After starting out at the magazine World of Interiors and working with Comme des Garçons, Hermès, and Opening Ceremony as well as doing those runway sets for Kenzo, furniture designer Faye Toogood is collaborating with her pattern-cutter sister, Erica, on a new collection of eight coats that is simply called Toogood. Inspired by the notions of individuality and the laborer, the idea was born a year and a half ago, when the sisters both felt frustrated with their respective industries and decided to create a line inspired by the workwear from specific trades: the beekeeper, the road sweeper, the chemist, and the mechanic, among others. “I wanted to create garments that are very simple to work in, to move in, to go out in, almost like the uniform that the workers would be wearing,” explains Faye. “I kept talking to Erica about finishes, and she asked me, ‘What do you mean finishes? In fashion we don’t have finishes, we have textiles.’” The coats are all made out of hard-wearing materials fitting to staunch tradespeople—think the waxed cotton of an oil rigger and vulcanized rubber and simple utilitarian canvas. As the sisters are fascinated with the process—from design and production to sales and, finally, the buyer and wearer—each garment is made in the U.K. and carries a label inside that works as a passport, listing and crediting each person that has been involved in getting the coat to the customer. Straddling both the furniture and the fashion worlds, Erica and Faye’s individual practices can be traced in the form and materiality of the collection, as the garments are unisex and simple in their pure geometric form. Each style—two of which debut exclusively here—comes in six sizes to enhance or disguise the body of the wearer as he or she wishes. Toogood will launch this Saturday at Paris fashion week with a presentation by Faye.
Toogood will be available in concept stores internationally starting in January. For more information, visit www.t-o-o-g-o-o-d.com
—Charlotte Rey
Photo: Courtesy of Toogood
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