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It’s Time to Leave: Tourne de Transmission SS17

Men, Fashion, Runway

As much as his past collections have had a strong sense of visual design, Graeme Gaughan always leads with a strong sense of social conscious.

The man behind the line Tourne de Transmission’s fascination with making a statement through the combination of visuals and words hit new heights this season. This season, he combined his knack for visual commentary with the aesthetics of a contemporary utilitarian wardrobe.

Tourne de Transmission’s Spring/Summer 2017 collection, shown at London Collections: Men  was sparked by Gaughan’s fascination with visual artist Chris Dorland. Dorland is infamous for his large-scale, abstracted paintings of fractured urban spaces. The acidic colors of the paintings are almost overwhelming when viewed in real life, but his borrowing of commercial media references make them almost familial. In his recent work “Scanners”, he utilized old billboards as an old medium in his work. This struck a chord with Gaughan and Dorland both, in third world countries, these over-sized, discarded billboards are frequently used as shelter for families who just need a roof over their heads. It wasn’t a collaboration between the two artists, rather a brainstorming session.

It’s this unusual use of materials that acted as a catalyst in Gaughan’s Spring/Summer collection. The designer brought in riffs on vinyl, translated into oversized ponchos and parkas. Typical menswear forms, like the motorcycle jacket and button-down oxfords were frayed at the edges and ripped at the seams. Bucket hats adorned the tops of the heads of the boys on the runway, while cardigans were left unbuttoned and billowing to the sight of bare chests.

The final touch? Minute ripcords sewn into the backs of garments, informing the wearers that “Escape Route is This Way”. It’s time to leave.

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