For someone who once redefined the Dior man by putting him in a skinny black suit and sneakers, and then did it all over again at Berluti with more colour and leather, Kris Van Assche has always had a curious relationship with the idea of uniform. Unwilling to take it at face value, uniforms in Van Assche’s hands are signals of who we think we are and who we want to be, depending on how we button the collar or where we pin the flower.
Which is what makes his latest project, a capsule collection with Fred Perry, so illuminating. Fred Perry, with its laurel-trimmed polos and Mod heritage, is a brand built on those strict, clean and recognisable codes. Van Assche, meanwhile, has made a career out of bending such codes without breaking them. Here, he leans in. The polo is recut and refined, turned into a dress shirt with buttons and a pre-tied tie. A tracksuit becomes a suit (literally), rendered in pinstripe with silver hardware. Knitwear uses visual sleight of hand to mimic layers that aren’t there. There are flower badges lifted from Van Assche’s personal archive. The tension is right there in the detail and the discipline.
For Van Assche, who once described his collections as “love stories”, it’s a familiar expression cloaked in a new subcultural dialect. Below, we speak with Van Assche about breaking dress codes, decoding sportswear and why, two decades into a career scattered with brilliant milestones, he’s still finding new ways to loosen the tie.
George Pistachio: The collaboration between you and Fred Perry is exciting and perhaps unexpected. How did it first come about?
Kris Van Assche: Fred Perry being such an absolute reference for youth culture, images of the brand have often been part of my mood boards in the past. So, this collaboration feels very natural to me. After I finished my book – Kris Van Assche: 55 Collections – I felt kind of happy to be taking a break from the rollercoaster I had been on for almost 20 years and wanted to focus on smaller, but very precise projects. I guess in a world of confusion, I was looking for clear messages, for brands with a very clear point of view. I ended up designing vases for Serax, bronze vessels for Downtown Gallery in Paris, and this collection for Fred Perry. Fred Perry resembles no other brand; its identity and codes are solid. That appealed to me.
GP: Can you walk us through your design process for this collection?
KVA: I spent some time in the archives – heaven! I obviously knew Fred Perry well, but the archive did deliver some beautiful surprises. There was this one single piece with a flower motif – a knit – which I reworked for the collection. But it was a conversation about Mr Fred Perry that really got me started. Fred Perry came from a working-class background, while tennis in early-20th-century Britain was largely associated with the bourgeois and upper classes. His clothes and self-presentation became tools for him to blend in. His relationship to clothing is particularly meaningful, and I am very much touched and inspired by that.
GP: What is the story you’re telling with this collaboration? Did you have a particular character or muse in mind for these clothes?
KVA: I have always loved the romantic idea of a first date, that moment in life you realise clothes have an impact. I wanted these pieces to work for both boys and girls. Both use the same codes, have the same references, listen to the same music. Their look is like a uniform. A uniform they embellish to seduce.
GP: Which piece from the collaboration feels most personal to you?
KVA: People familiar with my own brand might recognise a reference or two … The sweatshirt that became a ‘sweat-shirt’ with poplin sleeves, the polo shirt details on the collar of a banker shirt … But to be honest, this whole project feels personal and it is definitely the closest I’ve been to my Krisvanassche brand DNA for a long time.
GP: Was there a particular Fred Perry rule or tradition you enjoyed bending (or breaking) in the creation of these pieces?
KVA: I was not looking to break Fred Perry rules. I wanted to bring my vision to the conversation, obviously, but after hearing Mr Fred Perry’s story, all seemed to make sense quite naturally. In the past, I have often infused the luxury brands I was working for with the energy that comes with youth culture. Here, I wanted to elevate the uniform of youth; take the Fred Perry pieces and rebuild them to erase the frontier between sports and elevated. Quite literally, the polo shirt blends into a shirt; the Fred Perry shirt is worn with a tie; the tracksuit resembles a tailored suit.
GP: About that, what statement were you making with this tracksuit-turned-suit design?
KVA: In a world where dress codes are collapsing, I do not wish to abandon them, but rewrite them. The suit doesn’t disappear; it evolves. And so does sportswear, towards something more refined.
GP: Fred Perry’s history is entwined with various British subcultures; did any of those cultural references influence the narrative or styling of the collection?
KVA: Not really. If any, the Mod movement of late 1950s – where young, working- and lower-middle-class men used clothes to sharpen their identity and erase class boundaries – could be cited. The flower badges I added on all looks can hardly be seen as a punk reference. I literally ‘pin’ flowers on top of the garments. It is something I have already played with in the past: a contemporary and youthful take on pinning a flower on the lapel of your jacket.
GP: You once said that if you weren’t a fashion designer, you’d have been a florist. What is it about florals that inspires you?
KVA: Both flowers and fashion are no strict necessities, but they elevate daily life and bring meaning to the ordinary. My fashion was never about extravagance, but all about attention. In an ugly world, fashion and flowers become an intentional act. In that sense, though not necessities, both become essential.
GP: How do you imagine the pieces from this collection being worn in the real world, and by whom?
KVA: I have learned long time ago to let go of my collections, but I am eager to find out.
Photography: Alasdair McLellan. Styling: Mauricio Nardi. Hair: Kim Rance. Make-up: Mel Arter. Communications: Hervé Cosmao.
The Fred Perry x Kris Van Assche capsule collection is available to purchase here.
