Over the last few months, there’s been no escape from the normcore phenomenon. Describe your relationship with it.
Joe: Long before the term was coined, it’s been a part of our House DNA since the very beginning.
Charlie: We’ve talked about the icons of the movement a lot when we’re in the studio till 2am. As we’re so interested in culture, when we see people who have their own style that transcends anything else, that’s so much more fascinating than any obviously fashion orientated person. We really dissect people like Steve Jobs, there was so much thought in his look.
It was a uniform that became such a signature.
Charlie: Even more power than any fashion collection.
You’ve always been interested in reality, a cocktail of real movements.
Charlie: Exactly. This season, we mixed the pinstriped suits of businessmen with symbols of punk and icons of Skinhead culture with sportswear. It’s always an evolution, we’re not one of those brands who puts out a completely different statement, we’re building a wardrobe.
Graphics and painted prints were as prominent as your signature sartorial play.
Charlie: The Art Intervention movement inspired our design process this season. We were playing with the painterly versus the graphic, the layering and clashing of the two because they don’t always work together – we love that idea.
Joe: Modernity doesn’t have to negate a human touch.
Talking of human touch, from Stephen Jones baseball caps to COOPS hoop earrings, a number of collaborative hands have worked on this collection.
Joe: They are always a natural process of working with people who we respect.
Charlie: If you’re going to do hats, you’re going to go to Stephen Jones, right?
Joe: Of course, I’ve known him for years.
Charlie: The footwear is an amazing company, Heinrich Dinkelacker.
Joe: Based in Budapest, the home of footwear in Europe. The company has been established since 1879 and the model we used has been the same for sixty years but feels so modern.
Credits
Text Steve Salter
Photography Mitchell Sams
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