“Frivolity is important to creativity. I’m going to do for catsuits what Calvin Klein did for pants.” – Gareth Pugh
It is a rare occasion that I come across a designer who’s creations leave me awed in amazement and speechless with wonder as to how in the world they manifested their imagination in such a way. Today was one of those days.
Enter Gareth Pugh…
English designer, Paris resident, young (29 yrs), experimental, intriguing, and one of the fashion industries most talked about designers to hit the runways, Gareth Pugh began working as a costume designer at the English National Youth Theater when he was only 14yrs old. Though his desires led him to embrace the idea of becoming a dancer, fate would have him headed in another direction. Pugh attended City of Sunderland College and finished his degree in fashion design at Central St Martins by the time he was 22. He interned with Rick Owens in Paris and in 2006, and had his first solo premiere during London’s Fall Fashion Week met with great applause. Equipped with an eye for the abstract and artistic use of synthetic textiles, Pugh’s ability to manipulate and play with various elements such as PVC, plexiglass, latex and electrically charged plastex to name a few, lended to his trademark designs filled with form and volume. ‘Nonsensically shaped, wearable sculptures’ that recreate the human form and designs which ‘struggle between lightness and darkness’ are some of the observations used to further describe his work. In one of his earlier collections, he even used balloons to accentuate the joints and limbs on his models, a technique that would later become one of his trademarks.
Though a hit among his peers and fans in the contemporary fashion circles, in 2008 Gareth considered himself to still be a struggling artist. Sighting the continual financial struggle that has followed him over the years despite his highly acclaimed designs, fate might again play its hand and lead him off the haute couture catwalks and onto the runways of more wearable fashions. Either way, I have a feeling that same edginess and raw creativity will show up in his collections wherever he goes, thus turning into gold whatever he touches and stopping fashionistas in their tracks everytime.
