We all know about David Hockney, especially all of us here in the U.K. Yet as Joseph’s creative director, Louise Trotter, talked through an engaging Resort collection dedicated to the 79-year-old subject of a wonderful just-closed exhibition at Tate Britain, she paid homage to one of the artist’s lesser celebrated attributes. She said, “What’s great when you study him is that he truly understands the complexity of dressing.” Trotter clearly has been studying him, because this collection contained many elements of both Hockney’s personal style and preferred palette. Pressed felt suiting with three buttons, patch pockets, and a slightly ’70s canter came in a green reminiscent of Ossie Clark’s outfit in Hockney’s 1971 portrait Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy. The polka dots in viscose shirting or sleeveless silk tops with attached narrow cravats came in either black, white, or slightly askew color combinations. They were in honor of Laura, Hockney’s much-portrayed mother, who wore them often. The fabulous wide-cut, high-rise, single-pleat cords in Eton blue or custard were totally Trotter’s portrait of the artist.
This collection, though, was more than a mere exercise in joining-the-dots to the person who inspired it. A polo shirt dress or lengthened kilt in brown and orange check, a gorgeous mint leather coat equally usable as a dress, a naive landscape sweater featuring dabbed sheep, and a Brownies homage featuring a leather shirt and a long A-line sateen skirt were all convincingly broader brush strokes. The front, low, and central sporty ruched detail that ran through skirts and dresses—including one fine white silk example with gently flocked, ditzy florals—were typical of Trotter’s own process, as was the strapping at the waistband of pants and inside jackets that will allow the wearer to cinch herself securely within volumized silhouettes. Totally off the Hockney trail was Joseph’s new collection of Italian-made bags and backpacks, which featured a signature diagonal zipper detail and were designed to be modular and Matryoshka-esque in their capacity to fit together. Trotter and her team are hoping that they make a bigger splash—sorry—than previous efforts in this category, and they look well equipped to do just that.
