Hamish Morrow gets fired up by the beauty of industrial processes, by the fashion possibilities of non-fashion materials, and by the kaleidoscopic wonders that flash across our computer screens. His Spring collection was inspired by hi-tech yachting tackle, and featured a piece of digital performance art by the team of Warren du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones.
What sets Morrow apart is his ability to translate all that up-to-the-minute experimentalism into sensuous, wearable clothing that respects couture values. The yachting hardware, like chunky ropes threaded through huge steel eyelets, literally anchored a collection that was otherwise light as a breeze—in both form and fabric. Sport jackets made out of transparent gold nylon cellophane fluttered like tissue. Electroplated nylon was cut into iridescent tailored jackets, in indescribably subtle shades of metallic chartreuse or peach, light enough to crumple into the palm of a hand. Other jackets came with solid fronts, and backs made of sheer sports-style mesh ruched onto a strip of patterned material that followed the spine.
The whole collection, with its delicate colors, metallic effects, and rigorous geometry, turned out to have been made without a single stitch: Everything was pieced together via ultrasonic welding. That, of course, is a feat in itself, but here’s the best thing: For all its amazing modernity, the show never tipped over into one of those all-too-painful exercises in intellectual avant-gardism. Morrow is one fashion boffin who also loves to dress women.
