The Jumpsuit
My female readers will have no doubt had their share of jumpsuit experiences, either personal or secondary, what with the resurgence a few seasons past. Indeed most stores, from the high street to trendy vintage boutiques, seem to stock a number of all-in-one options and incarnations, from the patterned playsuit to the satin jumpsuit. Of course, as is the way with such things, the offerings for men have been few and far between - if even there at all.
My personal fascination began with the numerous runway shots from the womenswear collections. I wondered whether the trend could possibly be translated across the gender gap, and how one could create a masculine version of those floaty pieces which draped so effortlessly across the wafer thin models. My thoughts followed two distinct paths, that of dungarees and that of the flight suit. Whilst I suppose the most obvious translation of the jumpsuit would be workers' coveralls, that was far too boiler room chic for my liking.
The first encounter I had with the men's jumpsuit in any fashion based sense was with the Spring 2009 offerings from APC, where the navy blue flight suit above was featured. There was something so effortlessly cool about it that it was the single piece in the collection that I can still vividly picture in my mind today as if it were a mere arm's reach from me. The slim cut and simple styling seemed perfect for Spring, and although it was undeniably a jumpsuit, it was not visually overpowering in the way that coveralls so often can be.
The unfortunate side of the APC flight suit was the price. At roughly £200, it was far more than I could possibly afford. However it served as inspiration for me to hunt down a more affordable alternative. Instead of a flight suit designed by a fashion label, I thought I would go straight to the source. The modern flight suit tends to be all zips, elasticated ruching and nomex, which whilst looking particularly interesting, is not really my everyday style.
As such I decided to find an older and decidedly more plain version from an army surplus store. I quite liked the challenge of taking something uniform based and creating an everyday look from it. Uniform is inherently designed to devoid the wearer of individuality, and yet that is something that can never truly be achieved. One need only look at a playground of children in school uniform to see the small changes and personal styles with which they are worn.
Currently playing: Ottoman - Vampire Weekend
xxxx
My personal fascination began with the numerous runway shots from the womenswear collections. I wondered whether the trend could possibly be translated across the gender gap, and how one could create a masculine version of those floaty pieces which draped so effortlessly across the wafer thin models. My thoughts followed two distinct paths, that of dungarees and that of the flight suit. Whilst I suppose the most obvious translation of the jumpsuit would be workers' coveralls, that was far too boiler room chic for my liking.
The first encounter I had with the men's jumpsuit in any fashion based sense was with the Spring 2009 offerings from APC, where the navy blue flight suit above was featured. There was something so effortlessly cool about it that it was the single piece in the collection that I can still vividly picture in my mind today as if it were a mere arm's reach from me. The slim cut and simple styling seemed perfect for Spring, and although it was undeniably a jumpsuit, it was not visually overpowering in the way that coveralls so often can be.
The unfortunate side of the APC flight suit was the price. At roughly £200, it was far more than I could possibly afford. However it served as inspiration for me to hunt down a more affordable alternative. Instead of a flight suit designed by a fashion label, I thought I would go straight to the source. The modern flight suit tends to be all zips, elasticated ruching and nomex, which whilst looking particularly interesting, is not really my everyday style.
As such I decided to find an older and decidedly more plain version from an army surplus store. I quite liked the challenge of taking something uniform based and creating an everyday look from it. Uniform is inherently designed to devoid the wearer of individuality, and yet that is something that can never truly be achieved. One need only look at a playground of children in school uniform to see the small changes and personal styles with which they are worn.
Currently playing: Ottoman - Vampire Weekend
xxxx