As opposed to my post yesterday, every once in a while I come upon a designer whose work makes me wish I could push a rewind button and go back a couple of years. Because often, if I see a name in close succession on two or more blogs that I frequent, I think that they must be well known, and so I don't want to bother looking closer at them for lack of want of getting caught up in the broken record that is often the fashion blogosphere. Such is the case with a London-based designer Julie Wilkins' label called Future Classics, which I've seen mentioned multiple times on all my big three daily reads, being Kingdom of Style, Style Bubble, and Fashion156. But today's Fashion156 FC mention made me think, 'okay, let's see what all the hullabaloo is about'. And my goodness, what a hullabaloo Future Classics deserves. First off, the problem may have been that I wasn't too keen on the presentation/styling of the pieces themselves in the lookbooks or runway photos, because I instantly loved all the pieces in the FC online shop, which are simply photographed on a dress form. Somehow presenting them in only two dimensions (especially when paired with their line drawings) properly showcases the essentialness of the basic knit pieces (above), and how the dresses in particular blend what I love most about Gary Graham's romantic/vintage-inspired looks and soft tailoring sensibilities with complexgeometries' effortless draping and convertible nature (below). Really, I never gathered from the lookbooks or runway photos that Future Classics is basically the British poster child for deconstructed and convertible clothing.
Secondly (umm, I think I was counting hullabaloo-worthy reasons), maybe my mind knew that the FC pieces were way beyond my budget, as the regular prices are rather cruel for both lines (being the main FC line, and the FC Dress line). However, upon finally looking into the label, I found that the previous collection (A/W 10, which is what you see in this post, and which I love more than the current collection) is on sale at over 50% off the regular price. Sure, I still can't afford anything, especially given that I'm wanting to return to school about a year sooner than planned AND I need to prepare for the inevitable reoccurrence of this past Friday, where I spilled coffee all over my laptop and almost lost it if it were not for my man and a fan. But I digress (as I do). In short, I need to get working on those new listings for my shop, as the boiled fine wool FC Abstract Pod Soft Jacket (below; make sure you scroll down to see the drawing for the full effect) is calling my name. Loudly.
P.S. Please excuse me if this post looks wonky on your screen. I really wanted to include the drawings, but the sizing difference between them and the photos wouldn't allow for proper formatting. You should see the drawing plus two images of the same piece in one line.
