november-2010

FASHION | MANCHESTER
Manchester was no longer competing for
prominence with provincial English cities
such as Leeds and Birmingham. This was
now a city that could stand alongside the
likes of Lisbon and Barcelona – perhaps
not in the sense that it was as naturally
beautiful as them, but in that it was a
vibrant and creative place to be. The BBC
certainly thought so; it plans to move into
the regenerated Salford Quays next year.
“Actually, we like to call it the ‘Original
Modern City’,” says Mancunian designer
80 | TRAVELLER | 15 TH BIRTHDAY ISSUE
Peter Saville. And if anyone could
understand and explain Manchester’s
unique character, it’s him. After all, this
is the man who not only designed some
of Factory Records' most iconic album
sleeves, but also became a partner in Tony
Wilson’s business when it was still getting
off the ground. These days he holds a role
that, he believes, is unique to any city in the
world. He has been Manchester’s creative
director since 2005, a post created to better
understand Manchester as a brand.
“I was looking for an insight into the
essence of the place but also a target for the
city to aspire to,” he remembers. “We can all
understand Manchester in its historic guise
as the fi rst industrial city. That’s all very
nice, but it’s museum based. So I wanted
something that would challenge the way
the world saw Manchester today but would
also give something for Manchester to aim
at too. From that came the idea that we can
view Manchester as original and modern in
the 21st century too.”
SAVILLE DOESN’T HOLD much truck with
the idea that having a branch of Harvey
Nichols automatically makes Manchester a
world-class city. As it has done in the past
through its industry, politics and music,
Saville thinks that Manchester defi nes its
place in the world by what it exports, not
what it imports.
“Friendliness, bloody-mindedness,
willfulness – they’re all characteristics
of Manchester,” he says. “Factory and
Hacienda had all of those traits, and
they both mark a particular point in the
evolution of popular culture, where
a bridge was built between music and
other ways of life.”
Of course, there are those who say
such a legacy has strangled creativity in
the city ever since – every new band is
automatically compared to Joy Division or
New Order, every new club infused with
the "anything goes" spirit of the Hacienda.
In a very real sense there’s a heritage
industry around Factory, which is no
different to the relationship between The
Beatles and Liverpool.
Peter Hook opened the latest instalment
of the Factory brand, FAC251 club, to much
fanfare last year. “But the Factory legacy
is much bigger than a soundtrack,” Saville
argues. “I genuinely believe you don’t get
an iPod without Factory Records. If you
look at the graphics of the modern world,
those styles were familiarised through
a mass audience via pop – and Factory
was the fi rst place that cared about how
things looked. The Hacienda continued
that idea into the buildings that young
people went to. It’s not that architecture
and design didn’t exist before, of course