“I hate fashion. Fashion is about what is happening right now and I don't care for that… I wear whatever I want, and I think what I wear reflects how I feel that day and how I want to feel."
So says Patrick Wolf; the 25 year old South London kid with enough musical talent to rival the Philharmonic Orchestra. Born in 1983 as Patrick Denis Apps, the self-styled visionary began recording his dulcet tones aged just twelve, scooting out of home at 16 with an ability to play harp, guitar, piano, organ, accordion, ukulele, viola and violin.
‘Wolf’ as a stage name suggests a ‘primal savage’ (or an adolescent love for hit TV show Gladiators), reflecting his stubbornly wild nature and a determination to make it.
His voracious desire is similarly reflected in his aesthetic fervour; a possible reaction to the formal training of his music education. But Wolf refuses to become a slave to fashion.
Similarly reticent to be defined by sexuality, he eventually answered his critics with a vague claim: “My sexuality is kind of liberal. I fall in love with men and women. I guess you would call me bisexual. I like to have sex and fall in love – I don’t like giving terminology for my sexuality.”
Breaking onto the music scene with a thatch of red hair and looming height (he’s well over 6 ft), Wolf’s physique made quite a statement before he even opened his mouth. The cover of his 2007 album, The Magic Position, shows Wolf larking about on a carousel, dressed like an overgrown schoolboy. His look owes a lot to the theatricality of Bowie and the whimsical abandon of Kate Bush.
His gigging outfits combine checked shirts, shorts, braces, capes and sequined waistcoats; treating outfits like instrumental arrangements with insertions of random accessories just to throw you off or keep you guessing. His singular aesthetic found itself included in Mario Testino’s Burberry A/W O7/08 campaign, in which Patrick played model alongside other members of the British music scene and models of the moment.
Boy wonder has toned down his rainbow look in 2008: gone is the flame red hair and acid brights. The clothes have stayed as flamboyant, but his look has matured into a range of muted shades and a more natural hair vibe. That’s not to say Wolf has dulled - he still rocks a midriff skimming top with feather trousers (NME Awards 2008), but this new direction may hark a new maturity for our grown up cub.
God only he knows where his look will travel, but as he once claimed: "My life is like a big circle, a circle I've gone around about 10,000 times.”
Words: Catherine McColl
Illustration: Federica Ubaldo