Burning the midnight oil

"Having both the main line in Opening Ceremony as well as the capsule collection is great," Lou Dalton beams proudly over the Internet. "Both are very different, each say something different without compromise," she excitedly exclaims. Joining forces with the rousing retailer, the design talent takes our hands again, leads us across the border once more and we fall for the charms of her imagined rig of Zetland Oil all over again. Through Opening Ceremony's youthful filter, her autumn/winter 13 collection's sartorial sharpness softens and becomes that bit more sportier. As with her own collection, the collection's personal narrative falls seductively from the lips of the designer but here it feels like a fresh tale.

Having first been approached by Opening Ceremony for a series of London based designer capsules around the 2012 Olympics celebrating the store's arrival in the capital, Dalton chose to explore cycling and intricately incorporated house signatures into the sport whilst making a point of it feeling a little more commercial and easy-to-wear. Unsurprisingly, the collection went down a storm and with this in mind she approached Opening Ceremony earlier this year to do something similar and this latest collection evolved from these speculative conversations.

"I enjoyed creating a fictional Oil Company called "Zetland Oil" for autumn/winter 13. 'Zetland' is an old Nordic term for Shetland. Shetland is such an inspiration to me. As you know I met the Haigh there (Justin Haigh, Lou's fella of 10 years) who just so happens to work for an oil company that has an oil port in Shetland. The other logos used within the designs are all inspired by oil company branding from in around the late 70s mid 80s but re-worked and all carrying reference to Lou Dalton, either the year I was born or Shetland itself.

When I first discussed the ideas for the range with Opening Ceremony and the t-shirt prints in particular, we all agreed on the idea of making them take on a sporty mood. I looked at making them appear quite Motor Cross branded. For me, it was integral to incorporate the store's branding into the capsule as much as my own. As the collection was to be a little easier-to-wear and even more accessible than the Lou Dalton main line, I kept it easy and quite relaxed. However, I did want to give it a strong reference to the Lou Dalton main line and did so by introducing one of the fabrics we had used on the autumn/winter 13 mainline which was a particular favourite of mine, this being a cloth that I refer to as Bobble. This cloth came in a whole ray of colours but for Opening Ceremony, we kept it to a tomato orange, bordeaux and black. Throughout, this collection felt very natural. I always believe that if it feels forced then you should just leave it and move on. Opening Ceremony are so great to work with, they understand and appreciate design and its end use without it becoming to banal."

The capsule collection includes caps, t-shirts, jogging bottoms and sweatshirts.

Opening Ceremony's ever evolving relationship with some of my favourite London design talent, mixing straight main line season buys and really considered capsule collections, the fruits of which manage to balance the aesthetics of everyone involved perfectly, shows the way for other stores to follow. Meanwhile, Lou Dalton is sketching a fine blueprint that other designers can look to for inspiration. Since launching her own line in 2005, Dalton has refined a well crafted reputation for rebellious English sportswear with a keen eye for and attention to detail whilst establishing herself as the real shining starlet of British Menswear. As London menswear has demanded an ever increasing presence at London Fashion Week and respect far beyond the perimeter of the capital, evolving from an afternoon in to three full days of shows, presentations, previews, installations and exhibitions under the umbrella of London Collections: Men, she has matured in the spotlight, built a brand and helped pave the way forward. Long may Lou Dalton continue to strive forward and here's hoping more follow.

Matthew Miller's Manifesto. SS14 and beyond...

"I make clothes," Matthew Miller succinctly states as we beckons me into his brave new world for spring/summer 14 currently housed in DMSR London's central London showroom. "So many designers refers to themselves as artists and I can't relate to that. I just don't see myself as one. However, instead of me being an artist, I want to shift it and turn every single wearer into the artist. It's fun to allow the consumer to play a part in the final product." As all encompassing as it sounds, clothes maker oversimplifies Miller's pursuits. A disaffected designer, a textile theorist, a contumacious creative and a sartorial sophist are all far closer to the mark but the mere mention of any of them would make this design talent wince. Ultimately, Miller is a simple soul with a complicated mind.

For the last few seasons he has begun to challenge conventions. For spring/summer 13 he explored the concept of having to destroy something to make it beautiful and introduced it to pull-to-tear t-shirts and in subsequent collections, it's an idea that has been further refined. Matthew Miller now sees each garment as an experience. From catwalk right through to purchase, the designer considers every step.  The rulebook has been laser cut, screen pasted and masterfully manipulated in his eager grasp and this spring/summer 14 season sees the focused force unveil his manifesto.

Now his work whispers that un-sourceable quote of "artists create problems, designers solve them." That's precisely what Miller is, a problem solver. Now, having honed his technique and provided significant yet small solutions over the course of ... quietly successful seasons, the designer has begun to decipher the Miller enigma. "When I went to a NEWGEN meeting a couple of seasons back, oki-ni's Ben Banks said that he kind of got me but didn't completely understand my work. He felt that I didn't quite know what I wanted to say visually yet and that was a massive kick up the arse to be honest because he was right," he confesses. Taking this constructive criticism on the chin, the designer dived into the deep waters of introspection. "This season was a case of redefinition. My starting point was to set out a clear vision and message. Rather than just continue to design a completely new collection each season, coming up with an idea and moving on like I always have previously. The communication of objects, destruction and decay through individuality, SS14 is the introduction of a new manifesto for the brand.  It is about setting something on the path of evolution with the aim to continually strive to improve," Miller explains through excited eyes. This collection sees the designer lay the solid foundations of the brand and allow it to grow. Having looked at everything that came before, it was all about focussing the label on a fruitful future.

"I arrived at a new label. Matthew Miller has faded from direct significance. For me, my name was secondary. I needed to create a graphic identity that people would instantly recognise after a couple of years. The same as Nike's swoosh, or Margiela's stitches. That was the biggest thing this season. I didn't pass it over to anyone, it was my task and my task alone to redefine the label. I was absorbed into the graphics, fonts, spacing...everything. We worked up so many samples of the labels just to get the right feel and texture. There were no short cuts. I was conscious of this collection feeling like a luxury label. Basically, everything that buyers say London labels aren't, they often remark how much they love the creativity of the capital but are ultimately put off by price points and placement. For us, moving forward we will be carrying over entry level detailing, from collars and cuffs in our shirting so these were as considered as they could possibly be this season."

The rich identity bubbles throughout this considered collection. As the first slender, topless frame turned on its minimal stage of white, a familiar yet fresh focused force introduced itself. The proclamation ‘Untitled, Mixed Media, Variable Dimensions’ was scrawled onto pale backs and grew ever louder. The words were confidently echoed throughout a series of industrial sportswear brandishing the slogan. For spring/summer 14, the designer’s investigation into the technological versus the traditional took the most purposeful and confident step forward to date as branding is stitched seamlessly with ideology. Away from the political and philosophical broadcasts there were details to truly believe in with unfinished hems, exposed seams, cracked paint finishing, laminated labels mounted on wood and slotted onto the rear pockets of denim and wire rope and concrete combine to recreate duffel coat toggles. It might not have it on the label but spring/summer 14 is Matthew Miller. 

Backstage photography by Piczo, runway shots from catwalking.com and detail shots are mine.

"Everyone who has seen it has said that the collection makes perfect sense and have bought in it," begins the designer, "the books haven't closed yet but this season has already doubled on the last and we've brought on atleast ten exciting stockists," DMSR London's Greg Hewitt excitedly finishes. Ever since this design talent first came to our attention with his standout RCA MA graduate collection which explored notions of masculinity with a somewhat jovial approach to the macabre, we have kept an ever interested on Matthew Miller's continued development and deserved rise to prominence. Today, there's a noticeable maturity to Miller and a balance to his designs. The pull of creativity and commerciality are matched as Miller pushes on.

"When Topman start doing digital prints you need to work with different techniques. For this season it was taking it back to screen printing, I wanted to make it more hand made and that's difficult to replicate. The screen printing was overseen a good friend of mine, Caroline Carrig, I went to Uni with her and she works for Zandra Rhodes. I'm looking forward to working with her moving forward.

The range has been built up in such a way that stores can buy into it. We've been working hard on the quality of finish and pricing. Nothing works out at over £1,000 on the rails. It goes back to the Alexander Wang thing, you can't sell something as expensive as Balenciaga or Dior because you've not got their history and you can't compete, you have to work harder."

With his head done and eyes focussed on the future, the result is the beginning of an exciting business. "It's just evolving your perspective. If blokes wear t-shirts and jeans, how can I creatively sell them? How can I reinvent it? What will set me apart? Creativity shouldn't stop at the garments, you can creatively set up a business, you can creatively communicate something, you can creatively reconstruct something, redefine manufacturing." Matthew Miller is dead, long live Matthew Miller.

The Hare, four swans, ten candles and you

This spring/summer 14 season sees Mr. Hare reach the landmark of ten collections old. Ten. Collections. Old. We remember our heart skipping a beat the moment our eyes focused on his black beauties in Purest Form for autumn/winter 09 like it was yesterday. Mr. Hare has always a been a work in progress driven by one man's passion and it shows no sign of resting on its well crafted heels. Time has flown by as we've been caught up in Marc Hare's whirlwind. From season to season there is constant evolution and revolution. One step after another, all eyes remain transfixed by Mr. Hare's fancy footwork. Having closely followed the label's continued rise, we're offering two readers the opportunity to be a part of the special occasion at London Collections: Men and to help blow out the candles at his after party this weekend. For a chance to join in with the festivities all you have to do is sign up to their mailing list. Easy. Just hot step and click here.

The craft of... W.T. Johnson & Sons

"Finishing is the instrumental process between weaving and garment making," Alan Dolly, W.T. Johnson & Son's Technical Manager begins as we embark on an intimate and extensive tour of this Textile Finishers' Bankfield Mills home. Having explored and celebrated the craft of both weaving and garment making across a plethora of previous posts, the world of finishing was wholly unfamiliar until my visit to Huddersfield with Woolmark and Lou Dalton a couple of ago. As London Collection: Men's curtain raising design talent researched the possibilities for spring/summer 14, my eyes were opened to the artistry and alchemy of the finishing touch.

Helping to create unique garments that help distinguish themselves from all others, the finishing process – which invariably dictates the appearance, handle and performance attributes of a fabric – is receiving more attention than ever before. There's no better place to explore these processes than Huddersfield. The history of textile manufacture in England is intricately woven into the history of this town. For over seven hundred years, weavers have been attracted to this area of West Yorkshire by a combination of conditions ideal for sheep grazing and a plentiful supply of soft water streams for washing or scouring wool. By the mid nineteenth century the town had a well established reputation for the manufacture of fine worsteds, fancy tweeds, and woollens and there were several large woollen mills in and around the town. W. T Johnson & Sons was born out of this boom. One of the thriving mills was Glendenning’s where, in 1910, the middle-aged Walter Thomas Johnson arrived at the bold decision to take his skills as Foreman Finisher and set up his own, specialist finishing firm. It would prove to be a wise decision for, within a few decades, the large mills began to close one by one, beaten by cheaper offshore competition. Today, W. T Johnson & Sons is one of four cloth finishers left in Britain. They are a Huddersfield institution and have been on the same site for over one hundred years. "We're the only town in the world that can add value to a bit of fabric by having its name on the edge of the cloth and we're very proud of that," Paul Johnson excitedly exclaimed to Nicholas Crane on a recent episode of the BBC2's TOWN. This pride and passion is infectious.

With unmatched craft skills and expertise having been handed down through four generations of master fabric finishers, from Walter Thomson who started the company in 1910 to Paul and Dan Johnson who continue and evolve its offering, plus a skilled local workforce who today are seeing the business lead the world in the craft of fine fabric finishing. As I hovered over its hive of activity, it was obvious that despite being hugely proud of its heritage, this is a family run company that is constantly striving forward.

"The long term investment in machinery and careful selection of smart innovative machinery gives us a huge range of finishes and possibilities. Added to that we have the luxury of working on most of the wide range of fabrics that the area produces, so we have a very privileged view, and are consistently asked for something more. Hopefully we add value to everything we finish, whether £10/m or £1000/m." 

Alan Dolly, Technical Manager at W.T Johnson & Sons.

As I toured the space and bounced from machine to machine, I was amazed by the variety of finishing options. From milling to scouring, decating to drying and cropping, the opportunities to transform cloth are seemingly limitless. "The fact is that there are almost infinite possibilities and the market wants these differences more and more. With the right customer, finishing is recognised as an important part of the design process," explains Alan over the hum of a machine in full momentum. "As a commission business, our customers put a lot of trust in us to deliver and when we suggest and then hand over the finished article to their approval, it is very rewarding." As Lou Dalton's mind raced through her whims and finishing fancies, our senses were treated to a cacophony of sights and sounds, from the traditional wooden scouring dolly to jets, the familiar yet large scale image of tumbling cloth in dryers to the ultra high tech precision of Swiss machinery intricately removing surface fibres.

A cocktail of tradition and technology within the craft of the finishing touch.

From its Bankfield Mills home, W.T Johnson & Sons employs ninety skilled finishers and I was fortunate enough to interact with a few of them. As I happily snapped away I could clearly see their passion. The family ethos of the company‘ if we look after our employees, they’ll look after us,’ quietly echoes throughout the space. The workforce skill-base and perfectionist attitude is an invaluable part of the company’s success and helps to drive their goal to be the world leader in high quality textile finishing. "There is a strange relationship that develops over time between WTJ and the employees," explains Alan Dolly drawing the whistle stop tour to a close. "They clearly learn what is required of them and at the same time are 'looked after' and valued by the company. The work is hard at times and its essential the quality has to be very good. From recent figures thirty two per cent of the workforce have been here more than twenty years!" Has the demographic changed? "Historically textiles generally was a major employer in the area. People were able to find employment in their 'local mill'. We still have a large number of our team living locally, but the industry as an employer is a fraction of what it was in the 60’s and before. Recently we have had some success in convincing younger people that textiles can still offer a career, and have been able to start with hopefully the next crop of expert finishers."

With its insatiable appetite to collaborate in the creation of the finest and most innovative cloth, feeding the imagination of designers like Lou Dalton and exciting the research teams at Woolmark whilst upholding its tradition and investing in its future, W.T. Johnson & Sons offers a welcome reminder that the British manufacturing industry can still thrive.