Founded in 2002 by Silas Adler and Jacob Kampp Berliner, the totally Danish brand Soulland got off to quite a rocky start. With Adler borrowing money, losing it, putting Soulland in his mother’s name, opening a store and closing it, it was an uphill struggle for the now super popular artisanal brand. Thoughtful, detailed design underpins the label. It throws out the old, by replacing fabrics and cuts on traditional staples and suits, and makes clothes that ‘our generation’ want to wear. Adler, from a skater-boy background, aims to create a universe of clothes that his wearers actually care about wearing. The brand is seeing continued growth, and because of its characteristically Scandi aesthetic, it is often wedged into the same space as the Acnes and Our Legacys of the world. Here Adler tells us about why Soulland deserves to be considered on its own terms, alongside, but not the same as, all the other Scandis.

This is your third collection at LC:M, what’s changed business wise for you guys since you’ve been showing in London?

We have learned so much about ourself and where we wanna focus with our brand. The competition and creative level here is just on a much higher level. It is motivation for me to push my abilities and try to go out side my safe zone. On the external level our business is growing the same as the awareness. Things don’t come easy and things take time. Thank god I realised that long ago!  We are starting to work with Harvey Nichols for spring – our relationship with them has started and grown because of LC:M…

Despite only a handful of showings in London, your brand has been around for a few years now and has seen a few trends come and go already. Do you feel what’s going on in the rest of fashion needs to influence your work, or do you try to avoid letting popular trends and motifs affect your design too much?

Like every other creative I have this arrogant self vision of me as an original. Trends are a reaction of people getting the same sparks of input in more places at the same time. Before the guys in NY got one kind of input and us Scandies got another input. Now we all get them same input more or less. So it’s harder to clear your canvas and get ideas that are not flowing some where else.

Hip Hop seemed significant for SS16, you seem to be interested in the relationship between Hip-Hop and rebellious fashion (I remember, by the way, I once owned a “Bourgeoisie” print sweatshirt of yours that Jay-Z was also pictured in)?

I grew up with counter culture in my teens. And it still has it’s fingers in me. I like contrast, I like people or things that break the pattern and redefine them self and the world they live in. I don’t like the word rebel or rebellion but I like what it stands for.

In fact, a kind of rebelliousness often seems to inform your work, be that through printed phrases (like that conversation-piece “Bourgeoisie” sweatshirt or the “Fuck Inspiration” one back in S/S 2009) or the graffiti scrawled set and jackets of SS16: do you deliberately seek to elicit strong reactions to your work or is that rebelliousness just a part of your aesthetic?

First off “FUCK INSPIRATION” is one of our older prints – I’m amazed that you know it. For me that has always been the collection I wish I had done later, it would make so much more sense now. On the other hand the concept would be corny.  I might start sampling old collection ideas in to new collections. Back to the question. I like a reaction. I don’t get a reaction for the stuff I do. I use print as a tool. I use design as a tool. It’s more about maybe getting people to think just a little bit. Rather than offending.

Fabric innovation and print often seem more important to you than radical silhouette innovations, how do you go about working with/choosing these unusual fabrics: what attracts you to them?

I understand texture much better, It’s my language. I’m challenging my self to work more with the silhouette – it’s something I’m slowly starting to understand better. The textiles have been my main focus the last couple of years. I have developed a lot of fabrics from scratch and the new interesting thing for me is to destroy fabrics after I have built them up. I like the engineering side to textile development.

What were some of the inspirations behind this collection?

Old cars being dropped in to nature by ignorant humans. And nature eating the cars.

I’ve often seen you grouped by the press into the Scandinavian “minimalism” movement (including brands like Acne and Our Legacy) that’s become a popular force in menswear over the past 5 years: do you see any merit in these parallels or think they’re completely reductive?

I respect both brands a lot. A lot of what they do has nothing to do with minimalism. For me it’s about saying things clearly. So in that sense I see it as a Merit. Plus for me they are the two most pro active companies in Northern Europe in terms of fashion. I’m fine with standing in their part of the school yard.

You’ve said in the past that “the clothing should speak for itself”. Do you eschew over-explanation of your clothing (compared to say, the extensive show notes provided by some designers) as a matter of principle?

Yes. The fact is the more I feel secure about what I do, the less important it is for me to tell a long story. This season the press release should just say, Google Junk Car River bank or Old Car museum…!

Where are you looking to take the brand next? Creatively or commercially speaking?

To a place where the two work in balance. I wanna create and make money!

WORDS: Tom Rasmussen

The post LCM Profile – Soulland appeared first on Wonderland.

RURI WATANABE

Fashion Design Technology: Womenswear

Have you always been interested in fashion, where did your love for it come from?

I have been dreaming to become a fashion designer since I was five. It stemmed from Disney World, Florida, I saw a fashion studio for Disney characters and since that moment I have aimed to be a designer. I wanted to be a designer for Mickey Mouse until I knew about the fashion industry! I have never changed my aim to be a fashion designer.

You’ve worked a lot with denim, why do you think denim is always so relevant in fashion?

Working with denim stemmed from research about a uniform that is a keepsake from my grandfather. It is very old, but not damaged at all and I like how denim is very strong material that changes the shapes depending on the owner. So even though there’s a mass production of denim products, it could be only one product for the owner. As a result, denim never becomes boring to wear.

Which designers inspire you the most?

I would like to point out someone I have met. I am inspired by the designer Daniel Roseberry who is a top designer for Thom Browne. He does both womenswear and menswear along with any designs that Browne wants. I think it is very hard to reply to the requests every time. However, he does that through visualising his idea with amazing drawings. I respect him as a fashion designer but I also admire his personality.

Legwarmer knitted by Hattie Buzzard. 

LAUREN PILGREEN

Fashion Design Technology: Womenswear

Where does your interest in fashion stem from? 

When I was four or five years old in a kids’ clothing store, I picked up the most expensive, ridiculous dress in there and threw a tantrum until my mother was forced to buy it for me out of sheer embarrassment. I started designing when I was thirteen but I’ve been interested in clothing for as long as I can remember. I think my interest came from the clothing that my mother and aunt dressed me in as a small child. The floral Doc Martens, shiny denim vests, frilly socks, and slogan tee shirts. Funky clothing and art was always a large part of my life therefore fashion was the natural path for me to pursue.

Where did the inspiration for your graduate collection come from?

Botched art restoration. The initial inspiration came from the restoration of “Ecce Homo”, a Jesus Christ Fresco in Spain, by an unprofessional woman in her eighties. She destroyed something of great history and sentimental value and replaced it by something she thought looked better than the water damage on the original painting. The idea is that the process of restoration (airbrushing) destroys the original identity yet it is a practice that is commonly accepted in advertising and the fashion industry today. The fear is that we will continue to retouch iconic art works and airbrush our image until our history and image no longer exists.

You seem to focus a lot on colour and deconstruction are these reoccurring themes for you, if not what are?

Colour is a new direction for me, one I’m quite pleased with. I often play with deconstruction because I like to show a visual thought process or transformation. Physical deconstruction highlights the importance of each fibre, detail, and the history behind an object. I think the impact of the message or process is stronger when you get to watch it develop and unravel before your eyes. Satire is a reoccurring theme for me too. I’ve recently started developing my political cartoons/defaced artwork into prints which is an avenue to be developed much further in the future.

What would your dream collaboration be?

Environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude and fashion satirist and illustrator George Cruikshank! (But obviously that’s not possible for two of three). Or Moschino and illustrator James Gillray for political cartoon garments (again, highly unlikely). Or photographer Nobuyoshi Araki and Nicola Formichetti for an anti-advertising campaign. Maybe photographer Jan Saudek. Actually I’d love to collaborate with photojournalists to create social protest prints/large scale artwork. The World Press Photo archives is probably the most useful site on the internet.

Designed in collaboration with Fiona Barnes, headpiece by Nicole Paskauskas. 

 

YOUNA MIN

Fashion Design Technology: Womenswear

Have you always been interested in fashion since a young age? 

Yes, i was very interested in fashion from early childhood. I have acquired my sense of fashion from looking at my mom dressing up beautifully. 

Where did the inspiration for your graduate collection come from? 

The collection was inspired from 1970’s American gangsters and hipsters. 

What are the reoccurring themes in your work?

I had an interest in the Black American cultures of 1970’s. The items that they wear gave me ideas for designing. Baseball jumpers and pimp’s suits were great reference for the shape and texture.

How did you decide on the colour theme?

The colours came from the bold colours of baseball uniforms and gloves. The element of cross lines can be shown graphically with using black and white as the main colour.

CHARLOTTE MARY KNOWLES

Fashion Design Technology: Womenswear

How did you come to pursue the fashion path? 

As a child i loved painting, sculpting and working with materials – this love for making developed into an interest in fashion and textiles due to my grandmother’s influence. She owned a fashion boutique which was filled with beautiful designer clothing and magazines. Her, and her own sense of style, has always been an inspiration to me

Where did the inspiration for your graduate collection come from?

My main inspiration for my Final major project came from strong women; physicality and inner strength. My initial concept stemmed from renunciation and withdrawal from consumerism, initially looking at monastic culture and dress – but it really evolved from there. I was looking at cycling cultures in cities all over the world that reject aspects of modern day life, predominantly in New York and Toronto where bike messengering and cycling are prevalent. I studied the women bike couriers and tried to design from their life styles and found textural inspiration from their bikes and metal wear. This, I combined with my own vision of elegance and drama. 

Talk me through the process applying pins to wool as we see in your work, where did this concept come from?

I was inspired by the metal wear prevalent in cycling culture; frames and spokes, keys, chains, bike locks, studs, bolts and so on. I also found inspiration in the metal wear that hangs from the messenger bag straps on the couriers. My prints were inspired by bike tread markings. I wanted to replicate this somehow, but create my own interpretation of it. Each pattern piece with the textiles on it has a bike tread print placement – the prints are formed with 1mm (in diameter) holes cut out on the laser cutter – after cut, the pins are pushed through. I found that by creating these dense patterns, a dramatic, almost fluid effect was created, and although the graphic pattern is perhaps lost a bit within the pins, it still shows through subtly and reflects light beautifully.

MARTA CESARO

Where did your interest in fashion stem from?

It was definitely related to my passion for drawing and illustration and then it developed into fashion.

What made you decide to work with bespoke tailoring?

I have always had an interest in haute couture, but I wasn’t sure if that’s what I wanted to do. I thought that taking that as a first step, I could then learn how to construct and sew garments in a fine way. I thought bespoke tailoring would offer me that knowledge.

Where did the inspiration for your graduate collection come from?

It started with the Sophia Coppola movie Lost in Translation and developed into the investigation and discovery of the different layers of reality and the many perspectives that an individual can use to look at things.

Which designers inspire you the most?

I really admire Phoebe Philo’s work and her ability to redefine modern in every collection through her use of fabric and design of details.

SOFIA MARIA LLMONEN

Fashion Design Technology: Womenswear

Have you always been interested in fashion, where did your love for it come from?  

When I was young my mum used to make clothes for my siblings and I. I was fascinated how a piece of a flat fabric can turn into a wearable shape. And so I started to make my own clothes and get interested in fashion.

Where did the inspiration for your graduate collection come from?

The inspiration came from the idea of verisimilitude in photography and how people can create image of them selves through a photo. I’m fascinated about the fact how different realities can be created though images; beautiful can be seen in ruins and vice versa.

What are the reoccurring themes in your work?

My themes are quite a mix of sources as my research just took me into different places. I looked into some old photo books, imaginary of ’50s style and adverts, and notice boards which were organically ripped. The latter came to play a big part in my work as I used ripping and tearing to create collages that gave me ideas for silhouettes and shapes.

 

HARRY HARVEY

Fashion Textiles

How did fashion come into your life?

I have always liked clothes and this probably comes from living with my mum and gran who are both very fashionable. I was about 12 and my mum took me to the Zandra Rhodes exhibition at the fashion and textile museum and thats when I thought I want to do this when i grow up!

Where did the inspiration for your graduate collection come from?

My inspiration was my mum! The collection was based around being an only child and how that has made our relationship stronger and closer. My colours came from her pink lipstick and purple hair as well as her clothing and jewellery.

Your work has this amazing raw hand-made quality to it, is this something you use as a reoccurring theme?

Sort of. Im not a messy person but my work does have a very sketchy, rough feel to it. Its always had this!! I think this comes from experimenting and playing around with different mediums. A lot of my textile work is done by hand and this naturally has a raw quality to it.

There is also a lot of detail in your work, how do you begin the design process?

I aways start by drawing. I love drawing! I then paint, photograph and scan images and eventually they turn into textiles. I love hand sewing and beading, this is almost like drawing for me.

What would your dream collaboration be?

I would love to work with a band or musician and create pieces for them to wear on stage. I like creating pieces that are fun and maybe not so practical!

See more on the LCF fashion live stream.

 

Creative Direction: Rob Phillips

Photography: James Rees

Beauty: Melissa Wong

 

The post Ones to Watch: LCF BA14 appeared first on Wonderland.

Born in San Francisco, Fassett (above) grew up in a artistic community of Big Sur, California, before hopping across to pond to make his fortune as an artist in London during the swinging sixties.There, his intuitive grasp of colour and willingness to bend the rules of traditional knitwear and textile construction launched his career as one of the most creative and out-there practitioners of the craft, and got him noticed by print-loving labels like Missoni.

A Life In Colour is Fassett’s first exhibition since a retrospective at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1988, features over 100 works within a dramatic installation designed by Sue Timney. Rugs, blankets, dresses, shawls, cushions – name the knitwear, and chances are Fassett has put his own acid-coloured spin on it. Below, Fassett tells us more about his illustrious career.

This is an amazing exhibition, could you tell us more about it?

It is 50 years of work in this exhibition, starting from my very first sweater – all the colour explorations through knitting, needlepoint, patchwork and quilt. Basically, what I’m always doing is trying to understand colour and trying to make it more vibrant, sexy and juicy. Interestingly, when I first started to paint, I was always doing white paintings – everything was monochrome. But I grew out of that and fell in love with Indian prints and Persian miniatures: the little flowers against paisley, against stripes, against checkerboards… All of that really appealed to me. When I look at a fashion designer like Kenzo, he has the same feeling and aura – and Christian Lacroix, he loved romantic patterns and so do I.

So besides colours, what else inspires you?

Patterns! How else are you going to organize that colour to make it exciting? I look to old Roman mosaics and ancient Japanese kabuki costumes, things which have these fantastic scenes of patterns.

You once collaborated with Missoni, what was that like?

Fabulous! When I first took my first piece of knitting (a sweater) to British Vogue, they said that it was beautiful and very unusual. The editor then, Judy Brittan, said: “One day you will be designing for Missoni”. The very first garment I had in British Vogue was photographed by David Bailey, and when Vogue came out, I got a call from Missoni the next day. They understood my sense of colour and their colours are absolutely beautiful and immediately, I was not nervous ’cause I knew they spoke my language!

Do you experiment with different techniques to achieve the colours and fabrics you want?

Absolutely. When I started to knit, I was known for mixing things that I shouldn’t – man-made fibers with old scratchy yarn that was used from carpets. I’d take silk and chenille and mohair and mix it all up. Nobody did that in the early 70s. Everything was by hand and of course I had to get fast.

You seem to treat your craft as a friend, almost like a lifelong companion.

It’s my solace. I use to be very social, but when I started to knit, all of those that just fell away. I was on fire, I had all these ideas and I wanted to stay home and get them done. I wanted to knit the next big throw for my bed, the next big coat, the next big fabulous dress, I couldn’t stop. It made me realize I’m happy with my own company and there’s not many things in the world that can make you that way. So when people say knitting has changed their life, I know what they mean!

The last exhibition you did was 25 years ago. What made you do another one?

It was during my autobiography. It took me three years to decide how to write my own biography, what stories am I going to tell, what am I going to leave out. The book contains 500 pictures of my work and I thought that people should see the actual thing, so I called up the museum.

Do you still get inspired by the language of fashion?

Occasionally, if I see something that’s colourful. I’d like people to be more adventurous with colour; I’ve travelled to Japan, India, Guatemala and Africa, where they love colour. I often don’t agree with fashion; it’s sad when fashion tends to be grey, which it has been for quite a while.

Kaffee Fassett: A Life In Colour runs from now till 29 June at the Fashion and Textile Museum, London. ftmlondon.org

Words: James Lennon Tan

The post A LIFE IN COLOUR: Kaffee Fassett interview appeared first on Wonderland.

What inspired you to put the exhibition together?

It was initially through work we’d done previously with Geoff Rayner and Richard Chamberlain, who own the Target Gallery. We’ve been involved with other projects with them, and after seeing their private collection, we began discussions almost two years ago. So that was the first genesis of the idea, and then it kind of just spilled from there.

Why did you decide to include a mixture of fashion and art?
I think Pop Art gets a lot of attention, but it’s also about the peripheral things that it engendered and that it embraces. So the whole exhibition starts with teenage rock-n-roll in the fifties, and, kind of, throwaway culture. But then there is this interconnected movement of design, fashion and graphics around that.

So do you think the two are inextricably linked?

Yes. Pop Art’s a consumer product – Andy Warhol said that he was creating for the consumer.

Is there any part of the exhibition that particularly strikes a chord with you?

I remember seeing an Andy Warhol exhibition in the 80s: there must have been about 18 rooms that I saw, all of Andy Warhol. It had a real impact, just on the way you think, and it was really influential, so that began my connection. And then there’s the psychedelia. There’s paper furniture and there’s Mary Quant. A particular sector I’m also really interested in is the group around van der Rohe and Andrew Logan in the early seventies. It’s almost a do-it-yourself, Baroque bad taste. It’s a kind of narrative arc all the way through to punk.

So you’d say there’s a definite journey through the exhibition?

Oh definitely. And I think the thing that’s clever is its scope. So when you put it all together, you start with rock-n-roll and then you get onto people like Barbara Jones, the illustrator, who was hugely influential in the fifties, and then you have the Modernists. Then there’s the swinging sixties; the bikers and mods. It just flows from one group to the next. But all [the decades] are in their own way quite subversive. Always undermining something.

And is there a stand out period or piece in particular that you’re excited about?

There’s so many – it’s taking over every space in the museum! It’s probably the most ambitious exhibition we’ve done. There are a couple of dresses from Mary Quant though: pre-1960s that nobody really sees because everybody focusses on the black and white, the daisies, the miniskirts. And then Mr. Freedom is also amazing for me: that kind of kitsch Americana, filtered through punk and counterculture. It’s really interesting.

What do you want people to think when they come and see this?

I want to inspire a young designer to have a go. To do something. To create. I hope people get lost in it.

Pop! exhibition will run from 6 July – 27 October 2012 at the Fashion and Textile Museum.

Words: Samantha Southern

The post PREVIEW: Pop! at the Fashion and Textile Museum appeared first on Wonderland.

When did you establish Migh-T and why did you decide to brand your design projects this way?

I started Migh-T in 2008 after graduating from the Central Saint Martins MA Fashion course. A friend of mine was working in a shop in London at that time and she introduced me to the owners when she saw my final collection. They suggested selling my collection in their shop. It started naturally like that. My background is in traditional Japanese textile techniques and textile fine art. I always wanted to do something interesting and appeal to people more directly than fine art, and decided to work in fashion.

Explain if you will the strange use of patterns in your SS12 collection. What are you referring to with its title, Ancient Wonders?

I like seeing very old objects which carry a lot of curiosity. It is so mysterious looking at ancient pyramids, Nazca lines, Stone Henge and so on. There is not a clear explanation why and how people made these things and it’s beyond the imagination. It always leads us to think of outer space lives; aliens.

What are the strongest pieces of it, do you feel? Is there anything you’re slightly disappointed with?

People really like the carrot dress, which has two cross-stitched carrots on the chest and the silk dress bit is kind of a thunder light print. The carrot half is exposed and the other half is underground which is in another world. It would have been better if I had made some accessories to go with it.

Name the five heroes who have inspired your style the most.

Keisuke Serizawa, Pablo Picasso, Yukimi Nagano, Louise Wilson and Fleet Bigwood.

How heavily does travel and site-seeing inform your work?

I like traveling. It is easy to find anything on the internet nowadays, however, it’s still very important to go places and see. Most of the time, I get inspiration from unnamed objects made by anonymous artists in tiny local museum – these are kind of things you don’t really encounter on the internet.

Describe your typical creative process.

My work is based on stories I create. I often think about some motif and the story surrounding it.  I design the prints based on this story. One idea leads the next idea. The shapes of the clothes are very simple, but the balance is very important.

All photos by Matilde Travassos
Words: Jack Mills

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