Rural Tailor Writing

THE RURAL TAILOR

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A WORK ALWAYS IN PROGRESS

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WRITTTEN & OCCASIONAL ART DIRECTION CONTRIBUTIONS TO:

NOW FASHION ONLINE VIEW 2 MAGAZINE PETRICHOR BY NORWEGIAN RAIN RESOURCES BY CERI VINTAGE FLORENCE DENHAM [5] YEARS -­‐ ISBN 119988776655 ART COMES FIRST AVEC CES FRERES THE BRIEF BY OZWALD BOATENG THE DAILY TERROR MAGAZINE BY A CHILD OF THE JAGO DISSERTATIONS BY VISVIM THE MILITANT GUILD OF RURAL TAILORS RESEARCH GROUP THE KEYSTONE DESIGN UNION BIS PUBLISHING -­‐ ISBN : 9789063691561 DUTCH CATWALKS -­‐ ISBN-­‐10 -­‐ 9090203133 IMPULS BY THE GOTTLEIB DUTTWEILER INSTITUTE

NOWFASHION

TOTEM SARTORIA

Encouraging signs that menswear can carry meaning at Pi3 86 PHOTOGRAPHY BY MELODY LIEFTINK

TOTEM SARTORIA -­‐ Encouraging signs that menswear can carry meaning at Pi3 86

by Liam Maher with photographs by Melody LieCink

In the press-­‐kit for this season’s PiI Uomo AgosLni PoleMo, the show’s deputy general manager, promises that the event will explore “a new way of interpre@ng the wardrobe of today’s man,”.

As a visitor and someLme parLcipant of the PiI, I tend to focus exclusively on this simple idea.

InterpretaLon. Namely to approach menswear as a language –that can be read and its messages be assigned meaning – the very definiLon of interpretaLon.

Fashion is famous for operaLng in the realm of the estheLc. Its variable moving parts encompass; the harmonizing of color, the balancing of proporLon, the interplay of texture, the incorporaLon of opLcal paMern as well as the integraLon of comfort and pracLcal funcLon. How all these elements come together within a man’s individual style can also be explored in primarily estheLc terms. -­‐Analysis that leads someLmes intriguing and someLmes banal conclusions. “Brown is the new Black” or “Smokey the Bear’s Hat is Back in Style”. And it is oCen devoted to the simple noLon of male aMracLveness. The proverbial peacock whose stylisLc intent is primarily to aMract the female of the species.

The PiI Uomo is internaLonally renowned for triggering robust estheLc debate as well providing a stage for peacocks to parade. The swell in the number of photojournalist and street-­‐style photo bloggers aMending the show has grown exponenLally and increased the focus on these aspects since estheLcs and peacockery both reproduce well in photographs. But I was on the lookout for something more. Something to do with how men use style as a language, forming stylisLc sentences that can say something unique about who they are, where they come from and where they hope to go. In a gathering of peacocks, finding a community using style to say something more about themselves than merely “look at me” might be a big ask – but I see encouraging examples that it is starLng to become a bit easier lately.

OUIGI THEODORE How Cool was Bill Cosby?

On estheLc terms, a finely calibrated juxtaposiLon of opLc white and ivory against soC mocha with shots of chestnut accented by warm brass and silver. Not to menLon the unexpected proporLon-­‐play led by the plummeLng hem of his vintage kurta. -­‐Undeniably“fresh” in the parlance of seasonal fashion. But what does it mean? Ouigi is man who was born in HaiL and whose parents insLlled in him the importance of educaLon as a means to achieve personal success and realize personal freedom. He’s also a man who ulLmately landed in Brooklyn having earned a degree in history and culLvated an interest in graphic design. As to his role models he recalls passionately; “I was very inspired by the Cosby Show – that show mo@vated me to con@nue my educa@on and triggered an interest in historically black colleges,”– He responded to the shows premise that it could be cool to be smart. Like most New Yorkers he’s also enamored by a parLcular brand of toughness and the noLon that an educated man should also be able to handle himself on Scorsese’s mean streets, or as he puts it; “I’m a bad boy as much as I am a gentlemen”. Ouigi’s style can easily be interpreted as a unique statement of this history and these values. His unique mix of garments and accessories blend ancestral references, harmonize diverse but relevant cultural cues and indicate a balance of pragmaLc ambiLon with romanLc opLmism. In other words; Ouigi’s style manifest who he really is and who he fully intends to become.

HELIO ASCARI I Want to Ride my Bicycle…

On the level of color and texture -­‐ a rich modulaLon of indigo shades and Lnts. The perfectly balanced high and low tones set off via vegetable tanned leather accessories that share the same characterisLc beauty-­‐through-­‐ aging quality as the wear-­‐paMern of his 5-­‐pocket jeans. A resounding victory for those on the “pro” side of the double denim debate. But what does it mean in Helio’s case? Wiliamsburg resident, Helio was born and raised in South Brazil. Gaucho country. His late father was a long-­‐haul trucker in the 40’s and 50’s – Helio laughs; “he was a total bad ass with a love of music and outlaw style who stayed on the road for months at a @me”. Helio’s own connecLon to the freedom of locomoLon is his work as a bicycle builder who employs excruciaLng levels of workmanship to produce dazzling transport for the modern urban gaucho. On his custom bikes he fearlessly mixes white, yellow and red metals with rugged leathers like the trucker’s belt inherited from his father –“For me its very important that what you do matches how you express yourself – like in music, you create the rhythm, layer the melody and then the lyric”. His style proclaims his reality – a modern gaucho arLsan working in Brooklyn addicted to the simple freedom symbolized by a bicycle.

YOUNGJUN KOO A Pleasure to Meet You.

An effortless removal of any trace of “an@” from an essenLally anL-­‐fashion style; high-­‐end against low-­‐end, new against vintage, classic against kitsch with just hint of K-­‐hop, a dollop of neo-­‐grunge and an undeniable celebraLon of Fashion with a capital “F”. But why? ACer earning a fashion degree in his naLve South Korea, Youngjun Koo bumped into a language barrier while perusing the path to Paris to become a fashion buyer. Later he resolved to learn English and threw himself into the fray in New York. ACer being shot in Soho by a Japanese style blogger he began taking style shots himself; “at first I shot with a small compact camera – it wasn’t about the photographs actually, it was about being new in town and wan@ng to make friends”. StarLng out with a love of fashion and no money, the DIY approach has always been natural. Not the London punk aggression of Sid Vicious but the friendly Daniel Johnston ‘Hi, How Are You’ greeLng of Kurt Cobain. For Koo, Cobain represents the opLmism that you can make something beauLful out of nothing and the possibility that punk can be upbeat and playful.

YUKI MATSUDA The California of ChrisLan Hosoi

Sun soaked sartorialism from the Chinatown ear interrupted by the young-­‐at-­‐heart cult of 1980’s California casual. SoCly textured and impeccably selected seersucker awning-­‐stripe in washed-­‐out pacific blue and white treated to the unexpected compliment of a white with deep blue varsity tee popping between the lapels where a vibrant novelty neckLe might have been. Sea straw, faded horn, natural silver and turquoise washed up against the easy coastal pallet. Besides looking fantasLc, what does it mean to Matsuda? Yuki moved to California from Osaka Japan when he was 18 to help idenLfy youth oriented labels for a Japanese export company. A passionate man with a singular style perspecLve, he’s recently resolved not to let things in his world get too old or stuffy. He recalls; “When was younger and I first saw the Japanese-­‐American skateboarder Chris@an Hosoi I thought he was the coolest guy I’d ever seen – a guy all about freedom…”. Based in California, Matsuda’s footwear and clothing label, Yuketen celebrates a modern fusion of NaLve American craC and a Japanese design ethos. “The na@ve American approach is sort of like mine. -­‐Very simple, almost bare-­‐handed craY using no specialized tools or machines”. You’d expect Yuki’s style to reflect the things that are meaningful to him. A deep respect for simple craC, the famously laid-­‐back culture of his adopted California and his naturally irrepressible spirit. And as it happens, what you see is what you get.

NOWFASHION

BLACKTOBLACK At PiI Uomo 87

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MELODY LIEFTINK

BLACKTOBLACK At PiI Uomo

Headed to Florence this season, I expected to see evidence of an increased appeLte for tonal and monochrome dressing (around our own blue-­‐obsessed studio in Amsterdam, Jason Denham can oCen be heard remarking that "if it’s not indigo, it’s black"). Of course, the idea that a fashion report would describe the "emergence of black & white" as interesLng or newsworthy is mildly laughable on many levels. Amongst the fashionable men, black has been a perennial mainstay since the Beats of the 50's, or even Beau Brummell and the original dandies in the early 1800s who favored black despite the colorful associaLons the term dandy and events like the PiI have since come to evoke.

BLACKTOBLACK At PiI Uomo

What is considerably more interesLng is the contradictory impulses that can be seen within two very disLnct tributaries which both contribute to the current monochromaLc style but which seem to have very different origins. This is what the team from NowFashion and I came to invesLgate at this week's PiI Uomo.

Immediately upon entering the fairgrounds, the signals were strong that black-­‐and-­‐white would be a preeminent theme of the event. An enormous lenLcular mural announcing PiI's seasonal "Walkabout" theme cleverly animaLng endless rows of walking men illustrated in stark black-­‐and-­‐white was a fiIng introducLon to the subject. But there were other clear signals as well. The PiI also unveiled a totally new exhibiLon area under the Ltle: [Un]ConvenLonal. The new presentaLon-­‐hall was enLrely dedicated to a selecLon of 20 internaLonal brands, each associated with the popular search-­‐term "#allblack". Exhibitors in this area included labels like Hood By Air, The Last Conspiracy, Lot 78, Reinhardt Plank and Isabel Benenato. Hood By Air also presented a special catwalk show as part of the official schedule, and PN/P, a longLme mecca for dark dressing, hosted a recepLon oriented around the latest release from OXO/Rubber Soul at their remarkable shop near Dante's oneLme residence (Dante being another early proponent of the power of the dark).

BLACKTOBLACK At PiI Uomo

Our anLcipaLon of black-­‐and-­‐white dressing even shed ironic new light on the ouyits worn by PiI's maintenance-­‐ staff and security personnel. All of a sudden their uLlitarian black parkas with the simple word "STAFF" emblazoned in white across the back were transformed into unlikely new icons of PiI's seasonal parade.

BLACKTOBLACK At PiI Uomo

So the stage was set for our invesLgaLon of black, and our inquiry into its various contradictory origins could begin in earnest. How did the men of the PiI choose to dress themselves and what could be deduced from their choices? Between the branded booths and away from the scheduled events, it was an invesLgaLon best undertaken by observing the men themselves.

BINARYBLACK v. DARKARTISAN -­‐ Energized by the Instant versus Inspired by the Ancient

To my eye the most interesLng aspect of the current monochrome is the tension between two of the trend's unlikely bedfellows.

BINARYBLACK It could be argued that one of these draws its strength from the fact that certain black-­‐and-­‐white moLfs thrive in the digital landscape of contemporary social-­‐media. This is a place where stark contrast, simple symmetry, thick-­‐ stroke leMerforms and the dynamic balance of posiLve and negaLve space all reproduce excepLonally well. This is a space where parameters are confined by the limitaLons of social apps and viewing surfaces are defined by the flat-­‐screen architecture of modern mobile-­‐devices. In some ways the resulLng style reflects the survival of the internet-­‐fiMest, where only the boldest can sustain themselves on Instagram Version 1.0's meager diet of 612 x 612 pixels or even the expanded 1,936 pixel upgrade. And in a post-­‐modern self-­‐referenLal twist, the vernacular of social media itself supplies key graphic and text elements as evidenced by the full emergence of twiMer-­‐friendly text bytes and the hashtag itself as decoraLve moLfs.

Of course, it's been a longLme since social media was defined exclusively by a youthful generaLon of early-­‐ adopLng users. Nevertheless, key influences here remain Led to other staples of youth culture. The influence of popular music and sport on the graphics, silhoueMes and fabricaLons remains strong and can be credited for much of the style's energy and excitement. Most self-­‐respecLng creators on this side of the monochrome trend will cite the importance of a parLcular musical genre or sport-­‐culture on their work. Graphics could be mistaken for album-­‐ cover artwork and the use of printed text evokes an impression of the team-­‐names or sponsorship logos from the realms of professional sports. SyntheLc fabrics, sport-­‐jersey qualiLes and sets of silhoueMes echoing a uniform of "shorts, tees, leggings and hoodies" that would be equally at home in a gym-­‐locker all represent a consistent strain throughout the style.

And it's perhaps only fair here to menLon Y3, Soph. and even Walter Van Beirendonck as precursors to this trend who didn't benefit, at least iniLally, from the evoluLon of social-­‐media.

BLACKTOBLACK At PiI Uomo

DARKARTISAN The other opposing force in today's monochrome movement draws its own power from far less immediate sources. SomeLmes described a bit unfairly as neo-­‐goth or ghost style, this is the world anLcipated by the great Japanese designers of the late 80s, the Belgians of the 90's, the collecLve phenomenon of the Italian Carpe Diem group and the singular sensaLons of Rick Owens and Carol ChrisLan Poell.

To my mind there has always been a strong sense of pre-­‐industrial and pre-­‐photographic cultural history here. The fabricaLons are hand woven and/or hand-­‐worked and colors are irregularly applied using cold-­‐dye, spray or other labor-­‐intensive estheLcally intuiLve techniques. Ancient material craCs like leatherwork and kniIng originaLng even before the wide-­‐scale use of weaving looms evoke an atmosphere of mystery and, for fans of this style, even a hint of alchemical magic and spirituality. Modern materials like rubber also become primiLve, dripping and absorbing into base fabrics like wax, tar or tree-­‐sap. The holy grail here is the fully hand-­‐made and one-­‐of-­‐a-­‐kind item. In other words, despite sharing black and monochrome as the fundamental color card, the origins of this dark strain within men's fashion couldn't be further from the world of Instagram and TwiMer. In stark contradicLon to the celebraLon of visual effects best shared in thumbnail photographs, here we have textures, tones and nuances that can never be fully captured in a two-­‐dimensional photograph.

BLACKTOBLACK At PiI Uomo

BLACKTOBLACKINBALANCE In the end, however, it's all in the potenLal for balance. A balance of influences that resonates authenLcally with the man manifesLng them. A balance of signals from a man's personal past, the place he occupies today and where he hopes to go tomorrow. New interpretaLons of our shadowy pre-­‐industrial past are being expressed by darkly arLsan designers from every corner of the globe: Western Europe, the UK, the US and Japan of course, but also Eastern Europe, Korea, China and beyond. And turbo-­‐charged reflecLons of our endlessly acceleraLng contemporary culture are being recorded in the work of a new generaLon of digitally-­‐savvy young designers from an equally diverse array of countries. And this ensures that, as ever, the customer remains ulLmately in-­‐charge.

He is freer than ever to express his own personal take on styles that seem Lmeless as well as those seeming much more of-­‐the-­‐moment. It is all in the authenLcity of the mix.

And as we also learned at this season's PiI Uomo, even things that appear to us in black-­‐and-­‐white are never as simple as the expression "in black-­‐and-­‐white" someLmes implies.

In the interest of full-­‐disclosure I should clarify that my primary orientaLon to the menswear market is as the Design Director for Denham. In that capacity I work together with my boss Jason Denham and our creaLve crew to produce seasonal collecLons according to our own disLnct brand-­‐ethos. Our work someLme reflects parLcular market trends, but only insofar as they genuinely compliment our core brand philosophy and resonate with both our own tastes and that of our customers.

But this orientaLon doesn't do anything to abate my long-­‐held curiosity in the way men are dressing or a keen interest in events like the PiI Uomo. On the contrary, I remain as curious as ever.

BLACKTOBLACK At PiI Uomo

NOWFASHION [unpublished]

A FLICK OF THE WRIST – Meaning Creeps in at the Cuff at PiI 86

AMendees of Florence's PiI Uomo represent a wide catalog of disLnct style-­‐tribes. The show itself is home to diverse sub-­‐concepts running the gamut from Italian tailoring to progressive Korean fashion, from rugged heritage to futurist urban chic and dozens of menswear categories in-­‐between. No surprise then that the populaLon visiLng the PiI are equally diverse. Those on the hunt for a more all-­‐encompassing style vernacular might find their aMenLon drawn by the flick of a visitor's wrist. It seems that the most universal trend is also the most fiercely individual and uniquely personal. Looking for real emoLon and deeper meaning at an industry event focused mostly on estheLcs may seem like a waste of Lme. But even for men demonstraLng a fairly prescribed sartorial approach it appears that an impulse to express something more personal is starLng to creep out at the cuff. String cords, beaded bracelets, leather straps, linked chains and bent bangles are stacking up above nearly every hand and with a flick of the wrist the stories started coming out. QuesLoned about the specific meaning of their bracelets, guests of the PiI speak passionately about the singular significance of each.

They provide hearyelt accounts of personal milestones, temple trips, spiritual commitments, cherished summer safaris, first promoLons and inaugural journeys as well as reminders of family reunions, the birth of children, and mementos of lost loved ones. On one wrist alone a 3-­‐year out-­‐of-­‐date entry bracelet for the another trade fair in Berlin was leC on long aCer its expiraLon date as a means of holding on to the memory of a best friend who passed away shortly aCer the event. On the same wrist a sequence of beaded strands fading from ocean blue to sky blue to salt white recalled a succession summer sojourns to a favorite surf spot, the more sun-­‐faded the beads the longer ago the trip. And finally one threadbare handmade braid acquired years earlier on a first buying trip to Florence. So it appears that a move toward meaning in menswear is starLng to show itself within the one nearly universal element of a modern man's personal style – even if it's only just peeking out from behind a shirt cuff.

VIEW 2

NORWEGIAN RAIN

A COMMENTARY ON FASHION ZEITGEIST OF TODAY. WHERE ARE WE HEADING? -­‐ Those of us lucky enough to work in this industry are also lucky enough to be contribuLng to the tradiLon. Menswear tradiLon has been marching forward every generaLon. From the Ancient Greeks through the Roman Empire through the Middle Ages through the Enlightenment through Industrial RevoluLon through the Belle Époque through the Great War through Jazz Age through the Depression through the Second World War through the Birth of the Suburb through the Counter-­‐Culture through the Oil Crisis through the Studio 54 through Grunge through the Social-­‐ Network…. It’s all one long progression. A dazzling parade.

It’s a long list that gets longer every year. It’s an ever deepening well of inspiraLon, design ideas, innovaLons, narraLves and cultural references and it gets richer with every new generaLon. Just do the math. The way I figure it none of our predecessors had as much material to work with as we have. We have a unique chance to influence where it’s heading and to ensure that it combines the most evocaLve elements of the passed with the most invigoraLng energies of the future. That’s up to us.

I WAS BORN WITH A RARE COSMETIC ANOMALY.

As a boy MY FACE WAS VERY SHINY. I don’t mean sweaty teenager shiny, I mean like liquid-­‐mercury shiny. Like the Terminator T-­‐1000 ediLon or the Silver Surfer, except nowhere near that cool. Quite the opposite actually – uMerly uncool. Awkward and freakish and not in a trendy post-­‐modern Harmony Korine or Juergen Teller kind of way.

Doctors were fairly sure I’d grow out of it. In the meanLme they warned me that other kids might give me a hard Lme…. –They may make me feel like an outsider.

THEY WARNED ME NOT TO SPEND TOO MUCH TIME LOOKING INTO MIRRORS MYSELF. Even though I was a living breathing reflecLve surface, I was to stay away from sLll water, polished metal or anything like that. Of course, being young, I tried it anyway. Scary feeling. Because MY FACE REFLECTED THE REFLECTION, I NEARLY DISAPPEARED enLrely. Like one of those infinity mirrors they someLmes sell in head-­‐shops. Only my eyes appeared to hover in space. It was like having no idenLty at all. Since my eyelids were also shiny, if I squinted I seemed to evaporate completely. That’s a bewildering experience for a very young person.

There was something they didn’t tell me . Something I think they honestly hadn’t foreseen. One of the side effects of the condiLon was that PEOPLE COULD SEE THEMSELVES IN ME. Older people say that to younger people all the Lme; “I see something of myself in you, son…”. But in my case they could literarily see their own reflecLons on the surface of my chrome-­‐like skin. It’s a funny thing, but for a while I thought most people liked me despite my mild deformity. Over Lme I deduced that it wasn’t necessarily me that they liked. THEY LIKED THEIR OWN REFLECTION looking back at them. I guess it’s natural that people would have affecLon something familiar. –like their own face.

IniLally I was deeply disappointed. Here I was thinking that all these people had liked me for being me. Later my feelings evolved. Throughout my childhood I interacted with a surprising number of folks who I admired. I actually didn’t mind the idea that a few of these characters were reflecLng in my face when they looked at me.

I decided I WANTED TO COME UP WITH A WAY TO PERMANENTLY FIX SOME OF THEIR REFLECTIONS ON MY SKIN. I spoke with the doctors about finding an ointment that would absorb the impressions of the people I admired – but repel the images of those of the people I didn’t. Because I knew I would grow out of the condiLon as I went through adolescence, it was important to begin absorbing the right characterisLcs before my face lost its mirror-­‐ like quality.

I think the ointment they prescribed was a placebo. My face did loose this characterisLc when I became an adult.

SOMETIMES I CAN CATCH BRIEF GLIMPSES OF THE PEOPLE WHO INSPIRED ME when I see my reflecLon nowadays.

Sadly I can also see the reflecLon of some of the people I’ve known whom I didn’t respect so much. So the ointment either half worked, or it didn’t work at all.

I’m a bug’s breath away from 50 now and I’m realizing that I wouldn’t have it any other way. It may show signs of the good, the bad and the ugly…. But I have a face I can call my own. I also have a nagging suspicion that this condiLon is more common that I had been led to believe. In fact, I suspect maybe everyone suffers from it (or benefits from it) to some degree. If that’s the case WE MIGHT EACH BE CARRYING GLIMPSED IMPRESSIONS OF PREVIOUS GENERATIONS, OTHER TIMES, PLACES AND CULTURES being transposed and blended within our complexions.

If that’s true of our faces, IT OUGHT TO BE EXTENDED THROUGH OUR GARMENTS AND THE WAY WE DRESS.

CERI VINTAGE FLORENCE

DENHAM

ISBN 119988776655

Artwork: Ali KIrby

ART COMES FIRST

SAM LAMBERT AND SHAKA MAIDOH FOUNDED THE ACF IN ORDER TO CIRCULATE SARTORIAL NOURISHMENT

OXYGENATING modern menswear tradiLon through Lme-­‐based projects undertaken in collaboraLon with a rotaLng cadre of passionate creaLves in their internaLonal network.

Lambert and Maidoh are dedicated to pumping the day-­‐to-­‐day lifeblood through Art Comes First’s ever expanding creaLve corpus partly by provoking their peers with specific creaLve concepts.

The parLcular magneLsm that binds together individual contributors to the ACF and galvanizes its projects comes directly from their shared admiraLon of craCsmanship's history and their dedicaLon to its future.

ART COMES FIRST proposes that this crucial blend of respect and dedicaLon can energize a hybrid meta-­‐art form providing protecLon and direcLon for other forms of expression in art, photography, painLng, and performance…. – any expressive discipline concerned with the nearly divine alchemical process of transforming a man’s base experience into the more sublime alloyed stair-­‐steps of his independent accession. -­‐Like raw plants into loose fibers. Like loose fibers into spun yarn. Like spun yarns into woven cloth. Like woven cloth into sartorial style.

Fashion maybe suffers from a reputaLon as art’s most shallow-­‐valued cousin, but that is only because it is being abused. The A.C.F. is not about fashion in that way. It is about something else enLrely. The nobility of the striving and a determinaLon that we each fulfill our responsibility to inspire one another.

Photo: David PaInson

THE PREMIER COLLECTION With a collecLon they call "Dance", Sam Lambert & Shaka Maidoh of the ACF now launch Avec ces Freres. Avec ces Freres' inaugural range sees the duo manifest the authenLc spirit of the ACF within a focused assortment of interrelated styles. The essenLal root of the ACF's style fraternity is their shared vision of the modern gentlemen in a new age. Elemental to this noLon is a zealous commitment to travel and the belief that a near constant state of travel leads to a near constant state of learning. Travel is a journey of discovery. Discovery is the porthole to knowledge. -­‐And the sensaLon experienced during moments of true discovery and the acquisiLon of knowledge is equal parts cerebral, physical and spiritual. Discovery delivers "liMle hits of wonder", it injects a lasLng spring in our step and it makes us want to smile and smile, to jump and jump, to dance and dance.

Lambert and Maidoh have worked to vitalize this simple noLon in a fresh travel-­‐friendly wardrobe craCed with intelligence, curiosity and good intenLon.

THE CUT The cut is characterized by a shoulder line that is at once modern, natural, clean and dignified. Lambert and Maidoh make full use of lessons learned on Savile Row but they have completely rethought the paMern-­‐ making, reworked the contouring, recalculated measurements and reengineered the balance of their silhoueMe to capture their deeper values. Movement, opLsim, dynamism and a new down-­‐to-­‐earth type of sartorial grace.

THE CLOTH Fabrics in the tailoring range are founded in classic wool qualiLes with an emphasis on flannel.

ShirLng has been executed in fine whites including twill, polling, oxford and marcella. Knitwear and accessories feature cashmere. Footwear leathers are pebbled and feature original air-­‐filled rubber soles with signature BriLsh bounce.

THE WARDROBE Key styles within the collecLon include:

THE SLIMBLU SUIT Named in honor of legendary slim bluesmen like Memphis, Lightening and Bumble Bee, the Slimblu is a single-­‐breasted one-­‐buMon notch lapel suit with an elongated slender cut and a narrow lapel. The trousers feature discreet blind zips to keep the peg sharp and the dressing easy.

THE JMB MODULAR SUIT A double-­‐breasted evening suit inspired by the great Basquiat it navigates the wearer easily from an evening on the town to a frenzied all-­‐nighter among paint tubes and linseed oil. A wrinkle resistant weave with a natural textured outlook keeps the look kicked-­‐back at the same Lme as dressed-­‐up. True to the ACF ethos, the suit allows the wearer to coordinate shorts or pants, toggling back-­‐and-­‐forth as the occasion requires.

THE BLAZBER HYBRID JACKET A hybridizaLon of an MA1 Bomber and a street-­‐smart 1940’s cut blazer. The Blazber unites hero garments of the London subcultures Lambert and Maidoh were weaned on – like bringing an original Skin/Rudy to Mayfair by means of a Lme machine.

THE TRENCHSHIRT A silhoueMe influenced heavily by outwerwear but realized in fresh breezy shirLng to produce a new twist on layering or a new proporLon in shirts.

THE BISMILLAH SHIRT A shirt silhoueMe that is stylisLcally undiluted ACF. Bending the definiLon of shirLng, the “Bis” can be worn as a dressed-­‐up but progressive alternaLve to convenLonal layering elements like waistcoats and pullovers.

THE RUDIEBOOT Ankle boots in rugged pebbled leather with a stretch element over the vamp replacing convenLonal laces and a soC extended tongue that can be folded over the vamp or strapped to the ankle.

THE ACF PRESENTS: THE COAL The ACF's latest undertaking, is scheduled to take place in Florence during the PiI Uomo from January 8th to 11th. The aim of the project is to examine the interplay between modern craCsmanship and its accommodaLon of genuine funcLon. The ACF have invited creaLves within their network to help them explore this subject by collaboraLng on bespoke stylisLc expressions of craC and funcLon as they relate to each contributor's individual design genre.

The tangible elements of the Coal program make-­‐up a Spartan but stylish quiver of sartorial staples represenLng the building blocks of craC and funcLon's natural intersecLon in menswear. Together these designs tell a story of the creaLve man prepared for a life of terminal research and wanderlust -­‐ a name we give both the malady and the cure when it comes to creaLves seeking ever deeper knowledge and to ignite the sparks and bolts of perennial inspiraLon.

The ACF's new travel staples include:

TRAVEL BAG designed with T. Michael (Bergen). This arsenal of crea@ve tools needs a bespoke carrying case. A compartment for every concept but space to add more; strips of texture, cu3ngs of color, totems of tonality, talismans of inspira@on all picked up along the way. To be inspired, to stay inspired, to inspire yourself, to inspire others.

SHIRT & TIE produced with Sebas@an Dollinger from Eaton (Gaanghester). A concept balancing a shirtmaker's craY with modern func@onality by means of modularity. Four separate classic collar-­‐types afach or detach allowing a single shirt to rotate seamlessly and meet the challenges of any sartorial challenge.

HATS developed with Mafeo Gioli from Super Duper Handmade Hats (Florence). One universal hat-­‐form given dis@nct stylis@c and sub-­‐cultural nuance by virtue of the shiYing size and shape of its brim across four varia@ons.

EYEWEAR created together with Lotho's Aroun Ducroix (Paris). The heritage of early round-­‐lens spectacle reading glasses transformed by the guitar-­‐pick shape influence of military aviator frames to produce a hybridiza@on of intellect and ac@on worthy of Thelonius Monk.

SCRAPBOOK JOURNAL craCed with Kalaf Angelo (Lisbon). The scrapbook's power to inspire -­‐ with carefully curated drawings, photographs and fabrics embedded -­‐ magnified exponen@ally by the journal's power to harness ideas-­‐ within the limitless poten@al of thick sheets of virgin white paper.

These designs each endeavor to manifest the potenLal elegance that can be realized when a Lmeless balance is negoLated between craCsmanship and funcLon. -­‐And this fundamental subject is one about which each Coal parLcipant is deeply passionate and fiercely opinionated.

COAL -­‐ THE DIALOG, THE BALANCE & THE GAME UNFOLDING The producLon and exhibiLon of these designs sets up a context for dialog. The dialog between creaLves on the subject of balance and how best to achieve it. For the Coal project this dialog will be framed within a gentlemanly game of chess -­‐ a tradiLon of playful exchange famed for ritual, beauty, richness and the Lpping of a balance back and forth between players. More than that, the chessboard can serve as a roseMa stone for discourse, anchoring a discussion or debate between players on other subjects even as they move their pieces across its iconic checkered paMern. Members of The Coal will play using a chess set customized and craCed by Liam Maher.

NUTONE4/2TONE

ART COMES FIRST, SUPER DUPER HATS, THE BROOKLYN CIRCUS, LOTHO, I OWE YOU & ENERGY PLAN

The creaLves behind these internaLonal concepts create a unique program for the Global Village. With roots in London, Florence, Brooklyn, Paris, Tokyo and Amsterdam those parLcipaLng in NUTONE4/2TONE create a simple, powerful and emoLonally direct dialog across geographic and cultural boundaries by means of the simple and ancient act of saturaLng cloth into color.

The project celebrates the rudimentary but elegant act of the dip-­‐dye exploring its unique alchemy and matchless potenLal to completely transform the emoLonal tone and spiritual pitch of sartorial items. This represents an effortless way for these creaLves to engage in a nearly primordial form of universal human conversaLon and add further dimension to the ethos and values implied by the original two-­‐tone movement.

The project follows other producLons of the ACF and their rotaLng collecLve including The Coal and The Hard GraC. NuTone4/2Tone is part of the event schedule for PiI 86 in Florence and Ciff in Copenhagen.

The A.C.F Revolving CollecLve Presents: THE HARD GRAFT The DJ technique Applied to Menswear

THE CONCEPT

SAMPLING AND BEAT-­‐BLENDING IN MENSWEAR DESIGN The progressing of the tradiLon of menswear design from the past through the present into the future involves a process of hybridizaLon, graCing, sampling and mixology. Like DJs digging through classic vinyl, remixing standards from the jazz and pop musical canon, menswear designers aMempt to harmonize the most potent influences from their vintage research within a single contemporary concept. Sam Lambert & Shaka Maidoh, founders of the A.C.F. [Art Comes First] step into the atelier with MaSeo Gioli of SuperDuper Hats and Liam Maher of Denham to cut, scratch, sample and mix vintage menswear in a demonstraLon of the DJ technique applied to menswear.

THE DEMONSTRATION

NOMADIC ATELIER/SCRATCHING WITH SEWING NEEDLES This fraternal crew work live to blend each other's beats -­‐ synthesizing the varied sartorial and workwear influences that reflect each of their individual design obsessions. Hybrid designs evolve daily within a nomadic atelier. Actual garments are disassembled and reassembled into new clothing concepts.

THE EXHIBITION

MUSIC TECHNIQUE TRIGGERED BY MUSIC HEROS Each day finished pieces are styled into a focused exhibit of looks inspired by the men who progressed modern music from yesterday's legends to contemporary pioneers. StylisLc cues reflect a diverse array of tastes including; Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Chet Baker, Jimi Hendrix, Billy Bragg, Bob Geldof, Ian Drury, Peter Murphy, Robin Gibb, Ma@syahu and Yasijn Bey.

THE TOUR -­‐ INSPIRE TO INSPIRE The A.C.F.'s moMo of creaLve altruism; Inspire to Inspire, is manifested in this non-­‐commercial enterprise.

While some of the results of this design process may ulLmately be industrialized and commercialized in various ways within their individual labels -­‐ the intenLon of this project is simply to celebrate the design ethos itself. They seek to inspire their peers to join with them in moving a shared tradiLon of menswear design forward for the next generaLon. InternaLonal tour-­‐stops for the project include:

Pi^ Uomo 84 -­‐ Florence, IT: June 18-­‐21, 2013 Liberty Fair -­‐ New York, NY: July 22-­‐23, 2013 CIFF -­‐ Copenhagen, DK: August 8-­‐11, 2013 Liberty Fair -­‐ Las Vegas, NV: August 19-­‐21, 2013 Other -­‐ TBA

ART COMES FIRST

OZWALD BOATENG

ALEXANDER FIELDEN

HELLO

I am reaching out to a passionate cadre of shopkeepers with whom the Alexander Fielden estheLc has resonated and who have demonstrated courage in their curaLng of progressive internaLonal design, passionate support for the lines they carry and original vision in the craCing of their own disLnct store concepts.

The list is very short. There are not more than a dozen shops from around the world.

I am contacLng you directly because I wanted to aMempt to spark in you some of the excitement that has all but fully consumed me over recent months as I have felt my work release itself from the last ballast of the ordinary and begin to ascend onto a new dimension of design and producLon for myself and my eponymous footwear and leather-­‐goods label. My enthusiasm would be wholly immodest if it weren’t for the fact that this next stage feels as natural within my studio as it does mysterious. Almost as if it is happening of its own accord.

CUT SKETCH I have evolved my pracLce of ‘Cut Sketching’ and it has allowed me to engage directly with my mate-­‐ rials in a sort of organic creaLve communion. My knife follows invisible lines between the leather’s natural edges and is further guided by my own parLcular insLnct for shape and form. In some ways this allows me to hear the material as it whispers, -­‐soCly instrucLng me as to its intended use.

THERE IS NO REPETITION THEREFORE NO PATTERNS Each Cut Sketch represents a unique dialog between arLsan and material. These lines cannot be repeated in typical cookie-­‐cuMer producLon processes. The first aMempts of this process has manifested itself in my former collecLons but has now intensified deeply in my work. It is a way-­‐of-­‐working I had not pracLced this concentrated, nor have I seen anyone else produce designs in this way. A marriage of insLncLve organic knife work and a unique three-­‐dimensional sculpLng process which integrates the natural edges of all individual hides used.

The last months of free blade cuIng gave me the freedom to let go of all paMerns. The flat paper paMern has become and sLll is the control of all product and fashion design but it can also represent the ulLmate betrayal of natural form. -­‐AMempLng, as it does, to compress all dimensional expression into something cold, flat and abstract. Trees, flowers, animals and people are all made without paper paMerns. We call them natural and we call industrial products arLficial.

The coming chapters of the Alexander Fielden project strives to offer a product that is as natural as the materials it is craCed from.

THERE IS NATURAL CONSISTENCY The natural shapes in leather and the curves waiLng in the muscle-­‐memory of my drawing and cut-­‐ Lng hand are forces capable of creaLng consistency without repeLLon. Every piece is a one-­‐of-­‐a-­‐ kind but every one expresses its own subtle variaLon of unchanging underlying whole. Archetypes emerge.

Related form-­‐groupings, families of texture and tone, hierarchies of size and scale. These characterisLcs are as reliable as the feeling of leather yielding to a blade.

THERE IS NO MARKET STALL The early stages of this concept require an inLmacy and sensiLvity ill-­‐suited to the hustle of commercial trade fairs. This is why I’ve reached out to you directly here and why I have elected not to show at Tranoi or other fairs. Instead I will endeavor to work directly with this elite cluster of inspiring shops to co-­‐create a new presentaLon playorm for this next avatar of my work. -­‐ A non seasonal system that fits our vision of uMerly modern and unapologeLcally raw modern luxury.

NEAR-­‐VIOLENT CREATIVITY Nature inspires the ulLmate modernity. Uniqueness is the ulLmate luxury. Like the highest form of couture, the griffe, this is the one-­‐of-­‐a-­‐kind result of a highly individual act of near-­‐violent creaLvity. Like lightening striking or a blade cuIng. Our studio is determined to step resolutely onto the path less travelled. Robert Frost wrote of two roads diverging in the woods and his choice to take the “one less traveled by” making “all the difference”. The spiritual compass of the Alexander Fielden project appears again in the figure of ‘The Wanderer’. The essence of wandering through Lme brings back elements from the prehistoric up to the untraveled future.

A CHILD OF THE JAGO

A CHILD OF THE JAGO

A CHILD OF THE JAGO

DIGITAL TEMPLE

THE ROYAL MAGAZINE

THE STORY PHOTOGRAPHY JOURNAL

VISION – HONG KONG

VISVIM

VISVIM

VISVIM

VISVIM

VISVIM

VISVIM

VISVIM

WWD JAPAN

PURISTS ARE BORING ISBN: 978-­‐90-­‐6369-­‐156-­‐1

DUTCH CATWALKS ISBN-­‐10: 9090203133

GOTTLIEB DUTTWEILER INSTITUTE

[WRITING ABOUT….]

Forgive the photos & narcissism, but there’s some wriLng in there.

VARIOUS SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL EU BREAD & BUTTER BERLIN PITTI UOMO SELECTISM ELLE.COM GETTY IMAGES MARIECLAIRE.COM NORDSTROM.COM THE JC REPORT

VARIOUS REMIX – NEW ZEALAND THEME – NEW YORK STAF – PORTUGAL SPORTSWEAR – L.A. WARP – JAPAN NYLON GUYS – NEW YORK SUPERFUTURE HUSTLER OF CULTURE

[MORE WRITING ABOUT…]

Forgive the narcissism again, but there’s some wriLng in here as well.

SELECTIONS VIA DENHAM RELATED PRESS

THAT’S ENOUGH FOR NOW.