GAR-​​DE Spring 2009

Love At First Sight

Not a fan of leather? Well, obvi­ously you have not been intro­duced to GAR-​​DE, the col­lab­o­ra­tive effort of var­i­ous design­ers to rein­vent the way leather is used. Last sea­son, they tack­led the tra­di­tional leather jacket. This sea­son, their chal­lenge is to show the vul­ner­a­bil­ity of leather. It is safe to say, that they have accom­plished that chal­lenge. The leather pieces are aston­ish­ingly beau­ti­ful with the high­light being the green pon­cho. The play­ful use of linen and leather is refresh­ing. The use of light mate­ri­als like knitwear do an excel­lent job of high­light­ing the soft ele­ment they sought to bring this collection.

“Explor­ing ideas of vul­ner­a­bil­ity,
GAR-DE’s spring 2009 col­lec­tion offers
soft knit under­gar­ments along­side finely
crafted leather jack­ets. The neu­tral
col­ored knitwear offered in fine cotton/​
modal blends offers a dis­tinctly play­ful
take on clas­sic Amer­i­can loungewear with
sports­wear inspired detailing.

‘Last sea­son we launched with a leather
col­lec­tion because we wanted to inter­pret
the leather jacket our way as well
as con­nect con­cepts of expo­sure and
pro­tec­tion. This sea­son, we aimed to take
that notion fur­ther. We are vul­ner­a­ble
when we are naked or in our under­wear. The
idea of soft lay­ers worn under­neath these
col­or­ful and pro­tec­tive leather shells is
what was inspi­ra­tional to us this sea­son;
the idea of a tur­tle and its shell.’

More specif­i­cally, motor scoot­ers served
as the inspi­ra­tion for the leather
jack­ets this sea­son. “We see the scooter
as a more urban alter­na­tive to the
motor­cy­cles of yes­ter­day. Hence, the
jack­ets or ‘shells’ take their cue from
vin­tage motor scoot­ers, in par­tic­u­lar the
vin­tage Vespa motor scooter. Through bold
col­or­ing, metal detail­ing and stream­lined
styling we treated each jacket as if it
where a new scooter model – each com­plete
with its own personality.”

With its mix of vul­ner­a­bil­ity and
invin­ci­bil­ity, this smart and finely honed
GAR-​​DE S/​S 09 col­lec­tion comes together
as a cel­e­bra­tion of a younger, edgier
elegance.”

Pic­tures from GAR-​​DE