Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2006 and launching his eponymous label two years later, Christopher Raeburn has inadvertently become the poster boy for sustainable fashion in the UK...
“Remade is about completely deconstructing and then reworking an original garment. I started out working in this way, using upcycled fabrics, with my graduate collection almost seven years ago. At the time, very few people understood the idea of remaking things completely, but it totally fascinated me, and continues to. Taking an oversized, badly cut and not particularly flattering menswear military garment and completely reworking it into a womenswear bomber jacket excites me.
I was always interested in the wheeler-dealer side of business, buying old fabrics and remaking them. I loved the functionality of particular fabrics and that you couldn’t get them on a roll. It can be very hit and miss in terms of colour and grade; some pieces have been worn forever, some have never been worn before. I enjoy the history factor.
It’s never a set formula. The function of the original garment is important – you’re not going to make a summer dress from a quilted parker liner. Things sometimes naturally design themselves.
"Taking an oversized, badly cut and not particularly flattering menswear military garment and completely reworking it into a womenswear bomber jacket excites me"
We recycle and we use local manufacturing where we can but we’ve never sold ourselves on being sustainable – values of sustainability are simply inherent to us. Above all it’s about the product – your product has to look better and to have more value than the next product in order to sell.
Our first presentation at LFW was at Aldwych tube station, which hadn’t been used for 25 years. I was interested in the idea that you can even reuse and rethink spaces. It’s all about giving a new life to things really.
What I’m doing is by no means new – my grandmother got married in a parachute dress. For me, remade is about thinking about what you’re doing and why. It’s actually very simple.”
Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2006 and launching his eponymous label two years later, Christopher Raeburn has inadvertently become the poster boy for sustainable fashion in the UK. Winner of the 2011 British Fashion Award for Emerging Talent - Menswear, Raeburn’s innovative menswear and womenswear collections consistently challenge negative prevailing notions of ethical fashion, laden as it is with connotations of hemp underwear and patchwork skirts. Through the use of re-appropriated military fabrics, Raeburn creates garments that are not only beautifully crafted and cut, but remarkably functional and intelligent. Ultimately, Christopher does all this with quiet modesty, remaining true to his values without ever exploiting them to sell clothes.
Christopher Raeburn was speaking at the M&S Shwop Lab.
Text by Lily Silverton
