JW Anderson: “This Collection Is About: Why Not?”

As we enter a brand new 12 months, Jonathan Anderson feels prepared for a paradigm shift. “It’s actually miserable on the market, and it’s miserable for everyone, however possibly it’s a very good second to get off the couch – or challenge off the couch,” he says over Zoom, simply earlier than his newest males’s Autumn/Winter 2021 and ladies’s pre-Autumn/Winter 2021 collections have been revealed on Paris Trend Week’s digital platform. “I’m bored of listening to concerning the couch life. I wish to take into consideration construction, I wish to consider issues that look dangerous however might be good, I wish to take a look at honesty, realism, magnificence. And style is about that, it’s about projecting ahead.”

That projecting ahead, off the couch and into the unknown may seem to be a leap of religion for many of us at this present second in time, however Anderson is of the idea {that a} constructive way of thinking is our ticket out. “Final 12 months was straightforward in a bizarre method, we have been coping with a disaster. Now, we’re coping with the longevity of a disaster,” he says. “We’re heading in the direction of a second of rebuilding, and rebuilding is extremely tough – the vaccine is one factor, however optimism goes to be much more highly effective. That is the second to experiment, to do new issues, so while you get to wherever folks assume the ‘new regular’ is, you’re not stagnated by the point you get there.”

This optimistic outlook defines his newest mens- and womenswear collections. Described by the designer in an accompanying letter as a “palate cleanser”, he says they started with a brand new form of simplicity: “blunt, very trustworthy, uncooked clothes that’s what it’s.” Selections have been instinctive – a second of pleasure seeing a purple material meet a inexperienced one, the addition of crocheted radishes to a mohair jumper – and justifications ‘why’ by no means overwrought. “I actually just like the purple leather-based trousers simply because they’re purple leather-based trousers,” he says. “It’s not like, ‘oh, it’s concerning the psychological being of man and dah dah dah’ – no, it’s about clothes, and I can say I don’t know what the that means is and that’s effective.”

Working example: a sequence of vibrant shearling tops, pieced collectively from off-cuts which had been mendacity round within the JW Anderson storeroom for a number of seasons. Some he despatched to Anthony Turner, a hair stylist and longtime collaborator, who colored them utilizing hair dye; different items turned primitive tabard-style tops, full with tentacle-like appendages, a design accomplished by Anderson on a model in below an hour. “I wished it to be one thing like should you had a clean canvas and these supplies, and also you simply needed to do one thing instinctively with this materials in an hour, what can or not it’s?” he says. “I wanted one thing that introduced me again to the start once I began style. This concept of being like, why not?”

The photographer Juergen Teller appeared a pure collaborator for the gathering’s imagery, delivered to ‘attendees’ as a sequence of posters (a continuation of his Covid-proof ‘show-in-a-box’ displays at each JW Anderson and Loewe in latest seasons). Starring Sophie Okonedo – “considered one of our best actresses,” says Anderson, who had been significantly impressed by a latest efficiency in Netflix’s Ratched – and a trio of fashions, the sequence is shot in Teller’s sometimes idiosyncratic type at his London studio. (A supporting forged comes courtesy of cabbages, gourds and cauliflowers, and a sequence of home vegetation). “It’s very releasing to work with Juergen as a result of there isn’t a pretence, it’s simply – ‘I see one thing due to this fact I shoot it’.” 

Right here, in his personal phrases, Anderson tells the story behind the gathering, and his collaboration with Teller.

“I believe I’ve realized quite a bit from 2020 – as a lot because it was a really miserable second, I wished to start out the 12 months with one thing extremely easy. In the end, I do two manufacturers so it must construct because the 12 months goes on. I wished it to be one thing that was very trustworthy, very uncooked clothes that’s what it’s … I believe they’re very uncalculated clothes. That’s what I imply by ‘a palate cleanser’ – it’s not like, ‘that is impressed by Rembrant’ or ‘as a result of everybody’s on the couch due to this fact we now have to make clothes for folks on the couch.’ No. For me it’s similar to, ‘oh my God, it’s so thrilling to see purple and orange along with gold.’

“Juergen has taken my portrait a number of occasions. I’ve all the time cherished his work, ever since I began working in style. While you work with anybody you want to have the ability to be taught one thing, and I believe what I’ve learnt from Juergen is simply instinct. Don’t overcomplicate it. Don’t over-intellectualise it. Be free with it. It’s very releasing to work with Juergen as a result of there isn’t a pretence, it’s simply – ‘I see one thing due to this fact I shoot it’. I believe we’d like extra blunt messages. If you happen to’re going to be experimental, be experimental. If you happen to’re going to be optimistic, then be optimistic. It’s effective.

“Sophie [Okonedo] is a kind of actresses who’s extremely inspiring – most likely considered one of our best actresses. She is about transformation – each Juergen and I wished to make use of her as a result of she’s such a improbable actress. While you meet these folks, and work with them, it’s a very nice begin to the 12 months. It actually makes you go, sure, it’s actually miserable on the market, and it’s miserable for everyone, however possibly it’s a very good second to get off the couch – or challenge off the couch. I’m bored of listening to concerning the couch life. I wish to take into consideration construction, I wish to consider issues that look dangerous however might be good, I wish to take a look at honesty, realism, magnificence. And style is about that, it’s about projecting ahead.

“I truly discover it an extremely thrilling second as a result of there’s solely alternative. That’s what drives me, that’s what drove me to do posters, and work with Juergen and Sophie, as a result of I’d by no means carried out it. I’d by no means tackled clothes on this method. Which was similar to, ‘OK, a mohair sweater with crocheted radishes on it.’ It may not look very totally different to the viewer, however for me it was actually totally different – the act was so instinctive. If it sells, it sells – at this second that’s not the precedence. The precedence is the thought of being artistic. I wanted one thing that introduced me again to the start once I began style. This concept of being like, ‘why not?’ I believe in a bizarre method that’s what the gathering is about: why not?

“We’re not dwelling in best occasions however we now have to challenge into optimistic occasions – to get there you need to form of let go of it. I don’t know what JW Anderson goes to be on the finish of the 12 months, and I do not wish to, as a result of that will be extremely boring. I’m excited. I’ve by no means been extra enthusiastic about style – going to work is one other factor – however the concept of clothes, and the making of it, I discover there is a new power. Let’s begin on the very starting.”