It was an emotional show for Tourne de Transmission’s creative director Graeme Gaughan, because it was the first since the passing of Buffalo legend Barry Kamen, his close friend and collaborator on recent presentations. So this fall/winter 16 collection was a tribute to Kamen, and was in part inspired by his love of travel and discovery — “the way he used to go away for two or three months, going from India to Japan.”
The TDT man is a free-spirited globe-trotter, picking up hats, bracelets and blankets along his travels, then assembling them all in a multi-layered way. Gaughan sees him as someone “going from place to place to soak up as much as he possibly can. Here it’s like the guy has stopped in Tibet for some spiritual rejuvenation.” There were Tibetan prayer flags created by set designer Johnny Buttons to try bring it to LC:M.
The mix of styles ranged from patchwork tartan bombers to long multi-colored knit cardigans and from frayed cropped denim to many-zippered combats, all louchely layered and assembled. In the absence of Kamen’s personal collection of vintage hats found on his travels, Gaughan commissioned South African milliners Simon & Mary to create a selection to capture the same spirit.
Kamen’s Buffalo associate Judy Blame created jewelry and GQ Style’s Elgar Johnson styled. “Judy came on board through Elgar. He was obviously friends with Barry, and felt like he wanted to contribute in some way, which is nice. There are little nods back to Barry, but Elgar has come in and done really amazing stuff with it. And having Judy has been incredible — all the detail!”
What did Gaughan think Barry would have made of it all? “I hope he likes it. I think he would, knowing how we talked about things,” said Gaughan, clearly sad that his friend couldn’t be there to share the moment.
Credits
Text Stuart Brumfitt
Photography Katy Davies