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.