Jack WardlawWith the tagline ‘Present Remade’, Christopher Raeburn has teamed up with online luxury retailer Oki-Ni to create a short film showcasing the design and manufacturing process of his unique ‘Remade’ line of clothing.
The designer has crafted a selection of pieces from vintage military fabrics which are available at Oki-Ni, and this video goes into detail about the process. Watch it here.
The team specialise in deconstructing and then reusing vintage military fabrics like flight suits, parachutes and camouflage gear, which gives Raeburn his distinctive utilitarian aesthetic. Behind the closed doors of his London studios, Christopher and his team shows us the transformation that occurs from original design to runway piece, taking a MIG flight suit and turning into a key look for his SS15 collection.
Only a handful of these pieces are ever made, meaning that to own one is a very special prospect. Oki-Ni have been working with Raeburn for the last four years, stocking some of his more conceptual pieces, like these ‘Remade’ items, which has allowed Raeburn to retain his design-led approach as opposed to producing more commercially marketable items.
Raeburn has also been known to use coastguard uniforms, parachutes and other utilitarian uniforms to create his ‘Remade’ pieces – the latest AW16 offering had oversized parka jackets made from old emergency services uniforms in bright orange to opened the show, firmly setting the tone for his outerwear-centric collection.
And the price to own one of these unique pieces? For a jacket be prepared to shell out in excess of £1000 and for a bag £800 is the starting point, but when you think that you will be one of less than 50 people alive in the world today with that item in your wardrobe, it certainly is a special, memorable purchase.
When you can spend the same amount on generic, easily copy-able pieces from other designers, the individuality that you would get with these ‘Remade’ items definitely makes it less eye watering. You can shop the collection here.