On a Hippy Safari with Messagerie

Messagerie Spring-Summer 2011 collection takes inspiration from 70’s Jet Set, opposing Saint Tropez’s “snobiety” style to Rimini’s unconventional one.

The only common denominator is the pursuit of a Hippy Style—military, pretending to be slipshod—which is sartorially reinterpreted by Messagerie and becomes a sophisticated casual chic safari-looking style with sports details, emphasizing the dream of the “trip to Africa” and “summer parties.”

Style
Safari inspiration, sartorial influence, modern sailor taste mixed with technical fabrics sports-influenced; everything is worn out, resewed, over dyed.

Cotton linen safari jackets, measured cuts, slightly short; trousers are essentially slim, with front hip pockets, military details, inside sartorial construction with printed and hemmed linings, or loose jog pants with big pockets and coulisse on the waist, knitted distressed linen buttocks, treated, bleached to get a faded aspect.

Linen shantung smoking and dinner jackets, slim fit, with piping revers, flowing construction, empty shoulders and delicately fashioned bust are in contrast with sartorial-looking suits with interlined bust and unstitched revers. Both concepts recall the night emphasizing the mood of the collection.

Shirts are minimal with sartorial details; formal shirts have small and mandarin collars, while safari shirts are made of linen, silk, cheesecloth with bellows pockets, frogs, and bone buttons treated and refashioned.

Safari-style blousons, four pockets blazers, linen-inox dusters and peacoats, bomber jackets and rider blousons sports-influenced made of combined fabrics, which are a Messagerie’s exclusive.

Light over dyed knitwear mixed up with jersey, cardigans and hemp sailor jackets to be matched to printed t-shirts with old Polaroid pictures.

Denim jeans with washing shades from beach to dark colour, worn and torn by original stone washing with only stones and Marseille soap.

Fabrics and Treatments
Natural fabrics with a mix of hemp and inox, technical fabrics combined to paper, waxed and rich tumbled linen typical of Messagerie.

Delavé linen textured yarns starch-treated, cotton vegetally dyed with green tea, stretchy gabardine “spinker drill” cold dyed.

“Spinker drill” is a fabric used by English soldiers during the African campaign and nowadays it is still considered as a insulating and transpiring fabric; cold dyeing is an immersion process, whose peculiarity is the non-uniformity of the colour that gives the fabric a sun faded effect.

Suits are made of wool and cotton mixed with silk and satin, cotton poplin with micro patterns, striped and squared indigo linen mix shirts, hemp yarns and crêpe cotton for the knitwear.

Dyed and waxed nappa and chamois are the materials chosen for the leather blousons.

Colors
Natural, grey, mud, sand, military, indigo blue, khaki, ginger, red, turquoise, olive green.

Have a look a the whole collection here.

Photos & text Copyright Messagerie.