J.W. Anderson Fall 2008

Jonathan William Ander­son approaches fash­ion in a roman­tic man­ner.  “Com­bin­ing his his­tory in the­atre with a love for the sin­is­ter in lit­er­a­ture, the uni­verse of J.W. Ander­son is intensely dra­matic and com­pellingly grandiose.”  Ander­son is a native of Ire­land, but moved to Wash­ing­ton D.C. to study drama at the Actor’s Stu­dio.  While abroad, he devel­oped an inter­est in stage cos­tumes, which nur­tured an intense love for fash­ion.  After work­ing as a visual mer­chan­diser for Prada, Ander­son received his degree in menswear in 2007, grad­u­at­ing from the Lon­don Col­lege of Fash­ion.  Fall 2008 is Anderson’s sec­ond col­lec­tion to date.

Anderson’s fall col­lec­tion is inspired by Russ­ian sur­re­al­ism and “delves into the intri­cate mind of Grig­ori Rasputin and his rela­tion­ship with the Romanov fam­ily in the early 20th Cen­tury.  Rasputin’s alleged con­nec­tion with the fall of Nicholas II of Rus­sia, and the dan­ger to which the Tsar­dom was sub­jected, is implied in the padding of the jew­el­ery, which serves as a form of phys­i­cal pro­tec­tion for the wearer.  Influ­enced by the work of French artist Louise Bour­geois, the padding and its motives pay homage to the early 20th Cen­tury abstrac­tion.  Like­wise, the collection’s empha­sis on sex­u­al­ity and iso­la­tion man­i­fests Bour­geois’ sig­na­ture themes, which link to J.W. Anderson’s attrac­tion to the sin­is­ter in nature.”

Excuse me dur­ing this moment in which I DIE.  J.W. Ander­son directly con­nects my two loves: fash­ion and history.

Pic­tures from J.W. Ander­son