Photos by Amanda Coen for Ecouterre
John Patrick of Organic doesn't usually identify his collections with one specific moment or image. He credits his Fall/Winter 2012 collection, however, to the work of 19th century British photographer Julia Margaret Cameron, in particular "A Beautiful Vision, Julia Duckworth," a carbon print of Cameron's niece and goddaughter and the future mother of author Virginia Woolf. Presented at New York Fashion Week on Wednesday morning, the lineup of voluminous wool-herringbone watchcoats, digitally printed silk dresses, biodegradable cupro quilted vests, hand-loomed cashmere jumpers, and double-faced vegetable-tanned leather-on-leather ensembles showed Patrick at top form.
A BEAUTIFUL VISION
For the first time in years, Patrick and his team (specifically Walter Fleming and Patrick Negron) styled the looks themselves. “That was very liberating,” Patrick tells Ecouterre backstage. “As much as I like working with stylists…why struggle?”
Patrick collaborated with Raleigh Denim on jeans made from organic cotton and recycled TV dinner trays.
Another milestone for Organic: a denim collaboration with North Carolina’s Raleigh Denim, which handcrafts its jeans using locally milled yarns—organic cotton and recycled TV dinner trays among them—by Cone. “They’re all about what’s good in this country as far as small businesses go,” Patrick says.
“I can still continue to horrify vegans,” he tells Ecouterre.
Leather—albeit vegetable-tanned versions—also abounded, from elbow-length opera gloves to a shirt-and-skirt combo. Although he describes himself as a “mostly vegetarian,” Patrick feels no need to apologize. “I can still continue to horrify vegans,” says the man who once showed at a 124-year-old steakhouse. “When they stop slaughtering cows for meat, that’s when we won’t use it for ready-to-wear anymore.”
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