Vienna Interview (June 2019)
INTERVIEW ONE: JAECOB HILTON, owner and creator of Vienna.
(June 7th, 2019)
To start off, what is Vienna and how long have you been running it? Vienna is my clothing brand and I started designing in 2015 but dropped the first piece in 2016.
What was the inspiration for the name? Mac Miller dropped a song on his SoundCloud under his Larry Fisherman profile. The name of the song was Vienna, and while I was listening, I typed it into Photoshop and it started from there. I think people worry too much about the name of a brand and I just want my designs to speak for themselves. You could put these designs under any name and it would still feel whole all around.
Speaking of Mac Miller, what are some of your favorite songs by him? BDE Bonus, One Last Thing, Kool Aid and Frozen Pizza, In the Air, and Poppy. Just growing up listening to him and watching his career develop was awesome. R.I.P. Mac.
During our FaceTime calls, we often hear your mom giving you advice and sharing love for your designs. How has she influenced you as a person and as a designer? I wouldn't be the person I am today without my mom. She taught me to have an open mind and not to hate. She's a great person. Her influence on my designs would be to keep trying new things and switching stuff up. If I show her a design, she can tell if I had something similar but that's pretty much it. She's my number one supporter honestly. Growing up, she would always say "I'd rather you make designs and make clothes" because she thinks it keeps me out of getting in trouble. I saw it was a good way to use my time, but I never looked at it like that.
Earlier this year, you had a popup for Charlotte's UsVersusTheWorld NBA All Star Weekend event. What was the energy like and what were some moments that stood out to you the most? It was really cool having my clothes on a rack and having my own table for people to see what I care about the most. It was great meeting 10Cellphones for the first time because I've been sending him clothes for the longest and he was just telling me how appreciative he was. It just felt real genuine and natural. I also met this talented videographer who makes videos for Swoosh God and Fatboy SSE. He came down from New York and I actually got to talk to Swoosh on FaceTime and all around was just another natural experience seeing someone passionate about what they do. Shoutout to Tysnapz. Another exciting moment would probably be the fight that ended the show early lol. Thanks to UsVersusTheWorld for giving me the opportunity to come out.
How has growing up in North Carolina influenced you and your brand? Honestly, I think North Carolina has no influence. Maybe seeing all the materialistic people gave me drive to make my own brand. The direction of my brand comes solely from the internet and all the brands, cool people, and different styles I see everyday. I think it's great to have little influences from everything around me and just keep art growing.
What are some recent brands that have caught your attention? Definitely Bugsex, The Good Company, Absurd, Dertbag, H33M, Misguided, FTP, and felt. Lately these brands have been really consistent and doing the right things with clothes in my opinion. However, there would be no Vienna without the brands "The Palisade" and "Rori." These brands were ran by my good friend Alex Rios. I really try to thank him as much as I can. He taught me all the little things and gave me the most drive to start my brand. I remember him teaching me about good presentation and sticking with designs that you personally think is cool. Shoutout Rios!
To close this out, where do you see the future of Vienna and is there anything you have in store for us soon? I don't know where this roads goes for Vienna, but as long as I stay true and consistent towards my brand, great things will come. I'm a true believer of hard work paying off and all around it just makes me happy to keep making clothes and want people to be happy wearing my clothes. I have my first collaboration with H33M! I'm super excited and can't thank him enough for giving me this opportunity to work with someone I look up to. All around everything I'm doing feels good. Also, after the collaboration, I have a summer collection coming up called "False Advertisement," and will be introducing women's clothing for Vienna for the first time so that's exciting.
You can keep up with Jaecob and Vienna on social media and his website as well.