Garth Cook AW '14 - MANIA

If Garth's work from his last two seasons haven't already tipped you over into some sort of obsessive (borderline psychiatric) tendency, then be prepared to get a little manic over his latest offering for AW'14.  I wandered down to St Quentin's Ave yesterday afternoon to view the new collection & have a chat with the lovely Mr Cook about his newest sprig of sartorial offerings.  Do continue after the jump to check out more photos & get a feel for what inspired Garth - spoiler alert: his paradigm delectable tailoring continues & there are many unexpected couplings of materials (texturephiles be warned - you'll want to touch everything)!

Four key themes tie the collection together; the crazy cat lady, the obsessive-compulsive secret-keeper, modern Japanese dress, & a hit of 80's sportswear.  Sure - in your head just saying those things together doesn't quite sound like anything cohesive, but Garth cuts it back to texture & form to offer a strong collection of black-on-black and white-on-white goodness.  Originally conceived as a more colourful collection with splashes of neon, Garth explained that he felt that he needed to pare it back in a departure from his last few colourful collections.  A de-saturating catharsis if you will.  But what is not present in hue is amped up in the detail and tactile elements of the garments, proving that monochromatic B&W is far from boring.  Personally, I think that having the garments in colour might have been quite the assault on the senses!

The crazy cat lady theme expresses itself in the eclectic nature of the details; the raw edges and vertical darts on the garments as if one was clawed, the patches of almost-matted fur (in oversized leopard-print shapes nonetheless!), and hidden cat bells sewn into the garment.  Yes, hidden bells!  

Evolving from the feline fanatic comes the obsessive secret-keeper, with repetitive patterns in the collection & the white garments lined in luxurious black silk as if dark secrets were being hidden.  The patent python-skin & corset-like bodices of some of the pieces almost hints at fetishism (whether or not you hide this is probably inversely proportional to your level of exhibitionism - perhaps another psychiatric tendency?).  

The 80's sportswear & the modernised Japanese dress showed through more so in from than intricate details.  You can see from the pictures that the track-suit silhouette was a recurring feature, as well as crop tops, contrast texture piping, & elasticised waistbands reminiscent of some hip-&-happening 80's vibes!  The dollman sleeves and elegant clean lines was more of the Japanese-dress influence coming through, and whether or not Garth meant it, I felt that the unexpected shapes and textures would be quite at home on the streets of Shibuya or Harajuku.  (Sadly, the collection won't be ready until after I return from Japan, but a girl can dream!)

We can't show you the lookbook just yet, but I hope that the pictures above give you a bit of an idea of how the collection looks has taken shape!  A huge thanks to Garth for the long chat & letting me show off his striking collection.  Moral of the story?

Black and white can't be boring if you're manic.  

xx T