Nigel Cabourn is a
British fashion designer known for his outerwear and vintage inspired
clothing. He studied at Northumbria University between 1967 and 1971
and his studio and business is still based in the North East of
England.
The collections are
influenced by military clothing and vintage clothing, using fabrics
such as Harris Tweed & Ventile.
The Army Gym is the
Japanese shop for the Nigel Cabourn brands. In August 2008, Nigel
Cabourn Marketing Ltd., was set up as a joint venture with Abahouse
Holdings Co. Ltd., the joint owner of Outer Limits Co. Ltd., that
makes the Nigel Cabourn ‘Main Line’ collection.
I don’t
class myself as a ‘fashion designer’ as I don’t follow fashion.
Everything I design comes from either a moment in history, an
inspirational person or a vintage garment.For over 35 years I’ve
been avidly collecting vintage military, sports, expedition and work
wear clothing and books and have amassed thousands of pieces from all
corners of the globe. I’m absolutely fascinated and excited by the
fabric and details in these functional, comfortable and above all
durable garments, which have on the whole, been created not by
fashion designers but by technicians and scientists.For me product
comes first. The fabrics and trims, the manufacturers we work with
are all carefully chosen so we produce the best garments we can. At
the end of the day my aim with each collection or collaboration is to
create timeless styles that have the quality to last, get better with
age and wear and that are still relevant in years to come. Clothing
that people can wear for a lifetime then pass down to their children.
– Nigel Cabourn
Vintage
performers
SEPTEMBER 21, 2012
by: Carola Long
Does that parka on
the catwalk look familiar? Is that military jacket a dead ringer for
the one in Bridge Over the River Kwai? It’s no secret that many of
the designs shown during fashion week will have been inspired by –
or even copied from – vintage looks.
Now, menswear brands
will get another source of retrospective inspiration courtesy of new
book Vintage Menswear: A Collection from the Vintage Showroom. It’s
a compendium of images and descriptions of clothing collected by
Douglas Gunn and Roy Luckett, who run the Vintage Showroom, a service
used by numerous designer and high street brands. Designers make
appointments to visit the west London archive of historic menswear
from around the world, or rent or buy clothes from the collection.
The owners will also hunt down specific pieces – or do what
co-owner Gunn calls inspiration work: “looking into a company’s
history or buying up archive pieces”.
Though few brands
will publicly admit to using the service, Gunn says, “If you are a
menswear designer, chances are you have visited the Vintage Showroom
or the website.”
“Certain designers
and companies rely heavily on vintage pieces, sometimes from their
own archives,” says Robert Leach, lecturer at Central Saint
Martin’s College and the University of Westminster. “Think of
companies like Burberry or Belstaff, with their long histories of
trademark details that can be drawn on for inspiration.”
Indeed, pieces in
the book – such as a 1930s striped boxing blazer, a 1950s mountain
rucksack that wouldn’t look out of place in today’s Urban
Outfitters, or a 1920s canvas parka that could have been plucked from
Gap’s shelves – show how little menswear has changed.
The most the Vintage
Showroom has spent on one item is £20,000 – on a submarine coat
made in the 1930s for HMS Ursula. “The captain of the boat went to
Barbour to get them to design a two-piece wax cotton suit,” says
Gunn. “We spoke to Barbour but they didn’t want to sell theirs,
and we spent a lot of time tracking one down.”
Nigel Cabourn, whose
menswear line is based around British heritage clothing with a
practical focus (for instance, the Everest parka, £2,200, in his
current range is inspired by the one worn by Sir Edmund Hillary to
scale Everest), is one of the few designers who will discuss his work
with the Vintage Showroom. Indeed, he says he finds it invaluable.
“For me it’s no secret because my brand is based around vintage
designs, but some brands don’t want to expose how they got their
ideas,” he says. “I quite often recognise the originals that
inspired them.”
Cabourn says his
designs are sometimes “very similar to historic pieces”,
explaining that “actual clothing can tell you more [about a period]
than a photo or film ... colour, fabric, weight, etc.”
Gunn says he has
noticed that more brands are looking to build up their archives with
early advertising books or fabrics in a bid to cultivate that
all-important aura of heritage. After all, in the fashion industry,
the past isn’t really a foreign country, and they don’t do things
so differently there.
‘Vintage Menswear:
a Collection from the Vintage Showroom’ by Josh Sims, Douglas Gunn,
Roy Luckett (Laurence King, £30)
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