What’s everyone’s bets on what Oxford’s Word of The Year will be? We’re putting our money on Zoom. It seems everyone and their nan has become avid Zoomers (is that a thing?) during lockdown. Work meetings, pub quizzes and generally just a place to go and have a goss – the video-chatting service has kept us well connected for the months we were all apart, despite the occasional buffering. Berluti designer Kris Van Assche wasn’t simply playing ‘guess that song’ over Zoom, but instead has produced an entire collection. For his first ready-to-wear collaboration since arriving at the house two years ago, Assche turned to ceramic artist Brian Rochefort. With Assche in Paris and Rochefort in LA, time-zone differences and the occasional dodgy Wi-Fi connection didn’t halt the duo from producing a rather brilliant body of work.
Rochefort – who’s Instagram moniker is @energygloop – creates ceramics which serve as mini-volcanoes, spitting out chunks of vivid colour in contrasting textures. Assche then applied these colour spills to a selection of silk shirts, hand-knitted sweatshirts and Berluti’s now-signature Alessandro Edge shoes. The pair talked through their collaborative process in a mini-documentary which was premiered as part of digital Paris Fashion Week showcase. “People have asked me to do collaborations and a lot of times there are ulterior motives with artists working with other artists,” explained Rochefort. “But to work with a big company like Berluti is definitely an honour.”
The Berluti x Brian Rochefort collection will be released in January 2021.
