12.01.11

LFW AW11 Designer Track : Adam Andrascik

Adam Andrascik

As part of our AW11 LFW Designer Tracking Series we are following 14 designers in the run up to LFW. Yesterday we spoke to Fanny and Jessy and Matthew Miller and today we put the focus on Adam Andrascik.

I went in studio to touch base with Adam, entering an environment that mirrored the order of his collections. Talking AW11 with Adam, I learn that LA Lakers collars are a formative influence for AW and how this season won’t be his first dabbling with jerseys as they marked his introduction to fashion. As when he was a teen he and his friends would wear them underneath their Catholic school uniforms using them as a form of rebellion revealing them to the fury of the nuns. Fascinated by the colours and shapes of the jerseys it prompted him to explore design as means of expression. For the upcoming season Adam returns to the jersey.

So in your introduction to this series we learned how the neckline of the new Lakers jerseys are inspiring you, what impact are these collars having on your designs.

Well the last 2 collections were really about a flatness and I wanted that to continue but I didn’t want it to be so obvious as before. I didn’t want the garments to be boxes. I wanted them to be more wearable, so I began to look at things which are inherently flat but gain more shape when you were them and that led me to sportswear. That segwayed into NBA jersey’s and I remembered the LA Lakers neckline and began focusing and experimenting with that merging it with other collars.

So how has that affected your designs specifically in terms of shape?

With the NBA jersey it was a lot about the thickness of the bands and that circle moving into the square which has been my frame for the last few seasons. I wanted it to be like it’s mimicking a woman’s silhouette but adding to it not by widening but rather undulating throughout.

Have you found yourself moving away from surrealism for AW11?

Surrealism remains an underlying theme in terms of shape but it’s not as literal this time.

What would you say are the major obstacles effecting you as  a young designer in London?

I think being young in this city people are probably more open to your new ideas and willing to listen to you. However despite this finance is probably the biggest challenge. It holds me back as I’ll want to have a presentation like ‘this’ or use ‘these’ techniques finishing the garment but I don’t have the funding. It limits you but forces you to become more creative.

So if money weren’t an object what presentation would you do for your collection?

I’ve always loved the Margiela show where the guy at the front and the guy at the back had a light and that was the way they lit the show in a dark alley.
I’d really like to do something outside. No one's really doing that anymore in London. I think that’s something really exciting, the whole atmosphere. I’m always really inspired by shows related to the environment.

Images by Hayley Benoit.

Posted by Susan Walsh

Tags: LFW AW11 Designer Track Adam Andrascik Fanny and Jessy Matthew Miller LA Lakers NBA CSM