Watch: John Simons – A Modernist

The man, the legend and the clothes. A new DVD looks at the life and work of John Simons, with the appropriate title of A Modernist. We obviously wanted to take a look. I remember my first visit to the John Simons shop. I dragged my girlfriend (now wife) to a corner of Covent Garden and into one of the few shops that wasn’t packed with tourists or fashionistas.

The man himself was behind the counter and could’t have been more helpful. After a bit of browsing, I bagged a pair of Weejuns (and I still have that original bag) and left knowing it wouldn’t be my last visit, despite living at the other end of the country. It was a place like nowhere else then and now.

The shop has moved since, as it has done in the past, but the legend and the clothes remain. In fact, John Simons’ stock has never been higher.