Collateral Concepts 3rd Iteration: Origins

[kuugaia]

Congratulations! Seriously...how do you do it. Last time I checked you have 3 full-time jobs: designer, surgeon and a woman? Incredible. You make me feel shit about my life.

[Chinorlz]

Aw it's no big deal my man! We only live so long. Gotta live every moment to the fullest. There is so much out there to discover, learn and experience... It's almost a shame to sleep so much of our lives away!

[Chinorlz]

Over this past week I spent some time and constructed the Collateral lookbooks for select store viewing:








Entire book is made from scratch. I was excited to finally use some special leather that I have been holding onto. It is an irregularly pitted heavy cowhide where a caustic spray has been applied which generated pits on the outer surface of the hide. The hide is then oil tanned for a matte and microsueded finish.

Front and back cover is this and the hardware is done with binding post and screws.

Interior images are 8x10" glossy photos glued to some nice "torn edge" cardstock. Material and fabric samples are in place on the details pages.

[Chinorlz]

The wonderful folks at Scoute have posted some exclusive images and a short writeup on the third iteration:

http://scoute.org/blog/

Thanks!

I will post some production/studio photos in the next few days as well.

[Icarium]

Dang those lookbooks look great :)

[Chinorlz]

Processes/Concept

The jackets and shirts designed for the third iteration were created with seamwork that follows lines of motion through the body versus the now oft-used anatomic landmarks.

The twisting movements of the torso, the reaching/throwing motions of the arm and body and the pronation/supination movements of the arm each generates a virtual line or curvature which I wanted to translate into seams.





Energy transmission movements through the body are all very long (think about the swing of a golf club and the follow through, or how the energy and movement for a punch is generated and moved through the body) which I carried through as long continuous seams that move from the front to the back of the shirts or from the neck all the way down the torso or through the arms in the jackets.

The result at first glance looks like a standard raglan construction but in actuality the shirts are done with 3 pieces of fabric with large panels and arcing seamwork moving from the front upper neckline under the arm and terminating at the small of the back.

The jacket's back seams around the shoulders are curved and split right before the underarm to move down the torso to the front ending at the landmark of the anterior superior iliac spine. The seam of the arm curves along its path as it also curves slightly around the arm following a pronation movement:




Once I pared these lines down, I pieced together what would be the first version of the pattern.








I patterned on the mannequin to allow myself to control the drape and 3-d form of the final pattern. By patterning on a form, I can focus on how the panels would fall with the jacket unzipped, how to control the seam meeting edges so that with minimal seams, I can still contour the torso into a slight hourglass form for a better fit.




Translated into the vintage elephant.

Here you can see the arc of the arm seam as well as the beginning of the long seams starting at the sides of the neck.

The jacket is unzipped so it actually "pulls" towards the back a bit so that it stays parted and open somewhat in the front when unzipped versus some jackets that stay in place (ie- essentially closed) unzipped or zipped. This profile view also allows you to see the back contouring done on the jacket via the center back seam.

[Chinorlz]

Kangaroo was chosen because it is lightweight, thin and extremely rugged. It has an incredible character and handfeel to it and will truly mold to the wearer's body and movement with time and last forever.







The full lining is a dark dark gray smooth and silky thin Italian wool. The interior pattern matches the exterior with the addition of another line that hides a pocket on both front panels.

The points at which the lining meets leather are curved for a more organic feel to the entire piece. I wanted to minimize any angular points in the jacket so that the whole piece has a more organic, natural feel to it from the seams on up.

[Chinorlz]

Vintage Elephant

The vintage elephant version of the lines of motion jacket was constructed out of a singular side of hide:






This leather was extremely difficult to work with and certainly did not want to cooperate with most of the things I wanted it to do. It could not be steamed as it was minimally processed decades ago and steaming would harden and essentially cook of the skin making it dark and rock hard. The only way was to wet it and clamp all edges that needed to be flattened and allow it to air dry in the Texas sun.





After completion, the piece was repeatedly treated with leather conditioner to bring it to the final state.

[Chinorlz]

Ferromagnetic Oxidization

As written at the top of this thread, this was a process that interested me greatly due to my background and the history of my alma mater.

The idea of taking the traditional rust dying process and adding another dimension to it greatly interested me.



Magnetic field generated with iron filings



Close proximity 9mm gunshot wound showing entrance and powder burns generated by the propellant not being fully consumed and then coming in contact with tissue. (mannequin form)




A forensic photo of close range 9mm wound on tissue with stippling from the powder


I wanted to combine these using the rust dye method and through trial and error developed a protocol for using a 9mm magnet to generate a pattern very similar to a close contact gunshot wound to the chest.





24 hours of ferromagnetic oxidization on the cotton. The magnet and its field generates a distinct formation to the iron filings as they're applied at the beginning of the oxidization process.



The result "gunshot" is complete with stray iron powder oxidizing in place serving as stippling as with a true close range injury.

Each oxidized piece will inherently have a unique pattern within it as the contours of the cotton and the semi-random formation of the iron filings as they follow the magnetic fields can never be replicated precisely from garment to garment.

[zamb]

well if they didn't know, now they do..............

this thing aint easy as typing some thoughtless critique on a computer screen
families suffer because of this, love life suffers because of this, the hope of accomplishing something personally fullfilling is the reward................and hopefully making enough to warrant the financial investment and time for this kind of pursuit

well, if they didn't know, now they do....................
at least partly............................

[lost53]

As a consumer to get an overview of the collection is great...
But to get an insight documented with images into the actual creation of the garments is truly special. Thanks so much And good luck with the sales!!

[michael_kard]

Wish Collateral was not so out of my league. Kangaroo leather interior photos look beautiful.

[Chinorlz]

Thanks all!

I thought some details and information on the thought processes and experimentation of the collection would help shed more light on it all.

As mentioned before, I find the journey and the actual creation of each piece just as (if not more) fascinating and important than the final product. This is why I did a lot more documentation this time around with the collection to show the experimentation process and development process.

I'll be posting some beginning to end series for a number of the pieces to show the progression from raw materials to final product. The first one of these will likely be the Enso wallet. From a full Horween shell cordovan plate and Enso painting to the branded wallet and all steps in between.

This post will be up around the end of the week.

[Chinorlz]

I really love the angle you're taking with your collection, and, like everyone else, am overwhelmed by your energies. Curious if you ever thought about making gloves that are designed to help those with carpal tunnel, or that sort of thing, where the apparel becomes like the prescription given to people suffering from one ailment or another? Anyway, William Carlos Williams Jr, many congrats on all your various successes.

That's an interesting angle to take this and something I've thought about but not that much in depth.

Sruli Recht has explored this realm of clothing-as-therapy a bit but it largely remains an untouched one. I'm going to mull this one over in the coming months and see what develops out of it :)

Ah WCW... I remember discussing "The Red Wheelbarrow" back in college.

[MetroBulotDodo]

Albert:

Late pass. So much respect to you, and obviously, I send along congratulations for pairing with your choice institution.

Unlike (some of) us, sounds like you're on your way to actually affording the clothes we sweat.

Mazel tov, gang bei, whatever!

MBD

p.s. it feels like I'm counting the seconds until my anatomical gloves arrive.