Let’s take you over to London where Nigel Cabourn just had his Winter 16 showing of the Lybro and Authentic collections at the Army Gym flagship store. The space was transformed into an even more utilitarian aesthetic to give way for the heavily workwear focused garments to take the spotlight.
Here, mannequins and models were decked out in Japanese fabrics, heavy hardware, and a deeper colour palette for the colder season to come. One could see the playful mix between British workwear (Lybro) and the contrasting of wonderful tweeds and bonded textiles found in the Authentic line, all seamlessly planned out by colour. Yes, Nigel had planned the deep blue, military green and trimmings for both lines, from the very early stages of the design process. This is all part of that super-organised-greatness that brews quietly in the inner workings of the most rough-n-tumble British menswear designers. This precise organisation and planning is the unexpected magic that focuses Nigel Cabourn’s wild and wonderful creativity.
It’s a sort of militant discipline that has him designing line after line, collaboration after collaboration, all at the same time. I had the delight of trying on that bonded mackintosh you see hanging mid-picture below, just from the factory, and I can say that many wild ideas played part in its greatness. The seams are taped, and it crinkles exactly the same as when you scrunch up a thick piece of card… the most satisfying noise you’ll hear. While playing around with it in the studio, we found that it also made the most elegant and feminine raincoat when turned inside-out and popped on a woman. Again, a wild and wonderful brain wave strikes again.
So take a look at the two stories in garment history, intertwine with two other colour stories that sometime overlap and intermingle, to create a wild and wonderful vision of your own. That’s all part of that madness that keeps the world so fresh.
Above / On the right hand wall of the Army Gym, Authentic and Lybro hang together / Meet the new cameraman jacket on the far right, lined with safety orange, and matching shoes – a new member of the Cabourn x Converse family / The mannequin wears a pair of Lybro coveralls and that classic Cabourn pom pom beanie / Five hooks down from the mannequin you’ll see that bonded mackintosh we mentioned before /
Here we have a beautiful Authentic line double breasted blazer and we’re kind of falling for all those buttons /
Above we have Drew and the mannequins in Lybro Winter 16, made of Japanese fabric in Lybro blue indigo /
