Per Götesson AW22 – Workshop

For the coming winter, a discordant pathway emerged for Swedish-born fashion designer Per Götesson’s AW22 collection. WORKSHOP.  Expanding on SS22’s soft-to-the-touch masculinity, the new work expressed harsher, more intimidating attitudes in every streamlined cut, muscular proportion, and peculiar accessory.  Götesson also made a name with his Slash works, in collaboration with Swedish street fashion brand Weekday.  Beginning with one of their deadstock hoodies, the distinctly dysfunctional cuts rose in popularity and quickly became synonymous with the designer.

Presenting to the public on the closing day of London Fashion Week in a small studio space in Hackney, whilst analysing the collection together Götesson answered a few questions on his latest creations.

Jacob:  Hi Per. You showcased a new edition of the Slash hoodie for AW22, could you explain what’s new with this year’s edition?

Per:  So, this year the cutouts are different.  We’ve been looking at this kind of tank top. What’s new about it is that we have this internal structure, and then we have this volume around the sleeves – again, in line with the other silhouettes of the season.  So, I would say that’s an update on this one.  The construction is completely different, but a similar idea.

Jacob:  Did you start with a Weekday hoodie again?

Per:  I started with a second-hand hoodie and then we’d take the pattern off one. This is obviously the second-hand version, and we are offering it in a black and a grey as well.

The refined two-in-one iteration featured a cleanly cut out tank top blended into the hoodie’s slash detailing, and leaving the chest partially exposed to allude to an overtly masculine aura.

Wide legged indigo denim jeans are reworked from the SS17 collection, this time featuring a playfully dynamic asymmetrical waistband to wrap around the body, and three adjustable holes to further extend the waistline.  Finished with brown leather to further create a definitive masculine aesthetic, the look takes inspiration from race car aerodynamics for a streamlined effect that carries relentless ambition.

Uber-masculine leather jackets embodied a competitive nature, deconstructing, rearranging and reforming motorcycle racing suits.  ‘Body parts’ are also graffitied onto muscular sleeves to further heighten a domineering and sized-up look.  And, for those with keen eyes, the Götesson brand adorns each piece throughout his collection to identify its artist.

Jacob:  A signature of your brand, what is the significance of the thimble in your work?

Per:  For me it’s symbolises craft, we put a lot of time into our pieces, always trying to elevate a product.  It’s about the kind of handcraft, that’s what it symbolises.  But it’s also a beautiful piece of jewellery.

To be worn as an input of hard-work and craftsmanship, whilst remaining an unorthodoxly fashionable accessory, is exactly the kind of depth you would expect a designer like Götesson to reach.  Yet, even with these intriguing characteristics, WORKSHOP extended the ethos even further, with some pieces even evoking vivid nostalgia.

Jacob:  Your accessories are typically crafted from unusual objects like the Corona bottle cap and the broken Harry and Megan plate.  How did you come up with the idea to use scissors and keys for this collection?

Per:  Always in the jewellery, it’s a mix between something discarded, or maybe not so precious with something very precious – like the Corona, they were all individually set in silver.  And similarly, here it’s like a normal thread snipper, but handset in silver.  But then also, they’re tools as well.  

 The Corona bottle is obviously from beers, and it all has personal relationships to whatever we do in the studio – whether it’s working, if it’s a party or drinking (laughs). It’s all very personal.  I guess in that sense, it’s specifically based around craft and tools and work.

Originally toting a pair of ‘fancy surgeon scissors with a gold-plated handle,’ as Götesson calls them, he constantly carried them around and used them when crafting jewellery, before using various Italian tailoring snips to forge AW22’s golden scissor crown.

Competitive attitudes and nostalgic feelings were all built into the subtext of the AW22 collection.  It articulated proportionate extremes, skewed perspectives and royalty (royalty? Why royalty?) using repurposed sharp objects.  WORKSHOP reveals itself as the laboratory for Götesson’s distinct ideas to come to life.  The creations that came of it were deeply perceptive and truly homed in on the fundamentals of simply just ‘making things’.

For more information on Per Götesson, click here