SECOND MET ACQUISITION OF THE SS20 CARE LABEL JACKET AND SKIRT

We are pleased to share that The Metropolitan Museum of Art has acquired a second look from our archive.

The ‘Care Label’ outfit from SS20 is now a part of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute’s Collection and can be viewed on their collections website.

This was a key collection for us in terms of shifts in our working practice and the Care Label outfit represents our early intentions towards transitioning to an alternative sustainable design practice.

Made using long reams of unused care labels which state, ‘100% Polyester’ or ‘Dry Clean Only,’ types of clothing or care instructions that we no longer wished to issue from that point.

These lengths of care labels are chaotically zig zagged within the garments themselves and are then delicately trapped in between the two layers of silk organza with a top-stitched grid pattern.

At this stage we started to think more carefully about aspects such as the end of life of our garments, and these pieces encompass very early work towards a ‘mono-material’ approach. The aim of attaining a garment which is mono-material allows for better end of life biodegradability or recycling potential. All the elements and components in the garments are a natural fibre, either cellulose or protein. The silk organza outer and inner layers, the cotton labeling featured in between them and then using an organic cotton sewing thread to sew them together and finishing with a cotton tape.

This is a very early or indeed the very first example of this carefully considered way of bringing different material elements together to make our designs. Considering both the source and end destination as deciding design factors when choosing materials and components to work with. This is now something we have built across the business and the collections as a whole, and has taken many years from the specific turning point featured in this look. It was included in the collection as a statement of intent, looking towards this future way of working.

This Care Label look will now join our Sunray Dress at the Costume Institute, which was acquired in Spring 2024 and displayed in The Met’s exhibition "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion." Read more about that piece here.

We are so touched that this piece will remain forever safe in the esteemed archives of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute’s Collection. We share our heartfelt thanks to Andrew Bolton and his team.

We will continue to share news of more acquisitions across this year.