Bianca Saunders links up with Farah for Lee Perry-inspired SS24 collection – Fashion Network
Thu 22 Jun
Bianca Saunders has joined forces with the Farah brand for a second time for her SS24 collection that’s inspired by “the idiosyncratic world of multi-hyphenate Jamaican musician and producer Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry”.
Perry was a producer and music artist, who also created artwork, much of it based around collages plus “found objects, and him exploring how to place these objects in a way that makes sense to him,” Saunders said. “There is a Basquiat approach to his work, but it’s different, being steeped in religion and Jamaican iconography, animal motifs and mottos such as ‘good over evil’.”
In addition to this key source of inspiration, she worked with Chris O’Brien, Farah’s Global Head of Design, and explored the label’s archive, also taking cues from the casual approach of the brand’s pieces from the 1970s and ‘80s.
traditional menswear pieces reinterpreted for the modern wearer
“A lot of the detail in the pieces that we worked on this season is based on that: casual denim pieces and fabrics like hopsack, which is very classic for Farah,” she said.
What that all means in practice is traditional menswear pieces reinterpreted for the modern wearer by using that hopsack (“a quintessential Farah weave”) on a casual button-up jacket and trousers in light sand. While its appearance looks like denim, the lightweight fabric technique is “made for warm summer nights".
Throughout the 26-piece collection, silhouettes are “breezy and oversized” such as a pair of wide-leg trousers with an elasticated waistband; a loose-fit cotton vest cut asymmetrically at the chest; and oversized shirting using the brand's signature shoulder seam lines that accentuate the torso.