As of late, fashion designers everywhere seem to be joining the herd of artists that are moving towards an increasing interconnectivity of different media and a greater use of the latest technology in their design process. The digital and virtual realms have become almost essential in the production of garments of a particular aesthetic.Take, for example, New York City-based fashion label RICHARDS—a brain child of designer Sarah Leslie Richards, and more specifically the label’s S/S 2013 line and Fall preview. These specific collections mirror a lot of what’s going on in fashion right now: print heavy, borderline clashy concepts. But RICHARDS takes this to a whole new level using truly drool-inducing, eye-popping screen prints of digital imagery which the designer prints herself in her Brooklyn studio. Richards goes beyond the finite world of fibers and dyes, expanding her vision to include a digital cornucopia of pixelated greenery. These prints have the ability to turn any old white button-down into a massively covetable item that I may very well lose sleep over until I find.But RICHARDS’ exploitation of digital technology doesn’t stop there. In collaboration with art director Grace Glass-Lucas Lefler, aka gg – II, RICHARDS has created a fun stop motion animation video to promote the Spring/ Summer collection. In the short video, clothing dances and hypnotizes in the absence of models to the appropriately bongo-heavy jungle rhythms of Emiliana Torrini.Of course if you must have your gorgeous models with flowing hair bounding in fields and basking in equal parts canopy glow and late afternoon sunshine, RICHARDS gives you this as well in a second look book video.If you didn’t get my drift before, the new collection is really unique in terms of the quality of Richard’s prints which are vaguely photographic, but not overly realistic. Oversized cropped button-downs overflow with incredibly vibrant greenage. Men’s white button-downs are coated with painterly digital landscapes of putrid chartreuse and verdant emerald that makes for a vague nod to camo, which I’m pretty sure is “back.” RICHARDS excels at the mixing of prints by layering leaves from a variety of plant species. The new collection also features prints layered directly on top of each other that makes for a static-like jumbling of the senses. Just take a look below and see for yourself what RICHARDS has accomplished.
Also, chemtrails. Here’s a quick preview of the up-and-coming Fall collection that features the same print-conscious aesthetic, which you can see more of over at the RICHARDS site.[via trendland]@MlleDisser
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