Mel C: Fashion’s embrace of streetwear is ‘a bit of a bloody cheek’

Last year, Palace dropped a bunch of t-shirts and hoodies with an iconic print of the Spice Girls plastered across their chest, but this year, the rowdy London skate brand’s gone one step beyond and actually bagged itself a real-life Spice. Following in the footsteps of legends like Micheal Imperioli, Willem Dafoe, and Joan Collins, Melanie Chisolm – or Mel C as she’s probably better known – stars in a new film celebrating the arrival of a mega collab that sees Palace link up with GAP. 

Playing the harassed mum of a burgeoning adolescent skater, wearing a look from the new collection that definitely could have been dragged out of her wardrobe in the 90s, Mel’s appearance is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, but her love for Palace runs deep. “I’ve been a fan for a long time, being a big supporter and lover of streetwear,” she explains over the phone, dialling in a few days ahead of the drop. “It also makes me look cool in front of my daughter, and any opportunity to be cool in her eyes is a good thing,” she adds with a laugh.

After a brief dalliance with trying to be a bit more ‘high fashion’ in the 00s, Chisholm is now well back into her tracksuits and trainers. She says she loves how the fashion industry has embraced street and sportswear, but doesn’t shy away from pointing out how it once did its best to distance itself from ‘working class’ aesthetics in the 90s. “When you think about fashion’s attitude towards certain communities, it has been really snobbish,” she says. “On the one hand, I love that sportswear is having its moment, but on the other, this about-turn is a bit of a bloody cheek.” 

In. this vein, Palace’s partnership with Gap is a way, after working with expensive luxury brands like Gucci, to make sure fans across the board who lack the astronomical funds needed to score those kinds of pieces still have access. Taking inspiration from the skateboarders who hung out in San Francisco wearing Gap in the 90s, the line-up spans ‘PAL’ logos rendered in the unmistakable Gap font, preppy striped rugby shirts, and hero Varsity jackets. For those with even the strictest budgets, there’s a couple of pairs of socks and signature five-panel caps. With clothes for kids also in the mix this time around, expect around-the-block queues when it finally hits Gap stores this Friday (March 22).

As the collab is teased and the accompanying film gets its release, we talk to Mel C about her 90s wardrobe, her renewed love of sportswear, her dream blunt rotation, and her fave conspiracy theories.

Palace first dropped a Spice Girls t-shirt last year. Has Lev told you why he’s so obsessed with you and the band? And is the feeling mutual? 

Melanie C: It was so lovely to see the Spice Girls on a Palace t-shirt, you know, we see Spice Girls merch all over the place and I’ve been a fan of Palace for a long time, being a big supporter and lover of streetwear. It’s such a great British brand in that space, which is quite rare. It also makes me look cool in front of my daughter, and any opportunity to be cool in her eyes is a good thing. I think for Lev… Growing up here in the UK in the late 90s it’s hard not to have experienced that Spice Girls mania. It was a moment that kind of touched everybody. I think there’s been this lovely nod to that time – the 90s and 00s – recently, so [the 2023 t-shirt and hoodie capsule] felt like a great collaboration. And now of course we move on to the next collaboration. 

Yes! You’ve taken on an acting role in the Palace x Gap collab film, which is a bit of a step up from dropping a t-shirt. How did it happen? 

Melanie C: I think I just popped into their head as somebody that really… Well, when you think about someone that wears tracksuits and you think about the 90s, I guess lots of people would think about Sporty Spice. I feel very proud of how sports and streetwear has gone from strength to strength from the football pitch and the playground to the catwalk. It’s really lovely that it’s getting this moment. I was just doing what all the kids where I grew up did, and for a long time sportswear was deemed quite scruffy when actually it’s incredibly stylish and actually we look back and appreciate that era a lot more than we did at the time. 

Can you skateboard? 

Melanie C: Do you know what, I came to it way too late. It’s a thing you really need to start doing when you have a low centre of gravity and zero fear. I think I attempted to skateboard in my 40s and no one wants to see that! So no, I can’t skate, but I’m in awe of the kids and the grown-ups in this campaign that can, it’s just mind-blowing. It’s a skill I’d love to have, but I was too late.

“I feel very proud of how sports and streetwear has gone from strength to strength from the football pitch and the playground to the catwalk. I was just doing what all the kids where I grew up did, and for a long time sportswear was deemed quite scruffy when actually it’s incredibly stylish” – Melanie C

Even when I was a kid, I could not do it. I went to Venice Beach recently and just sat and watched the skaters for ages there. The lack of fear when they’re jumping like six feet in the air is so wild. 

Melanie C: Oh my god, it’s petrifying isn’t it. Do you know what I did around that time though? Venice Beach just made me think about it. Rollerblading. That felt like a safer option. Wheels firmly on the ground. 

Did you ever bunk off school to follow a passion? 

Melanie C: I think I had it sussed you know, because I decided in school… I was never really academic – I did okay – and my passions were more creative, I was always either dancing or doing sports. So I just used to keep my head down and get on with my work and then at the end of the day I’d either be in the drama studio or the music room or off to dance classes. I kind of felt like, rather than bunking off and getting into trouble, I would just keep my mouth shut and do what I wanted after school. 

Your style has evolved since those early Sporty Spice days of course, but you are looking very OG Sporty in the Palace campaign video. What’s your go-to outfit these days? 

Melanie C:  There was a time when I experimented a bit more with fashion, but I’ve very happily come back around to owning the Sporty Spice look. When I’m on stage it will be pure Sporty, you know, a great track pant, it’s back to trainers as well because I want to be able to run around and jump when I’m up there. Then it’s about finding a nice little coordinating top that goes with it all. Then if I’m going out I’ll dress it up a bit with a nice suit or a nice suit pant, potentially with a trainer again. I like to have a sporty element, even if I do a little dress. When I’m DJing I tend to wear a little dress but I like to have a stripe here or an extra strap there that just makes it feel like it’s really me. 

The last couple of years have seen the rise of the blokecore and bloquette trends, which kind of hark back to the 90s ‘ladette’ look and the trackies and football tees girls wore then, sometimes incorporated with elements taken from ballet. Maybe unsurprisingly given the fever for this era’s fashions, you’ve been popping up a lot on inspiration boards and in posts across social media. What do you make of the fact your style has a chokehold on a new generation? 

Melanie C: I think I was doing what so many kids were doing in the 90s, but it wasn’t really ever represented in British music, or on telly, especially when it came to the girls – there’d be some of the guys wearing sportswear, but never really women. I think initially I was one of the only girls doing it. I suppose it kind of makes it iconic in a sense? It makes me laugh, because when I first started going out to the pubs and clubbing, there was a policy on a lot of doors where you couldn’t wear trainers and tracksuits. I mean, there are plenty of establishments where that rule still stands, but you won’t find me at any of those places. Now, we have such high-end sportswear that will set you back way more than something that would be deemed ‘smarter’. It’s been a real evolution of the whole style, which I’m totally here for. 

How do you feel about fashion’s whole embrace of streetwear and sportswear from the point of view that it once shunned it because it was largely worn by people from working class backgrounds? There’s a lot of talk about how fashion is appropriating these people to make profit when historically they’ve wanted to completely distance themselves – like Burberry doing away with the Nova Check back in the day, only to be really embracing it right now.

Melanie C: That’s such an interesting topic of conversation. Like, I want sportswear and streetwear to be celebrated, and it is wonderful to see that it is being, but when you think about the attitude towards certain elements of society and certain communities, it has been really snobbish, hasn’t it? So on the one hand, I love that sportswear is having its moment, but on the other, fashion’s about-turn is a bit of a bloody cheek. It’s multilayered, the answer to that question. 

What are you listening to right now? What have you had on repeat? 

Melanie C: Well I’m in this phase where I’m making an album so I’ve been listening to myself a lot, which sounds terrible [laughs]. I started writing sessions last year and I’ve just had a month in LA which was really productive and I’ve just gotten to that point where I’m really excited about the songs. But otherwise, because I DJ a lot as well, I’ve been listening to a lot of remixes that have been coming out, and lots of the artists that inspire me: a lot of Robyn, and I love Charli XCX. I also figured out how to set up my vinyl deck the other day, and because I’m quite proud of myself I’ve been treating myself to some records that I used to listen to as a kid. So things like Eurythmics, some Stevie Wonder, plus a bit of Prodigy and hardcore in the mix. So, as ever, quite eclectic. 

What’s your most prized wardrobe possession? 

Melanie C: There was a very special collaboration between adidas and Gucci and I did splash out on a beautiful blue jacket. I wore it at Glastonbury actually, when I was on stage with Blossoms. It was disgustingly expensive but such a unique piece, so that is how I’m justifying it to myself and my accountant. 

Do you have any fashion regrets? 

Melanie C: Just Google me! [laughs, a lot] You’ll see them all there, and they’re never going away. But actually, when I first started as a solo artist, I had a real bee in my bonnet about being seen as an individual. I kind of created this identity that wasn’t Sporty Spice and I just have so many regrets around that because as soon as I embraced being sporty again, I realised I was so much more comfortable. I won’t be straying away from that path ever again. 

And what about Gap. Did you ever shop there when you were a kid like I’m sure a lot of teens will when the Palace collab drops? 

Melanie C: I don’t know that there were Gaps in the UK when I was growing up – I mean, I’m fucking old! [laughs]  But my memories of Gap are dressing my little girl in their clothes. We actually had a kid’s Gap down the road and I remember the first time I ever queued for a drop of anything was when Stella McCartney did her collab with them. I got packed in the queue with all the other yummy mummies and I waited in line to get her a bunch of stuff. 

Your daughter’s 15 now. Is she borrowing from your wardrobe or your archive? 

Melanie C: We do sharesies now! Well, I say we do sharesies, but most of it ends up in her wardrobe. I never see anything, let’s be honest. We dress the same, though, and we both like doing our shopping together. Pretending we’re going to share I suppose is another justification of the price of some of the streetwear that we both love. Two for the price of one. 

BOGOF! Okay, so slightly off topic. I want to know your dream blunt rotation please.

Melanie C: This is such a tricky one for me because there’s so many brilliant people you could throw into this mix. Do you know what I’m gonna do. In the spirit of this piece, I’m going to keep it 90s, and I’m going to go with some people who were really good fun to hang out with not only then, but now. I’m gonna go with… I don’t want to miss anyone out. Obviously I’m going to go with my Spice Girls, maybe they could count as one person? And then it was my birthday in January and I was on stage and we formed a new band. So Emma [Bunton] came up and we did some Spice Girls, we sang “Viva Forever”, and then I introduced Nicole and Natalie Appleton from All Saints, and we all did “ 2 Become 1” together. So we’re a new band called All Spice, available for parties. So I think yeah, those girls would be my blunt rotation. 

“It was my birthday in January and I was on stage, and Emma [Bunton] came up and we did some Spice Girls, we sang “Viva Forever”. And then I introduced Nicole and Natalie Appleton from All Saints, and we all did “ 2 Become 1” together. So we’re a new band called All Spice, available for parties. So I think yeah, those girls would be my dream blunt rotation. ” – Melanie C

Sounds good. Maybe we can book you for the next Dazed party? What is your internet obsession? 

Melanie C: I keep getting loads and loads of these really quick amazing meals you can do in five seconds? I haven’t done any of them, I just keep saving them to try later. These crazy, restaurant-style meals you can do on your own really quickly. So that’s what I’m obsessed with. One day, whenI get a minute. 

Do you have a favourite conspiracy theory? 

Melanie C: So many. I did actually date someone who was obsessed with conspiracy theories, so I have heard some pretty outlandish ones. But one that used to really make me chuckle is… You know these ones about people in the public eye that have been replaced? 

Like Avril Lavigne’s clone? 

Melanie C: Oh is Avril a clone! I heard one about Paul McCartney, and I just thought how coincidental that someone that’s identical to him would be so talented. So that one blows my mind. 

If you could travel back in time to any era for its fashions, what would it be and why? 

Melanie C: Do you know what, I’d literally go back to the 90s because I had so many incredible pieces that I wish I’d hung on to. I got rid of so much stuff, and I’m so regretful of that. So I’d go back to the 90s and keep all of the good bits. 

The Palace x Gap collection drops March 22 at Palace stores, select Gap stores, and online.