World Fashion   +  Men's Fashion

Kevin Azzopardi Spring/Summer 2016 Collection

How can a designer have full control over his collection? Will he ever be able to completely oversee and supervise the manufacturing of his garments? When do the clothes cease to be the work of the designer?

These are questions that Kevin Azzopardi has confronted in his spring/summer 2016 collection. Titled, “& Pieces Are Added,” SS2012 is the sequel to his last collection and a detailed study in how to maintain creative control in a day and age where everything, fashion included, is outsourced and manufactured by a third partner. Azzopordi started the design process by asking himself when will the distance between him and the clothes mean that it’s no longer his own collection.

The result is a unique interpretation of the manufacturing process where Azzopardi has interrupted the outsourcing by receiving the clothes from his factory in a state of incompletion. Upon return, the pieces have been altered and reconfigured by Azzopardi, adding another creative layer on top of the actual design process and manufacturing. By accepting the work back half done, Azzopardi as such reassumes creative control and responsibility for his garments and reclaims the final say of its montage.

This means that “& Pieces Are Added” is a collection where every piece is able to stand alone, each item designed and finally individually put together by Azzopardi using personalized and unique in-studio techniques that have come to characterise Azzopardi’s work through his previous collections. For this season, that led to the perfect combination of English factory expertise and Azzopardi’s own take on conceptual menswear for a modern man who is aesthetically demanding whilst yet craving an exclusive mode of fashion construction and style.

Technically speaking, Azzopardi received his wardrobe breakdown—the collection consists of jackets, trousers, T-shirts and jumpers—in fragments. Tops came back without joined shoulders, with unattached sleeves and an unfinished centre back, and jackets and trousers each arrived in two parts. Azzopardi then united and bonded the pieces in his studio, achieving the unique sartorial voice of this collection.

“& Pieces Are Added” is an elegant everyday wardrobe. It takes care of your daily needs in a playful way, but adds the couture details that only a handmade craftsmanship can provide. Azzopardi has restricted his palette to a range of blues and has brightened it up with a self developed ‘Ink Smear’ print that has been rendered digitally onto velvets and jerseys.

Using Italian and Portuguese fabrics, the collection is centered on viscose cotton, jersey and wool—all unified by Azzopardi’s unique construction techniques.

See the collection.

Text David Hellqvist & photos Copyright Kevin Azzopardi.