Nature boy: our roving report on the new, rural urban uniform

Our roving report on the new, rural urban uniform
Pictured left: jacket, £825, trousers, £115, both by Victorinox. Boots, £1,060 by Ermenegildo Zegna Couture. Right: gilet, £675, trousers £160, both by Stone Island. Roll-neck, £500, coat, £2,200, both by Jil Sander
(Image credit: Sofie Middernacht and Maarten Alexander)

Wind, water, rock and even dirt ruled the A/W 2015 catwalk. Stefano Pilati’s collection for Ermenegildo Zegna Couture, presented in a room with thick soil walls, featured traditional Harris tweeds glazed with a needle-punched recycled plastic coating.

Stone Island’s emerald green vest is water – and wind – resistant but reveals itself in new ways thanks to a reflective underlying material coated in thousands of glass microspheres. And Victorinox’s limited edition Gallen Parka is designed for country and city.

So this season, jackets are softly sculpted, padded and worn layered. Pockets are deep and tailored trousers are paired with rubber-soled Chelsea boots.

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The bucolic scene pictured was created by Matt Wright, one half of garden accessories brand Wright & Doyle, with partner Bella Doyle. Wright describes his design as ‘prairie planting on a small scale’, and explains that ‘I wanted to make a selection of plants that would complement each other in the studio but could also be found in a more natural environment.’ 

To create the natural effect, he used grasses such as Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ and Stipa tenuissima, along with a mix of herbaceous perennials including Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’, calamint, valerian and Helenium 'Potter’s Wheel’. They brought an unexpected extra too: ‘They added a wonderfully sweet scent to the studio,’ says Wright. 

As originally featured in the December 2015 issue of Wallpaper* (W*201)

Our roving report on the new, rural urban uniform

Pictured left: jacket, £1,210, jumper, £225, roll-neck, £160, trousers, £315, all by Kenzo. Right: coat, £845, roll-neck, £165, both by MHL by Margaret Howell. Jacket, £835, by Moncler. Trousers, £345, by Margaret Howell

(Image credit: Sofie Middernacht and Maarten Alexander)

Our roving report on the new, rural urban uniform

Coat, £2,630; jacket, £2,090; cardigan, £1,140; trousers, £790; boots, £1,060, all by Ermenegildo Zegna Couture

(Image credit: Sofie Middernacht and Maarten Alexander)

INFORMATION

Hair: Hiroshi Matsushita using Kiehl’s. Make-up: Rebecca Wordingham at Saint Luke using Shu Uemura. Manicurist: Saffron Goddard using Chanel Christmas 2015 and Body Excellence Hand Cream. Set design: Matthew Wright at Wright & Doyle. Model: Nathan Saignes at Established. Fashion: Jason Hughes

London based writer Dal Chodha is editor-in-chief of Archivist Addendum — a publishing project that explores the gap between fashion editorial and academe. He writes for various international titles and journals on fashion, art and culture and is a contributing editor at Wallpaper*. Chodha has been working in academic institutions for more than a decade and is Stage 1 Leader of the BA Fashion Communication and Promotion course at Central Saint Martins. In 2020 he published his first book SHOW NOTES, an original hybrid of journalism, poetry and provocation.

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