Is fashion important to you?

I don’t think I follow fashion. I think I’ve reached an age now where I don’t feel the need to go shopping on the high street every Saturday afternoon. I’ve found a style that I’m comfortable with. I’ve always found it a bit sad when people follow fashion and all look the same.

What’s your style?

I think my style is quite simple really. I choose clothes that are comfortable to wear and don’t scream, “Hey everyone look at me, I’m Ian Cottrell.” But it’s always nice to have a few t-shirts when I’m DJing that convey who I am and what I’m trying to achieve.

You have a huge collection of t-shirts!

I’ve always had a passion for music and most of these t-shirts represent a type of music I was into at the time I bought them. When I look back on some of the bands I used to like I think that they are all still really cool!

The Smiths, Hatful of Hollow – simple yet effective!

This looks like quite an old t-shirt!

This is one of the oldest things I own. I got it from one of the famous Radio 1 roadshows that they used to do in the late 80s. It came to either Colwyn Bay or Rhyl in around ‘88 I think. I still wear this shirt now and people often ask me, “Where did you get that t-shirt from?”

Where do you get your t-shirts?

What I like to do is buy t-shirts when I go to gigs because you can’t buy most of them in the shops, you can only get them at the gigs so they’re very rare. I take my time when I look at something. For example, I was at a gig where We are Scientists were playing and I don’t like purple, so I stood there for about 20 minutes looking at this purple shirt thinking, is this going to work or not?

Where did you get this t-shirt with a record player on it?

Phoenix is a French band and I just like the design of the t-shirt.

It’s interesting because if I saw you wearing this t-shirt I’d have no idea that Phoenix was a name of a band, but someone, somewhere will have the same taste as you in music and recognize it – it gives you some kind of connection doesn’t it?

It’s like being a member of a secret gang!

What’s the biggest influence on your style?

My favourite band of all time is the Pet Shop Boys just because they have such great imagination when it comes to their image. They take such care over this whole world that they create, and that’s very similar to my taste in music, clothes, style, home, everything. But that style never really lent itself to ‘Diffiniad’ because it was only me that followed it. We were very aware that we were on stage and performing, but I think that we only decided that we should all dress the same at the end. So for our last gig we all decided to wear black or blue……that took a lot of effort!

I don’t wear this, I just keep it to remind me how big the t-shirts were in the 90s! This is a ‘Diffiniad’ t-shirt with a picture of Bethan Richards on the front.

I like Brigyn. They’re a band that has a strong image here in Wales. They design everything themselves from their record cover and t-shirts to packaging – that coincides with my musical aesthetics.

Does style run in the family?

My father used to take a lot of pictures. He always had a camera, so I remember having my picture taken with my sister a lot, and we would also look at pictures, so I’ve been aware of image from a young age. I wear a lot of my father and my grandfather’s shirts. I remember when I was about 15 or 16 and starting to discover my own style I always tried to get one up on my friends and so I went to my father’s wardrobe.

Do you remember your grandfather wearing these shirts?

This is my favourite shirt. It was my grandfather’s in the late 60s, early 70s. I’ve seen pictures of him wearing it and I just feel it’s timeless. I’ve worn it constantly since finding it 15 years ago – and it still fits!

I also found these and I wear them often. They must have come as a pair, a matching set. The colours are brilliant and it’s nice to still be able to wear them. I remember wearing my grandfather’s coat at the 1991 Mold Eisteddfod. My grandfather had died that year and someone held a cigarette near me and burnt a hole in the coat. I was livid! It’s like keeping hold of someone that’s close to you, something tangible for you to hold on to.

You have quite a few jackets as well.

This is a second hand jacket that I bought for £15, I think it’s lovely. It makes me feel like Barry Sheen or someone like that.

This one’s also second hand and I bought it from one of the arcades in Cardiff. You don’t find many jackets with a round trim at the bottom, and when you wear it the cut fits well and looks nice.

This is a really great one again; it’s quite fitted and retro. It looks like something from Starsky and Hutch in the ‘70s. This is what my father wore in the mid ‘70s, so maybe I’m just trying to look like him!

Music is constantly changing and evolving, but what about your style? Is that going to change in any way?

I don’t think it will change that much. I look at people that may be slightly older than I am and think that they look quite cool and that I could wear something similar. But there are some people I look at that are my age and I think, ‘no way, grow up!’ I think I’ll be very happy wearing a white t-shirt, jeans and trainers. Simple clothes that make you feel comfortable and relaxed wearing them. I think that I have a strong enough personality that I don’t need to dress in a certain way.