'It’s not even about selling clothes': Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman on launching a label

Most people would be content being part of one of the biggest bands in history – but not Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman. He tells Paul McLauchlan why he’s launched a fashion label

Guy Berryman: “When we launched the brand, I knew the world did not need another mid-level brand.”

When Guy Berryman turned 40 three years ago, he began to contemplate his life and achievements.

“It’s an arbitrary number but it’s a point of reflection for many people where you take a review of everything you’ve done in life and think about what’s facing you. Let’s face it, it’s the halfway point,” the Coldplay bassist says over Zoom from a London hotel room.

As a member of one of the most prominent bands for over two decades, he has spent almost half his life travelling the world with blockbuster tours, collecting seven Grammy Awards and selling more than 100m albums worldwide along the way.

“It felt like a good time to look at everything I had done and use that as a basis for everything that I do going forward.”

Following years of subscribing to curated image-making, stage productions, and stylistic pursuits, the path to his next chapter led him to fashion. Enter Applied Art Forms: Berryman’s technical menswear label quietly launched in October 2020. With inspiration from utilitarian, workwear, and military clothing, the line recontextualises classic menswear pieces with modern silhouettes, elevated craftsmanship, and refined fabrics.

Unlike other celebrity brands, Applied Art Forms (or A/A/F as it is stylised) is understated and not immediately identifiable with its august founder. Simple t-shirts in neutral tones, elegant cotton shirts with grandad collars, and relaxed hoodies exist alongside interpretations of the classic deck jacket and water-repellent field jacket styles. (Prices range from €35 for socks, €80 for beanies and €100 for a t-shirt to €2490 for the brand’s signature Modular Parka: Full System.)

Unlike many other celebrities, Berryman’s background is adjacent to product design. “Before Coldplay, there was mechanical engineering and architecture,” he says. He refers to his late teens and early twenties when he briefly studied engineering at University College London, where he would meet his future bandmates and pursue a short stint in architecture. (His father, Rupert, is a former chartered engineer.) Berryman is as fixated with buildings and cars as with fashion and furniture. Moreover, he has been collecting vinyl records, vintage guitars, and synthesisers since he was a teenager in the nineties. “When eBay arrived on the scene, it was just like heaven for me,” he says.

As an avid collector of exotic mid-century Italian sports cars, Berryman lends his hand to niche car magazine The Road Rat as a creative director. His favourite — although not the most expensive or valuable in his collection, which includes a Bizzarrini Strada and a Lamborghini Miura P400—is the Jaguar E-Type.

While Coldplay tours have taken him to Dublin and Belfast, Berryman hopes to road trip around Ireland soon.

If one spots Berryman on a bar stool in rural Ireland, you might be taken by his winsome looks, his unmistakable Scottish accent, or his impeccable style — the Kirkcaldy-native boasts an impressive collection of vintage clothing from the likes of Helmut Lang, Katherine Hamnett, Massimo Osti from C.P. Company and Stone Island, and watches (during our call, he briefly flashes his 1970s Rolex Sea-Dweller).

"I’m not just a face for the brand, I’m not just the guy fronting the cash. This was created by me specifically to be very hands-on in the design process."

Fashion makes Berryman’s heart sing from his original 1950s Royal Air Force parka to talking about A/A/F’s rendition, the AM2-1 modular parka that can be configured as either a tailored officer-style coat or a more traditional parka, with interchangeable hood, collars, and adjustable length. Like the original, the parka is fabricated from the same water repellent cotton used in air force pilots’ uniforms in the Second World War.

“When we launched the brand, I knew the world did not need another mid-level brand. There is a lot of competition out there, and the stuff never feels that special. I wanted to elevate in everything we do from the best possible fabrics and extremely complex construction” he says. 

The difficulty with selling through a webshop and communicating through digital channels is that people can’t look, feel, and touch the fabrics, they can’t see the quality of the details of construction, and they can’t try things on.

It prompted Berryman to host a week-long showcase at the Paul Stolper Gallery in London where he conducted a series of talks, and the public could shop from the line.

(“We decided to do it at a gallery not because we want to display the clothing as artwork but because Paul is an old friend of mine,” Berryman laughs.) The turnout produced interesting findings: of course, there were the prerequisite fans who wanted autographs and photos, and although many discovered the brand through the famous founder, the majority of visitors connected with the clothing with some of them picking up a few pieces during the duration of the event.

“It was rewarding to meet everyone in person,” he says.

"I knew the world did not need another mid-level brand."

(In 2022, he wants to continue building a community around the label which may include a club night: “It’s not even about selling clothes to anyone, we want people to have a good time.”) “I’m not just a face for the brand, I’m not just the guy fronting the cash. This was created by me specifically to be very hands-on in the design process,” he says.

He visits the Amsterdam studio as much as his schedule permits, where one can find him on his hands and knees cutting fabrics, and conducting fittings. Surrounded by a great team, the mission, he says, is “making things that I want to wear myself”. Berryman is emphatic about doing things differently. Applied Art Forms will not follow the seasonal fashion calendar that sees releases two to four times per year. For him, the brand is an ever-evolving collection of core pieces with occasional updates and new additions.

Although fashion consumes a lot of Berryman’s time, he has no intention of abandoning music anytime soon.

“We always identify the fact that the four of us as individual members of a group create something greater than the sum of our parts, but we’re quite talented in our individual ways.

“When we work together, we create something that gets elevated above that sort of sense of individualism. The notion of collaboration and the strength of collaboration is something that I have taken from Coldplay and into fashion.”

Berryman notes that his fellow bandmates admire his latest venture. “I think they’re proud of the achievements I’ve made in this field and very supportive of the project,” he says. He remarks that Chris Martin, the lead guitarist, is fond of the cargo trousers while Johnny Buckland is the proud owner of the modular parka.

Meanwhile, Will Champion might dress in Applied Art Forms for one of the upcoming live shows. “We are so excited to start touring again,” he says. Coldplay’s A Head Full of Dreams Tour ended in 2017.

Simple t-shirts in neutral tones, elegant cotton shirts with grandad collars, and relaxed hoodies exist alongside interpretations of the classic deck jacket and water repellent field jacket styles

While the pandemic stopped live events, Coldplay adjusted working practices to complete Music of the Spheres, their ninth studio album. The government-mandated lockdown meant Berryman spent time in his 19th century mansion in the Cotswolds — where he lives with fiancée, the Dutch model Keshia Gerrits and their two children Lucien and Bea, and his daughter Nico — labouring away at A/A/F and applying the finishing touches to an album that is up for a Grammy later this month.

The accompanying world tour, with 53 dates, will see the indefatigable band visit Europe, North and South America in 2022.

We’ve missed performing to people, the energy of the crowd — that’s always been our lifeblood as musicians.

Berryman is quick to count his blessings: “We were in a very fortunate position to be in such an established position that if our tour was delayed by a year or two, it wouldn’t make a huge difference to us. What particularly concerned me was the newer, more upcoming artists who are just beginning their careers, launching albums, and they needed to go on tour to promote the records and so forth. I think it hit them harder than it did us. “Of course, all of the live venues, cultural institutions, have all suffered through the loss of the live industry. I’m glad to see it slowly getting back up on its feet.” 

In between gearing up for another colossal world tour of sold-out shows, Berryman is already plotting the next chapter for A/A/F, swapping the stage for the showroom when his schedule allows and pursuing his passion for restoring cars and taking road trips across Europe, stopping to visit friends along the way.

“If you’re passionate about something, you will always find a way to make it work. Life is busy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”