Brett Anderson: “Suede were styled accidentally by Oxfam”

Suede frontman Brett Anderson has said that the band were “styled accidentally by Oxfam” in their early days.

Speaking to The Observer about the band’s look and style, Anderson revealed that the band bought their clothes in charity shops due to necessity rather than fashion. “People assumed Suede were strutting peacocks, but it wasn’t really like that,” he commented. “We were all on the dole so we went to charity shops – we were styled accidentally by Oxfam. In the early 90s those shops weren’t full of Gap T-shirts, they sold clothes from 10-15 years earlier. It looked like we’d adopted retro chic, but in truth it was financial necessity.”

He adds that he regrets allowing the flamboyant look to become “cartoonish” by wearing more feminine blouses. “But I honestly started doing it because my clothes always got ripped off me by the audience,” states Anderson. “I had to go out every day when we were on tour and buy some flimsy old bit of nonsense from a junk shop because I knew it would get torn to pieces. If I could go back and give myself style advice, I’d say: ‘Tone it down or it’ll come back to bite you in the arse’.”

Suede are set to release a 20th anniversary Dog Man Star boxset. The limited edition release will come out on October 20 and include all of the b-sides that came with the album’s singles as well as DVD footage and previously unseen video interviews with the band, TOTP and The O Zone performances from 1994, Dog Man Star tour films and the ‘Stay Together’ promo video. A 48 page hardback book will also feature, including new notes from Anderson on the LP, as well as handwritten lyrics.

A 7″ NME Flexi disc of ‘We Are The Pigs’/’The Wild Ones’ in a replica original sleeve will also be included and there will be a cassette of the original album and a Blu-Ray audio CD.