Was it the challenge of scaling the heights of a new fashion career that inspired Hamish Morrow? Shown in the depths of an underground car park, his 16-outfit collection, entitled "Safety, Security, Suspension," referenced climbing as a central theme. Harnesses studded with Swarovski crystal were clipped to pants, and real climbers' rope was lashed around skirts and torsos.
Morrow's aesthetic is in the British intellectual mode, crossing the boundaries between traditional fabrics and hi-tech materials. His skill in experimental pattern engineering was evident in asymmetrical dresses and skirts layered over jersey body pieces, accessorized with bright Nike knee socks and flat sporty shoes. Rounded, enveloping jackets with curved seaming developed the idea of clothes to protect and cocoon the body, while Morrow's free-thinking approach to color juxtaposed conservative gray menswear fabrics, like Prince of Wales and melton, with neon yellow and magenta Gore-Tex. His finale was an outfit knitted entirely of nylon rope.
After four seasons, Morrow has established support from other top-ranking industry talents like Eugene Souleiman, who dressed the girls' hair in textured off-center ponytails, and makeup artist Lucia Peroni, who dabbed splashes of bright paint on their faces and ears. But survival on the London scene is an extreme sport: So far, Hamish Morrow is inching upward without the safety net of financial backing.
