February 16, 2022 |
Aptly named Art of Noise, Charles Jeffrey’s latest Loverboy collection is a playful and silly selection of art-school-like dresses, jumpers, jackets, mini-skirts, co-ord suits, knapsacks and more that explores the significance of sound. Conceptualised after Jeffrey became enchanted by the subject of a 2008 documentary called Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell, it’s a fluid collection of clobber inspired by Russell, who changed the sound of music with his visionary work as a cellist, composer, producer and singer. In 1992 he died from AIDS-related illness, but not before dedicating his life and soul to the extensive body of transcendent work which he bequeathed.
To craft this symphonic collection, Jeffrey first considered music as three isolated ingredients: The Physical – a literal approach inspired by art icons like Picasso, George Braque and the sculptures of Claes Oldenburg; The Cultural – considering personality and the No Wave music movement of the 1970s and ’80s; and The Emotional – exploring the way music makes us feel on the inside and how that sensation can translate into the realm of the visual – looking at Anthony Gormley’s Feeling Material drawings and the illusions of Op Art to explore graphics and new kinds of pattern cutting.
Focusing on the execution of his designs rather than the spectacle of a show, Jeffery opted for a lookbook, where you’ll find sequin varsity jackets, enormous ball gowns, asymmetrical silhouettes, textural graphics, mesh tulle galore, and of course, Loverboy’s signature tartan.
What’s more, Loverboy is delving into the world of actually making its own music. Set to drop in June, a vinyl album from the minds of Jeffrey himself, The Horrors’ Tom Furse and spoken word artist Robert Fox, is coming to stores alongside the clothes. Loverboy is set for global domination.
Photography by Alex Petch.
