilly connotations with leopard print that people find a little distasteful. I’ve always maintained that camo in menswear is the neutral and therefore can go with everything - animal print in womenswear fulfilling the same role. It was only a small step to start considering them both in the same context.
There’s a look from the fabled “Images Of Man’ book that chronicles all the Giorgio Armani menswear from 1975-1991 that is the gold standard for slipping leopard print into your outfit for me. I cant praise Aldo Fellai’s vision and photography highly enough.
I think the key is to make the leopard print an accent rather than the focus of your look and stick to the extremities of the body avoiding big swathes of pattern. Or just say fuck it and go the whole hog.
One of my favorite things that shows up in pics of you is your suitcase. Can you tell me a little about it? I feel like people have really given up on the suitcase you carry and it's such a shame.
My trusty Globetrotter! Perfect cabin bag size, light and surprisingly roomy. I think having to carry my own luggage helps me pack light and efficiently, as its gonna be my responsibility to lug around, without the aid of wheels.
I got the idea a few years ago to start putting destination stickers on it like an old steamer trunk. I know a lot of people go and buy vintage labels for defunct hotels in far flung exotic climes, but I wanted it to actually be a genuine travelogue of my adventures. I’ve been pretty fortunate that work and music have taken me to all sorts of places, and so everywhere I go I try and pick up a sticker of the city or country. It’s much more difficult that you would imagine,. This is mainly because I have the rule that not only do I have to have been to the destination in question, but I have to buy it while I’m there and not cheat and pick one up online. Some of the stickers are absolutely rotten, but that’s half the fun.
What would you like to do in the future with AWMS?
My only rule of thumb is to try and create items that don’t already exist that I want to wear. I’m not interested in ‘competing’ with other brands. Also sticking as close as possible to a ‘made-to-order’ model to cut down on unnecessary waste and overproduction.
Next up will be some variety to the beret range, a couple of collaboration pieces with London based shirt maker Jake Wigham, and a killer piece based on something from Hockney’s wardrobe.
I like clothes to have context and a back story, but ultimately to be able to stand out on their own without further explanation.
What a great read! Berets for the world!