Gareth Pugh's fashion fantasia: The Reconstruction

While catwalk shows are traditionally part of fashion weeks, often due to the tight schedule, as soon as one show is over, the audience quickly gather their things to go off to the next one, and so on.  During this London Fashion Week, running from Thursday 17th - Tuesday 22nd September 2020, we don’t have that issue and the excitement is much more contained though not lacking in enthusiasm. The schedule has been split into three sections and includes brands showing digitally, physically or both, due to Covid-19 restrictions from government guidelines.  This arrangement has allowed audiences not just in London but from around the world to view the collections online in the comfort of their own sofas or desks, repeatedly as often as they want to see them.

Some designers opt to showcase their creations in a physical space that allows visitors to get a feel for their work in a focused environment.  Such is the case with visionary British fashion designer Gareth Pugh who has launched a major new creative project titled “The Reconstruction,” presented as a ‘visual concept album’, at Christie’s London, opened to paid visitors across London Fashion Week. This marks Pugh’s return to fashion week, built around the designer’s first collection since buying back his trademark in March 2020.

Ticket sales to Gareth Pugh's "The Reconstruction" exhibition at Christie's London is a fund-raising exercise for Refuge – featuring key looks from the designer's collection, accompanied by Knight’s imagery – taking place at Christie’s London across London Fashion Week. Photos of exhibition at Christie's by Lucia Carpio

The installation celebrates the eternal interplay between fashion, music and film, featuring 13 iconic looks inspired by 13 iconic songs.  The collection has been captured in 13 stills and 13 explosive fashion film shorts - shot by globally renowned fashion image-maker Nick Knight. An accompanying series of breathtaking virtual landscapes comes courtesy of pioneering digital artist Jon Emmony.

The body of work features a selection of dramatic sculptural ensembles on display in the dedicated room at Christie’s along with digital slide shows of dramatic images; the result of a series of photo shoots that features an amazing cast of artists, activists and change-makers from across the UK as models for his designs, including Musicians Rina Sawayama and IAMDDB; Artist and activist Sakeema Crook; The Royal Ballet’s principal dancer Matthew Ball; Artist and Performer Jenny Bastet; Dancers Travis Clausen-Knight and James Pett; Model and muse Maggie Maurer; Performers and nightlife icons Finn Love and Georgie Bee; Model Jade o’Belle; And finally, fiercely vocal model-of-the-moment, Georgia Moot.

The whole creative process from producing the fabrics and preparing the materials to the resulting fashion shoots is captured in a feature-length documentary (available to view on YouTube) mixing fashion and entertainment, allowing the audience to view the inspiration behind the collection – fashion’s new “frontierland” , written by Pugh’s husband and Creative Co-Director Carson McColl.

None of the looks will be for sale though. Instead they have been re-imagined via a jersey capsule collection featuring a series of prints designed by Pugh in collaboration with emerging designer Melissa Mehrtens. The limited-edition collection which will launch alongside the art project’s release; sold online (RRP £75) in an exclusive partnership with HIT + RUN - a new online retail platform promoting a zero-waste model.

In support of The Reconstruction, Pugh’s long-standing collaborators M·A·C Cosmetics also has launched a supporting virtual beauty campaign. The project amplifies the artistry within the visual album, as well as the two brands’ shared ideals of culture and community. As part of M·A·C’s commitment to communicating the power of fashion in inspiring everyday beauty, the brand invited five emerging talent and taste-makers, including Ana Takahashi (lead make-up artist) herself, to take inspiration from the original makeup designs and recreate them on themselves, translating them into everyday wear.