Aitor Throup: New Orleans Project

[seenmy]

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.

[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]

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]

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]

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

[delphine]

I think what we see with Aitor Throup is a typical examle of an aspiring designer who is bored with the available clothing and dreams up exciting pieces but can't make them. You can see the same thing with thousands of design students and their sketches - I'm sorry but there are plenty who can draw just as well and just as fantastically but they work out the fact that they can't be produced before anybody sees it.

In Throup's case, he had the misfortune of exposure before he understood the way design and production work in reality. On a practical level the clothes become simplified to normalcy as seen in the collaborations. And where he attempts to retain the fantastical elements it just doesn't work. IMO

...Not to completely dismiss his creative ability...

[delphine]

strongly disagree with this 'reality is a bitch everyone must conform to' viewpoint. it must not necessarily all be done the same, and the construction techniques he has developed look interesting enough. the stuff i've seen and handled looks promising enough that he will be able to very literally translate his concept sketches into fully-realised pieces. that is the difference between him and the young design students you're referring to.

there is much room for experimentation and seeing where something like that can be practically realised as well as where it can not. there are also different techniques one can apply to achieve the effect more literally, and i think aitor has spent quite some time working out means of remaining faithful to his concepts. lets hope we can see how the eventual result of this labour fares.

perhaps aitor would be so kind to drop by & comment on this..

Fair enough... I too hope something interesting and beautiful comes of it and one thing that I think he has going for him is a small fan base eager to see the interesting stuff realized.

I was by no means saying reality is a bitch and every designer must conform. Simply that there are realities of production and rules of physics that cannot be ignored. My favorite designers master the rules and then bend them to their imagination - I think what's happened with some of these failures is trying to apply the concept without a firm understanding of the rules. Maybe?

edit: "Rules" is perhaps a bit of a rigid term here. What I mean is those things that look good in pictures but not in real form. I think it takes either genius or years of experimenting to get this down..

[Tyro]

I'm surprised wearability has been brought up in relation to the New Orleans presentation? None of this was actually produced for sale was it?

[seenmy]

Nothing from Aitor has ever been produced commercially I believe a few items could have possibly been for sale made to order from the libairy (skull bags)although Im unsure if any were sold,other than that the only pieces out there are some concept tshirts from a rca levis competition which I believe there were 3 pieces total, a batman inspired outfit produced for a rca auction and possibly a red pair of trousers and skull which were auctioned as part of a (red) dazed japan project.