Patrik Ervell's decay in the Spring time

Patrick Ervell's decay in the Spring time. Presentation image from Dazed Digital.

This past week or so we have been excitedly counting down to London Fashion Week and it might seem that our eyes are purely focused on home turf but that is not the case. Although EJ recently declared on twitter "Bored of fashion, bored of this week, bored of fashion weeks" we have kept a keen eye (albeit a lazy, bored one) on the goings on across the pond. In all honesty there hasn't been too much which has excited either one of us. If I had to sum up the week in a few words in regard to menswear I would use; commercial, safe, wearable...I could go on but you get my point. There were plenty of nice collections (Band Of Outsiders, Rag & Bone, Phillip Lim (mainly for the hair), Duckie Brown) but very little within them which provided anything new or left any impression.

For me, the whole point of a fashion week is to provoke a reaction and it should be met by more than a 'meh' and a shrug of the shoulders. Thom Browne chose to show in his new Tribeca store and it certainly showcased a number of more wearable looks (printed cardigans, well-cut shorts, fitted trimmed blazers,) than we are used to seeing from him but thankfully he injected some fantasy in to the lineup, evening suit of oversize paillettes anyone? However, the one show which left any kind of memorable impression is Patrik Ervell's, I even dreamed about wearing one of Ervell's rusty dress shirts to the Carolyn Massey show last night. We expect a slim-fitting suit aesthetic and a club-collar shirt from Ervell but people often overlook his fascination with experimentation and fabric development.

Montage images sourced from Dazed Digital

“I came upon the idea by trying to think of new American motifs. Cotton stained by rust or by copper patina felt American to me and it feels like a good time to use a kind of decay as a central motif for the collection. I wanted to try something completely new, something I’d never seen before. It took a fair amount of experimentation and trial and error to figure out the best way of getting the metal to oxidize properly onto the fabric.”

The Moment revealed that Ervell’s method of staining cloth with iron and copper oxide was hugely labour intensive but for me it was undoubtedly worth it. The process involved spreading out tiny metal shavings on the fabric, soaking it in a saline solution, then leaving it to sit for a week. A desire to do something new to find a new American motif fueled the collection and it is why I love it and will remember it. Now who wants to give this a go for a nice little DIY project?

Metal shaving used by Ervell, image from The Moment.