Google Hippie Designers

Previously we researched into our own self devised sub-culture of the ‘Google Hippie’. This sub-culture represents a stereotypical mash up of references which have been manipulated from their origin. Google its self is a combination of fact and fiction information which is often taken from unreliable sources. This is then expanded on time and time again, resulting in brand new false, yet believable ideas of the truth. The ‘Google Hippie’ has grown in exactly the same way to now become a mixture of fiction and reality.

Developing from this we are now going to explore a range of designers who we feel share a link to this sub-culture, who are; Kenzo, Noki and Louise Gray.

Kenzo

Takada Kenzo, founder of ‘Kenzo’, is known for his designs blending together ethnicity and exoticism. Many of his designs incorporate a number of different layers of fabrics and prints along with experimenting with volume and tailoring. The prints are often brightly coloured tribal or florals and are mixed with plainer fabrics such as grey flannel or white cotton. He is inspired by remnants, old finds and ethnicity. His designs started as a ‘mis-match’ in this way due to him only being able to afford to buy fabric scraps from flea sales. Therefore, Kenzo created bold combinations of fabrics to make singular garments. In 1978 he was quoted as saying, “it pleases me when people say I have influence, but I am influenced by the world that says I influence it. The world I live in is my influence.” It is clear to see just how much the world has influenced Kenzo’s designs by looking at many of his collections to date. They have included Scandinavian knits, Romanian peasant skirts, Native American styling of beads, feathers and ziggurats, and East Asian batiks.

Antonio Marras took over as creative director of Kenzo in 2008 and continued the use of bold colours, clashing prints and textures, drawing inspiration from his native Sardinia. His Spring/Summer 2011 collection could be said to be one of Kenzo’s most famous. He managed to marry together many cultures successfully, for instance, applying the volume of kimonos to more traditional Parisian dresses. Recently, designers of New York fashion label ‘Opening Ceremony’, Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, have taken over the brand in an attempt to ‘liven it up’. Their first collection for Kenzo Spring/Summer 2012 was inspired by their own archives and the bright, clashing paintings of artist Ellsworth Kelly. The duo ‘took the spirit of the house’ by revolving the collection around colour, print and proportion but added their own touch by designing new prints and creating modern looking clothing which still retained the chic Parisian ideal.

Stocked in Kenzo stores, exclusive boutiques and Harrods, Kenzo fashion is obviously not accessible for much of the public. However, in 2010, Kenzo collaborated with Dubai based fashion brand ‘House of Glamo’ to create limited edition T-shirts that were given to people going to the Dubai Film Festival that year. The label also designs furniture coverings, household items and perfume. Like their fashion style, Kenzo perfumes mix together different aromas from many parts of the worlds. Signature fragrances include ‘Flower by Kenzo’ and ‘Kenzo Amour’ which aim to merge together East and West and express ideas of travelling the world. Starting at about £45.00 for 100ml these perfumes are one way that the public can buy into this high fashion label.

Takada Kenzo himself had to fight to establish himself within the fashion industry. After school he went to the University of Kobe but withdrew to go to Tokyo’s Bunka Fashion College against his family’s will. In 1964 he moved to Paris and managed to make a living by selling his runway illustrations. Seeing as these were days before the internet allowed easy distribution of fashion, Kenzo managed to create many contacts within the industry for himself by issuing copies of his hand-drawn sketches of the important fashion concepts. These drawings allowed other designers to reinterpret popular trends for their own clients. It was this networking that helped Kenzo in succeeding to form his own successful fashion label.

Noki

The creative genius behind Noki is one of the most mysterious figures in the fashion industry at the moment. Designer Jonathan ‘JJ’ Hudson from Aberdeen never shows his face to an audience and always wears a surgical mask to hide from photographers. He rarely speaks to the press and has never done an interview.

Noki began when Jonathan JJ Hudson (for Noki is he) was working for MTV as a presenter and music industry stylist before he discovered a passion for customised vintage clothing in the 90’s; it began as a way to reject the homogenous commercialism around him, and to subvert it. 15 years later Noki is lauded, loved and respected. He often does commissioned work from people like lady gaga to Neneh Cherry; he has most recently collaborated with Hannah McGibbon and her team at Ch...loe for their recent collection.

Hudson is a deep thinking and eccentric character who described his inspiration for his last collection as a need to see extreme modernist design to counter balance the corporate retro overload. He also describes his occupation as slaughterhouse, and says the New York slasher is his hero. His odd outlook on fashion and the mystery around his identity only adds to the impact of his creations.
This September we can expect to see more great use of recycled vintage pieces but hopefully Hudson will also give us some innovative cuts and structures that will give the label the extra push to make the step away from fashion east and the strength to stand alone. The art brand of Noki customisation is a statement against mass produced fashion branding where the mere taking, DIY style of a second hand garment and re working it into an ethical ‘one off’ piece of clothing, creates the Noki art. This alone is paralleling the original essence of fashion being couture. Noki is all about identity and the concept behind the garment and very is very anti consumerism this I feel is what I admire about his work. Although the garments he produces may not reflect my personality, his garments draw me in by thinking about the concept behind his work. The mood of his garments you could say is quite dark and mysterious; in the sense not often you cannot see the models face, yet his work I would also say is very creative and innovative in which draws his unique audience in.

The full Noki silhouette involves the Noki rock frock and the ‘SOB’ Suffocation of branding mask. This has become known as the uniform of the nokiette- the all-new couture jammer grand slammer.
Noki’s customers are mostly celebrities, cool arty hipsters and skate kids who spend around £400 and £1500 on an outfit created by Noki.

Louise Gray

Scottish born designer Louise Gray is one of fashion’s newest arrivals. Independent from a young age, Gray left the family home at 17 to study textiles in Glasgow, before moving onto the prestigious Glasgow School of Art to complete her BA in textile design. Gray said "Art school was kind of the cliché, but so fun; it felt very free. It definitely influenced my design style – you had to learn the four disciplines: knit; weave; print and embroidery. I didn't like weaving – I thought it was so boring. I felt like a Victorian child at the back of all these looms.” Following this Gray complete her MA at Central Saint Martins, and she has now launched her clever mixes of pattern and colour onto the fashion scene.

From the start of Gray’s studies she was drawn to the techniques of e...mbroidery and print where she was free to be experimental and innovative. Her work comprises of vast combinations of texture as she likes to allow her pieces to grow and change as she develops her ideas. By following the fashion advice given by her mother ‘Everything matches if you like it’ Gray has created collections that are cleverly thought out celebrations of colour, texture and print; on paper they shouldn’t work, but in front of your eyes it is mesmerising.

After Gray staging her work at LFW for the past 8 seasons, along with receiving NEWGEN sponsorship her career is exploding. As well as selling her collections internationally, she has collaborated with various designers such as; Pollini on a shoe collection, Cotton USA, Judy Blame, Nicholas Kirkwood and most recently Asos creating a clothing and jewellery collection which has now sold out online. 

By gaining so much coverage from her rapid growth Gray is instantly recognisable on the catwalk for collections that contain riots of colour, and explosions of bright pigments and clashing textures. She often combines primary-coloured chiffons layered with graphic silk prints, swatches of beading, and naive little scraps of appliqué and embroidery.

Gray’s resolution to keep her collections "honest"; to portray the essence of herself in the clothes has been apparent through every collection. She has stated that she believes everyone has an individual way of dressing, not everybody wants to have the same conventional coat in winter. Fashion is the thing you can be yourself in, you can dress how you want without caring about other people’s opinions. This is what Gray works towards, giving free expression and no limitations within her clothing.

Summary

After researching into how the idea of what Hippies are has become a mash up of different stereotypes, ideas that are not necessarily accurate and generic images on the internet due to the global impact Google has had on research. Nowadays any information can be uploaded to Google, correct or incorrect and people can read and regenerate until information becomes distorted and confused. Hippies are a prime example of this as most people straight away think of them as having the fashion stereotype of bright colours, flower power, loose fitting garments and lots of accessories. Although this was not necessarily the case of the original hippies. We looked into fashion designers that linked to this idea of ‘Google Hippies’ and initially thought some that linked include Kenzo, Louise G...ray, Noki, Anna Sui and Erdem. We then looked further into Kenzo, Louise Gray and Noki.

We looked at Kenzo relating to hippies in that there is a lot of floral prints used, the silhouettes are quite loose and the fabrics have been sourced from many differing cultures. Kenzo could be thought of the original source of information before Google as he provided illustrations to designers before the internet existed. We felt Noki and Louise Gray were relevant to our project in that they both link to the idea of the Google mash-up, although they are at opposing ends of the scale. They could be classed as similar in that they both are quirky creative designers. They enjoy mashing up different techniques and colours, to create unique one off designs. They do however differ in the sense of where they collect their mash up of ideas. Louise Gray embraces the idea of clashing prints and colours and overall ‘randomness’ and almost celebrates the idea of ‘Google mash-up’ in her designs, whereas Noki, being very anti consumerism, would rebel against this concept and concentrate on individual identity as inspirtation. His precious collections link well to the ideas of the stereotype of hippies because he’s used details such as tassels beads and plaits. Their customers are very different in the sense Louise Gray’s customer is fun, wears what she wants where she wants and would embrace the idea of mixing together clashing colours and prints, whereas Noki’s customer is edgy, pushes the boundaries and makes meaningful clothing.

Inspiration

After looking into Louise Gray, we decided we really like the idea of being inspired and embracing the idea of the ‘Google mash-up’ and designed a range of garments as if they were for her next collection. We especially took forward the idea of layering many different bright colours and prints together and interpreted garment types and silhouettes that Louise Gray favours. We also thought about who her customer might be. We decided her customer base was likely to be young, ‘artsy’, female adults. These women would have an natural, individual fashion sense where they ‘threw together’ many layers of clothing, not necessarily thinking about whether they go together but embracing the idea of clashing different colours and prints to create a sense of personality. They perhaps wouldn’t necessarily follow fashion trends but would tend to enjoy their own creativity with clothing instead.

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