Aitor Throup: New Orleans Project

[Faust]

Originally Posted by mizzar

The actual foto of the jacket and pants on something humanlike.
It doesn't look very SZ aproved thou.

Saw both of these pieces today in CP/SI store in Rome and to tell you the truth it's a yawn. It's still sportswear and it's nothing groundbreaking. The anatomic details on the jacket consist of elbow/forearm elastic insert, boofuckinghoo. The pants are really just cargo pants. All of these cuts are BTDT.

[merz]

faust, we're in complete agreement here. but at the same time, aitor's conceptualisation->realisation technique leaves much to write home about in terms of how the technical approach could be applied to bring out complex ideas, and you can tell he has much in the way of those if his portfolio is any an indication.

what brings these down is the fact that they're ultimately cp pieces, not aitor throup pieces. they're compromises. and i'm really looking forward to the day when aitor comes out with his own stuff, on the same level in terms of materials & production technique/quality level as carol, grandma, etc.. and i know thats some high expectation, but frankly i can't think of anyone else who both maintains a unique direction and operates on the same conceptual level as the grandmasters of the sort we know and love.

oh and, i summon seenmy to this thread.

[swych]

Isn't there something to be said about Aitor Throup pieces falling short whenever it is realised though? Every time I see an Aitor garment it is exactly as Faust said- just a patch or attachment, or tie around to 'accentuate' an anatomic joint.

Merz I agree that there is a certain integrity in his portfolio but I am beginning to think that we are all disillusioned by the whimsy of his disproportioned figures. Intriguing as his sketches and ideas are, they cant make the jump into production because they dont address anything beyond the conceptual design. (speaking from an architectural stand point- I'm not familiar with how design development works in fashion)

http://www.unequalledmagazine.com/fa...onal-team-kits

really? anatomic?

[swych]

oh and ps, still waiting on some pics for aitor x topman trousers.

[merz]

Originally Posted by swych

Isn't there something to be said about Aitor Throup pieces falling short whenever it is realised though? Every time I see an Aitor garment it is exactly as Faust said- just a patch or attachment to 'accentuate' an anatomical joint.

have you ever seen an aitor piece? i mean, a real aitor piece, not x topshop or x cp or x yer mum's uncle?

well actually yeah, you may very well have. you may have seen the new orleans pieces on display. and those sure as fuck didn't fall short of anything. they had shown that aitor can recast his illustrations as fully-realised, top-quality garments, with the kind of panache that would probably give poell pause.

so how about we let the man show some work of his own before making judgements of his abilities from collaborative design contributions for brands that either come at low price point & quality level or an aesthetic & marketing direction apart from places he'd likely take his personal work.

[Faust]

The question remains, why doesn't he show his work? What is it? Why is he not producing anything? Let's face it, if the garments are the ultimate justification of designer's work, I'd like to see some. What's he afraid of?

[seenmy]

in a way no one has seen an true Aitor garment yet, as he has never produced anything for the consumer yet, every sample from his ba to his ma to funeral is essentially a concept (art) piece, made by hand in his studio.So in my eyes the product which are born from this ground work are still to come to life.

the spw and topman projects again to me are successfull (im a spw fan) so the jackets I appreciate and I guess having an involvement in them gives me a vested interest in them,Im still waiting to get the articulated jacket and tee but I enjoy both the cap and the pants and the modular jacket is one of my favorite jackets.the cp 1000m jacket that will release this fall is I think the best project he has done with spw and the reworking of a icon so close to his heart is pretty special. its a piece that needs to be tried on to enjoy it so if you get the chance do it and you will see how the concept works in the real. I cant wait to get my one.

[merz]

we're very excited about his work here, that said.. i need to address the following:

Originally Posted by seenmy

every sample from his ba to his ma to funeral is essentially a concept (art) piece, made by hand in his studio.So in my eyes the product which are born from this ground work are still to come to life.

where does the line get drawn between product and a concept (art) piece? you probably know a thing or two with regard to some of the operations of the people followed on this forum. aside from maybe 2-3 assistants, their entire productions are studio operations with all of the pieces made by hand in quantities limited not to keep a sense of prestige so much as impracticality/impossibility of larger production orders.

i'm sort of hoping aitor ends up going with the sort of similar approach that allows him to avoid diluting the original concepts with practical & financial production concerns. there is an (admittedly small) audience willing to spend quite exuberantly (if poell is any an indication?) on hand-made pieces of wearable concept art ;)

[seenmy]

Originally Posted by Faust

The question remains, why doesn't he show his work? What is it? Why is he not producing anything? Let's face it, if the garments are the ultimate justification of designer's work, I'd like to see some. What's he afraid of?

why should as designer rush though?why should a designer who graduated less than 3 years ago be expected to be showing every season after?

the system maybe demands it but in my eyes its why so many young designers fail to achieve what they preach, as they are forced in to this system that they really arent ready to be in. It shows far more maturity in my opinion to take time reflect and grow and do things when your ready.

[merz]

heh, its not even 'the system' that demands it. and..i don't think we (as this forum's community) are in any position to demand anything in terms of someone's creative output. when it comes down to it, we're just very excited about aitor's work and what we've seen of the (unrealised) possibilities. i think this is also what faust may have been aiming to convey.

[seenmy]

it will be worth the wait. I dont think anyones more excited about doing it than aitor himself!!and I will of course try to keep people up to date with what he has going on as soon as official infomation is ready.

for the mean time we just have to enjoy the website sketchs and images for what they are I guess.

[Chinorlz]

I think a lot of the frustration around Aitor has been that his first collection came out so creatively and left such an impression that we were all eager for more.

Since then we've just gotten bits and pieces, collaborations and video presentations and more recently the Topman pants and 90% of folks that have followed him have yet to see any work of Aitor's in person.

Obviously he's got talent and massive creativity and his name is out there... I've not seen an individual in recent past do so many collaborations in such a short period of time that is so new to the game.

[Faust]

Originally Posted by seenmy

why should as designer rush though?why should a designer who graduated less than 3 years ago be expected to be showing every season after?

the system maybe demands it but in my eyes its why so many young designers fail to achieve what they preach, as they are forced in to this system that they really arent ready to be in. It shows far more maturity in my opinion to take time reflect and grow and do things when your ready.

The system does not demand it. I demand it. Until I see some clothes, let's skip this "he's an incredibly creative fashion designer, bla, bla, bla." That's all I'm saying.

[seenmy]

yeah exactly,its all concept until there's product out there to be consumed and worn.

[jcotteri]

I just can't wait to see more of his sketches come alive, i was truly taken back when i saw his school presentation, i was in awe. It was immediate lust, a truly ethereal experience for me. I want him to take his time, give us something truly from his heart, keep himself afloat (and create a name) with as many collaborations as it takes, just as long as he is at least thinking about what he will do first, what he will eventually show us. I want to be in awe again.

[jcotteri]

cheers for the tip merz :)

[Chinorlz]

Sousaphone jacket still rocks... although practicality and ability of one to assemble/reassemble it at home is questionable.

Great find Q, one of the Aitor threads really needed some livening up. He seems to forever be on the cusp of something crazy and big but just can't quite reach that point unfortunately.

[Faust]

Come on, it's crap. Seriously, what the fuck is this? Joint sticking out of an elbow? Pant legs on the floor? Where are you going to walk in these?

[thejjbb]

Originally Posted by Faust

Come on, it's crap. Seriously, what the fuck is this? Joint sticking out of an elbow? Pant legs on the floor? Where are you going to walk in these?

The pants actually have soles on the bottoms of the legs that look pretty sturdy,
not that that means you should like them. I don't particularly like the detail, but it's a cool idea.

The jackets with gloves attached to the sleeves are incredible, though. Cool idea, great execution.

[Chinorlz]

Originally Posted by Faust

Come on, it's crap. Seriously, what the fuck is this? Joint sticking out of an elbow? Pant legs on the floor? Where are you going to walk in these?

Aitor Haitor!

But seriously, I agree with you that on many pieces the execution could have been better but as a project and a presentation overall it's quite clever a concept. The drawbacks to Aitor patterning off of a human wire form in the method that he does are evident when the body is not in the "action figure" type position with the elbow showing excess fabric etc.

Aitor seems to have experimented with the two extremes of joint-work; both the New Orleans project elbows to the Stone Island elastic joints. Something in between with less severe angles while still retaining that distinct "joint" look and feel would be perfect.

The wearability of this collection is certainly questionable. After looking through the photos in the link that Merz posted you can see that the end-wearer would have quite a hell of a time "constructing" the protective version of each garment. The instruction photos have a lot of "don'ts" on there but I still like the end result. I doubt this sold well (that is, if it were available at all) as it's more costume than functional clothing.

Between this and his graduate collection, I like the latter more because it was really wearable from the runway shots while retaining that transformative aspect that Aitor has developed.



... I still want a pig bag