Above you will see the design sketch that was sent to me by the designers at Re;Code. As you can see, on the left are the garments I sent. The black wool (A) was a consignment store CDG piece that never quite fit me the way I would have liked. I wore it only once or twice and when organizing my clothes recently could not bear to give it up. The second was a find in a thrift store and is completely sheer but it was by Issey Miyake and was literally a steal.

It was really interesting because in some ways it felt almost sacrilegious to deconstruct these two masters, but I reasoned would the two designers really want to see their garments not being worn?. What was the point of having the clothes and not wearing them? After a series of communication between myself and some of the members of the Re;Code team, I felt like I could trust them to make something that conveyed their wonderful  values yet honored the genetics of the pieces I sent.  I was confident that these garments would become a piece I would wear in my everyday life.

I think it really interesting because some of you, on both the blog and Facebook, thought the Re;Code garment I wore in last Wednesday’s post put you in mind of early Sacai. Perhaps it is because the signature of that brand is also a taking apart and putting back together in different, unexpected but practical ways. The fashion critic Robin Givhan, in an article about Sacai calls the technique of taking apart something familiar and making it unfamiliar: “aesthetic grafting”. I love that!

Stay tuned for more pictures and stories of  the evolution of my original Re;Code piece.

What memorable pieces do you have that you would be willing to refashion?