HUNTSMAN X LONDON COLLEGE OF FASHION
REMAKE . REMODEL . REPURPOSE
Table of Contents 1. An Introduction from Pierre Lagrange. 2. The Birth. 3. The Brief. 6. The Competition. 7. Meet the Judges. 8. The Garments: A Video. 9. The Winners 16. The Garments 17. A second life: The next steps. 18. Appendix: 19-27. Meet the other finalists. 28. About Huntsman. 29. About LCF.
1. Contemporary Since 1849 Huntsman has long been a vanguard of sustainable practice. The very nature of bespoke tailoring means that garments are produced not only to last a lifetime, but for generations to come. It’s not uncommon to find a Huntsman garment passed across generations; from fathers to sons and even further. The beauty of bespoke garments is that they are produced on demand, as opposed to the wastage of ready to wear mass produced items. Giving a new life to abandoned garments with the help of London College of Fashion students allowed us to nurture emerging talent and demonstrate the sustainability of Huntsman bespoke tailoring. Pierre Lagrange, Owner of Huntsman
2. The Birth A small number of bespoke garments have gone unclaimed over the years; these are known as ‘porks’. Whilst ill fitting for numerous reason, it seemed a waste not to reuse garments that have decades of enjoyment in the tank!
Instead of storing them forever, or destroying them, we sought how to repurpose them.
Magda Handwerker, Head of Ladies Bespoke at Huntsman, is also a Bespoke Tailoring Lecturer at LCF. Huntsman was so impressed by her students, our Chairman came up with the idea of getting the students to learn about the making of a Huntsman garment by ripping the porks apart, and repurpose them into a new contemporary creation! LCF management immediately saw the potential for their students and the project went live in january 2019!
3. The Brief REMAKE. Huntsman asked 27 students to consider the beauty of bespoke tailoring within the context of sustainable fashion while discussing the evolution of a garment through design, innovative cutting and manufacturing to produce pieces of exceptional quality that may exist for many decades and transcend fast fashion trends. REMODEL. Using the pork product as a canvas, each student was briefed to reimagine Huntsman in their language, using the pork to create a new and original garment which honour Huntsman’s tradition of utmost bespoke craftsmanship. REPURPOSE. Students were instructed to breathe new life into a discarded garment. The porks were totally deconstructed as means to learn more about where the labours of bespoke tailoring lie. From here a new garment was born, totally repurposing what would otherwise go to waste.
4. The Brief In developing their project, students were asked to consider the following criteria: The Huntsman History – Origins and development of this significant house. The Huntsman Aesthetic – Signature design, details, selection of cloth and cut. The Huntsman Audience - Huntsman encouraged students to be gender agnostic in repurposing their pork and to create a garment of outstanding quality and design, irrespective of whom the pork was originally intended. The Huntsman Experience – The environment in which the garments are made and sold. In conceptualising their finished garment the students were instructed to rip apart their pork and use it as a learning tool to see exactly where the hours of craftsmanship go in a bespoke commision. Students could then use the deconstructed pork as the building blocks for their repurposed garment.
5. The Brief Each student had creative freedom in how they interpreted the project. Creative Director Campbell Carey visited the college to provide mid-stage reviews for each student, to ensure the brief was being fulfilled whilst allowing absolute freedom of ideas.
Campbell Carey visits the college for mid-stage assessment of garments in progress
Lucas Demage presents the concept for his pork
Bethan Alston and Campbell discuss the art of a box pocket
6. The Competition TWENTY SEVEN STUDENTS ELEVEN FINALISTS NINE JUDGES TWO RUNNERS UP ONE WINNER
7. The Judges Charlotte Stockdale & Katie Lyall : Chaos @stockdale.charlotte / @katielyall Lisa Grainger : Times LUXX @timesluxx Laura Burlington : Fashion Consultant @laura_burlington Annina Pfuel : Art Director and Costume Designer @anninapfuel Will Morgan & Elena Gucas : GUCAS MORGAN @gucasmorgan Cassie Smart : Matches Fashion @matchesfashion Sam Kershaw : Mr Porter @mrporter_official
8. The Garments A second life for discarded garments. A sustainable solution, true to the very heart of bespoke. Repurposing the unwanted to envisage the future. See all of our finalist’s garments here.
9. The Winners
It was the spirit of innovation which proved the most compelling for the judges, with Annie Fox and her VR interpretation of 11 Savile Row being awarded first place. Annie impressed judges with her clever rethinking of how new technology can be incorporated into a traditional bespoke model to enhance customer experience. Annie represents a new generation of craftspeople, rethinking traditional methods to produce a project which not only repurposed her pork garment into something new, but recognised the bigger picture of how we might remake, remodel and repurpose to see bespoke making flourish into the future.
Winner Annie Fox (centre) with runners up Traci Grillo (left) and Pollyanna Harris (right)
ANNIE FOX WINNER
Watch Annie talk about her garment here.
Annie looked to the future Huntsman’s next 100 years when she taught herself coding to produce a digital interactive version of 11 Savile Row. Her programme allows users to create a digital version of themselves, visit the store and interact with staff. This revolutionary thinking allowed the skill and personal attention bespoke tailoring demands to be translated successfully into a virtual programme, and Annie looks to address how the tradition of bespoke can move forward in an increasingly digital world.
ANNIE FOX WINNER
Annie used her two pairs of pork trousers to create the silhouette for a streetwear inspired update; a utilitarian style jacket and denim trouser. The vibrant lime stitching which features with prominence in both garments is a nod to Huntsman’s legacy of bold and brilliant tweeds, again reimagined to a futuristic design. Annie’s Pork garments
POLLYANNA HARRIS RUNNER UP Pollyanna took inspiration from the British landscape to create the detailed fabric embroidery on her garment Using Huntsman’s affiliation with Kingsman as a starting point for her design process, Pollyanna created a unique detachable boiler suit from a pork tweed coat.
Watch Pollyanna talk about her garment here.
POLLYANNA HARRIS RUNNER UP
Pollyanna’s Pork garment Judges loved Pollyanna’s imaginative repurposing of her pork garment as components of a detachable boiler suit. Outdoor pursuits are intrinsic to Huntsman's DNA and Pollyanna used this in the most literal sense, creating embroidery inspired by the lines on a topographic graph..
TRACI GRILLO RUNNER UP
Watch Traci talk about her garment here.
Huntsman traditionally outfitted ladies for sporting events; hunting, shooting and riding. Traci recognised that as our womenswear business continues to evolve, so to does the nature of ladies bespoke. Influenced by successful women in industry, Traci took used nuances from the last 100 years to create a ladies trouser suit and cap. The jacket references Huntsman’s iconic one button silhouette, but with an impressive batwing sleeve, paired with a cropped trouser.
TRACI GRILLO RUNNER UP
Traci’s Pork garments Traci clever re-thinking of her pork tweed coat a saw it added as a contemporary detail to her three garments and the vibrant blue of her pork waistcoat to create distinctive lining for her cap and sleeves. Designed to be work as a suit or separates, versatility and adaptability were a key focus in addressing modern ladieswear.
16. The Garments The 11 finished garments from our finalists.
17. A Second Life Huntsman is looking for partners to help elevate and celebrate these repurposed garments with a commercialisation and an exhibition. The students breathed a second life into the abandoned clothes, creating pieces mixing heritage with modernity that could appeal to a large population beyond the confined bespoke world of Huntsman. Help us spread the gospel of Bespoke as a sustainability practice and give one of those designs a commercial future.
APPENDIX
19. Meet The Other Finalists Of the 27 Students, Huntsman’s Creative Director Campbell Carey and Head Ladieswear cutter Magdalena Handwerker selected 11 Finalists for the consideration of a panel of industry experts. The winner received a paid internship with Huntsman and a cash prize of £1000 as well as £1000 for the two runners up. The finalists were selected based not only on the initial brief, but as students who Campbell and Magdalena felt excelled in one or all of the fields of concept, execution and delivery. The result was 11 remarkable and totally unique garments.
LUCAS DEMAGE
Lucas used a tennaca machine to create a unique fabric which blended a Harris Tweed with his pork jacket in an interpretation of Huntsman’s iconic hunt coat. Left: Lucas with his finished garment
Watch Lucas talk about his garment here.
Right: Lucas’s pork garment
BETHAN ALSTON
Bethan was inspired by the androgynous style of Huntsman client Katherine Hepburn when she took her mens cotton blazer and reimagined it as a ladies military style jacket. Left: Bethan with her finished garment
Watch Bethan talk about her garment here.
Right: Bethans pork garments
LEISHA PARLOUR
Leisha impressed us with her meticulous research and attention to detail when combining her pork tweed jacket with a second sourced vintage garment to create a patchwork coat. Left: Leisha with her finished garment
Watch Leisha talk about her garment here.
Right: Leisha’s pork garments
FLEUR WOOD
Fleur created her own silhouette for the project to make a contemporary riding jacket inspired by Huntsman’s equestrian heritage. Pork trousers were picked apart and used to create panels in the body of her jacket. Left: Fleur with her finished garment
Watch Fleur talk about her garment here.
Right: Fleur’s garment in make
HAOHANG CAI
Haohang Cai kept the bold check of his pork tweed coat and used digital printing to create a bespoke lining for the remodeled garment. Left: Haohang with his finished garment
Watch Haohang Cai talk about his garment here.
Right: Haiohang’s garment in make
IOANNIS SARIGIANNIS
Ioannis was a controversial finalist, as the garments presented were not finished, however it was felt unanimously that his level of craftsmanship and interpretation of the project earned him a place in the final. Left: Ioannis with his finished garment
Watch Ioannis talk about his garment here.
Right: Ioannis’s pork garment
ELIZA MOLLOY
Eliza used her pork blazer to create an intricately pleated ladies hunt coat. In a project which combines innovation with tradition Eliza took inspiration from a traditional corseted silhouette to create something with structure but which allows for freedom of movement. Left: Eliza with her finished garment
Watch Eliza talk about her garment here. Above: Eliza’s pork garment
CHIEN- TZU LIU
Chien- Tzu used Jackson Pollock as the inspiration behind the reworking of her pork dinner jacket. The garment features detailed embroidery designed to look like the familiar paint splatters. Left: Chein- Tzu with her finished garment
Watch Chien- Tzu Liu talk about her garment here.
Right: Chien- Tzu’s pork garment
28. H. Huntsman & Sons Huntsman has always prided itself on its rich heritage, and its reputation as one of the finest and most long-standing yet often innovative bespoke houses on Savile Row. Today, our extraordinary story serves as a reminder of the integrity, excellence and attention to quality that has defined the Huntsman suit for generations; standards which we strive to maintain in our tailoring today. Visit our website to find out more about Huntsman.
29. London College of Fashion London College of Fashion, UAL is a world leader in fashion design, media and business education. In boundary-pushing research where fashion intersects with science, engineering, and technology, and in enterprise, it has been nurturing creative talent for over a century, offering courses in all things fashion. Across every subject, it encourages students to examine the past and challenge the present. To have inventive, assertive ideas that challenge social and political agendas. It gives them the skills, opportunities – and above all, the freedom – to put those ideas into practice.