Gareth Pugh Fall Winter 2007 (left) and 2006 (right)
Gareth Pugh‘s early collections in 2006 and 2007 were very exciting. London has always been considered the city where the innovative, avant garde, and “crazy” fashion talent comes from, (designers like John Galliano and Alexander McQueen helped to create that reputation.) But before Pugh, things had gotten a little boring. Designers like Christopher Kane and Marios Schwab had helped to demonstrate that London wasn’t just about mad, crazy fashion, it was also about beautiful, wearable clothing. They weren’t creating visual feasts on the catwalk, they were selling dresses. So when Pugh came onto the scene, it was exciting, I felt that for the first time in a while a St Martins graduate, a London designer, was making mad clothing and surprising everyone.
Gareth Pugh Spring Summer 2007
I’ve been following his work ever since, and I’ve also managed to see some of it, in a pop-up store last year in the St. Martins Lane Hotel. It was very impressive. However, his recent collections have been a lot more tame, and I guess he has figured out that in order to make money, you need to sell a lot of clothes. (I still think my suggestion of Gareth Pugh taking over and re-vamping Jean-Claude Jitrois is the best idea. Anyway…)
Gareth Pugh Fall Winter 2008 (left) and Spring Summer 2009 (right)
I was quite surprised to hear that Gareth Pugh was opening a store, and even more surprised to hear it was in Hong Kong. Opening a store is VERY expensive, most young designers can’t afford to do it. So I presumed that it was in partnership with an investor, since I don’t think Pugh would have chosen Hong Kong as his first choice of venue. The store has been funded by Hong Kong fashion conglomerate I.T Group, who apparently owns Gareth Pugh retail rights. That is scary…signing away your retail rights so early in your career, but I guess he has no choice.
Gareth Pugh at his Hong Kong store.
I wonder what will happen. Will the store be busy? I doubt it, unless he starts to produce more accessible pieces (I don’t mean accessible in price, but in function) or the store is packed with jewelry and shoes, because I am pretty sure he would make a killing with accessories. I’d buy his shoes! This partnership also suggests how some designers might move forward if they want to open their own retail spaces. It is close to impossible these days to start a brand and grow it successfully without outside investment, so I suppose brands who don’t want to sell out to an investor can license elements of their business like Gareth Pugh has. I don’t envy all the small brands out there. Unless you are designing for a big company, or you’ve sold your soul to the big guns, you’ve got a long, hard struggle ahead of you.
Gareth Pugh Hong Kong
Shop 9, G/F, 10 Ice house street
Central, Hong Kong
Images from Hypebeast and Coutorture. Catwalk images from Style.com.
