Fashion designers are divided into those that constantly try new things and those that hone their ideas and develop. Craig Green, a designer symbolic of London today, is definitely the latter.

Text, Kaijiro Masuda

　For this year's​ ​2​ ​Moncler's new project, 'Moncler Genius', Craig Green particularly stood out when announced as one of the​ ​“8​ ​geniuses​in Milan in February. At any rate, the silhouette leaps right out to start with.​ ​21st century Zaku Gundam was a first, and applying the form of the human body to a film​ ​​ ​and theatre costume​ ​was too far away from what pret-a-porter is. Still, while the question "Is this wearable?" remains, with this creation going a step further, and giving this​ ​popular​ ​“runaway​approval, you can not help but admire Moncler.

However, observing the details, I noticed that Craig did not start all of a sudden with exorbitant things.​ ​Carrying the atmosphere inspired by the life jacket,​ ​strong styling showed off with his Central St. Martins graduation collection​ ​is said to be the evolution of the idea.​ ​His religious, sculptural expression beyond the human body area is his signature. The technique of rolling the fabric into tubes was first shown at the Fall Winter Collection in 2017, and it is also seen in the Fall Winter Collection of 2018. Stitching of quilting with a flat-seam sewing machine used for sweatshirts is also one of the techniques often used. The way of separating cotton wadding inside so that balls are almost continuous, mean his​ ​​​ ​A/W Capsule collection with Moncler 'Moncler​ ​C'”is the end result. Craig is an alchemical designer who evolves one idea little by little and turns ordinary metal into gold.

Craig Green was born in​ ​1986​ ​in Collindale, North London. He grew up in a family of successive traders and was said to be a child who liked to make things from a young age. He enrolled in Central St. Martins for​ ​7​ ​years and studied under the late Professor Louise Wilson amongst others, earning an​ ​MA​ ​with his graduation collection, starting confidently with his graduation collection entering the limelight. What happens next hardly needs mentioning here. Today he is a star designer represented both by name and London, and the position of the creative director of a major fashion house will also happen in the not too distant future.

The characteristics of his creation and representative ideas that have been developed so far are as follows: ① Creations based on uniforms, livery, and militaria; ② the motif of making round holes in clothing; ③ Forms reminiscent of national costume; ④ The repeated detail of tape and rope hanging down; ④ Wooden frames related to religious ceremony; ⑤ Stitch work as design. In​ ​​ ​6/2018 he showed up as a designer by invitation of the previous Pitti Uomo showing his​ ​2019​ ​SS collection, without changing the focus based on several of these​ ​6.

The venue was Boboli Gardens which spread behind Palazzo Pitti.​ ​​During the life of Eleonora di Toledo, a lady at the time of Cosimo I de' Medici, it was built in​ ​1550​ ​and designed by sculptor Niccolò Tribolo. The garden has been registered as a World Heritage site, as a stage for the many Medici grand feasts, in which architecture, sculpture and nature have been harmoniously brought together. Also, as one of the Pitti venues, it has also played host to a number of legendary shows.​ ​　

I was excited walking through the vast landscaped gardens wondering what part of this picturesque place would be used, and the place I arrived at was an ordinary square piece of grass surrounded by trees. While thinking even a normal city park would do, that sense of picking the most aristocratic place in such a noble garden seemed like the sort of thing Craig would do.

The first thing that appeared was a model wearing a thin pink shirt and pants ensemble. At the center and side of the shirt is a loop through which strings pass, with orange strings hanging over and over. Although it is unusual for Craig and Bright colors to be used in the first look, the representation of the string is one of the signatures mentioned before. Shoes that combine the espadrilles with vulcanized rubber sneakers are also lovely.​ ​Following was a model in the same color and material carrying an orange crate behind them.​ ​It's Craig's specialty, but seems he’s visualized his guardian spirit, with the spine getting thinner.​ ​In the first half, the base color changed from pink to beige to light green to light blue, composed of items of a similar light cotton.

　Midway through and work wear based on the brand launch appears. Shiny cupro-like fabric pops out from either side of work wear seams and stitching, the heavy cotton feeling used and abused. This idea, is the same as the AW​ ​2018​ ​Collection of Brown​ ​×​ ​Turquoise Green pants, but developed more boldly. The contrast between crude cotton and dressy fabrics has a magical appeal.

Also interesting are tops like Women's swimwear with underwear stuck to the front. It is an expression also seen the previous season, but expresses it more clearly and precisely this time. It may be part of a uniform, but since it was never expressed as fetish in a straightforward way, it felt a bit unexpected.

　A classic cycling jersey is made by converting Flyknit used by Nike sneakers and the like into clothes. In the second half, she showed a coat like a discharge print of a design picture written on the plane and a technique of Trompeuille through which the shirt inner tank top and pants pocket can be seen through as contrast. These​ ​3​ ​are unprecedented ideas and I am looking forward to what comes next. Finally, it concluded with quilted religious wear covered in blurred like floral patterns and religious paintings.
 

The moisture added before the show began gave a slight chilly feeling. It was a mysterious feeling that I had witnessed a ceremony of emerging religion by mistake like after listening to a strange ghost story that was not terribly scary. I saw about​ ​70​ ​shows combined with Milan and Paris after that but never had a similar feeling after a show. Craig Green is such a wonderful designer.