The Fantastic Futuristic Fun of Patrick Mohr

Normally when I write an article on a designer, I post only the menswear designs; but with Patrick Mohr’s 2011 spring/summer collection, leaving out the women’s gallery detracts from the overall look.

Patrick Mohr presented the collection the recent Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Berlin with an array of bald and bearded hipsters that blended the sexes into an androgynous silhouette of Neolithic, neo-alien style.

Oftentimes, onlookers and viewers cannot see past the radicalism (or get over the shock) in such a creative production and, thus, miss out on the trends to come.

Typical of the 2011 season are the draping, layers, asymmetry, rolled-up kurta pants, sheer fabrics, and rugged cuts.

What about the bald heads, shaved eyebrows, and straggly beards? You may just see that too!

So, enjoy here the photo gallery and film to be transported to the fantastic, futuristic and fun world of Patrick Mohr!

Photos Copyright @ Dan and Corina Lecca at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week.

Rubia Pigmenta Naturalia

After posting my 2-part interview with sustainable designer and artist John Patrick, I received an email from his Dutch friend, Anco Sneep, director of Rubia Pigmenta Naturalia, which produces a natural red dye that dates back to over two millenia:

"A world without colour is barely conceivable for us. Nature provides for colour all around and anything we create, we create in colour. And–we’ve been doing so for thousands of years. Primeval human beings already used colours to outline drawings or illustrations, and all generations thereafter carried on doing so. These colours were made from natural resources. One of the most important materials was–and still is–madder.

The roots of the madder plant produce a genuine red colour. The ancient Egyptians had already discovered the incomparable madder tint: a belt dyed with madder root was found in the tomb of Tutankhamen. But the ancient Greeks and Romans also used this unique colour as a dye, which in the later Byzantium Empire was given the name Turkish Red. Famous artists like El Greco, Velasquez, and Vermeer used madder as a base for particular red tints in their paintings.

In the 18th century, madder–or by its scientific name Rubia Tinctorum –became a popular dye for textiles. Particularly in the southern Netherlands, in West Brabant and Zeeland, the plant was cultivated on a large scale. Madder became an important economic factor in this area.

After the German chemists Graebe and Liebermann discovered in 1868 how the red madder dye could be produced synthetically, cultivation of madder quickly declined and finally vanished.

Rubia® has developed a totally new process to extract the genuine madder dye very efficiently in an ecologically friendly manner. Elements of the system are specially selected madder under license.

The highest priority in the Rubia® research laboratories is continuous process control and optimization aligned with quality enhancement. In addition, the colour agent content of the different root batches is determined to permit fair compensation for the growers.

In the factory, the colour agent is extracted from the roots by means of a special Rubia® process. As market leader, Rubia Pigmenta Naturalia® comes from the only industrial installation worldwide to produce the authentic Turkish Red.

Rubia® red is the ideal dye for companies seeking to differentiate themselves through the use of authentic and brilliant colours, produced entirely on a natural basis. Rubia®–a new dimension in colour!

Highly praised Dutch designer Rianne de Witte has decided to work with natural dyes of Rubia Pigmenta Naturalia®!

Photos and Slide Show Copyright by Rubia Pigmenta Naturalia.

John Patrick Dialogues Organic in Peru

Intrigued with John Patrick's pioneering work in the green apparel movement, I sent him an email with several questions. John responded immediately:

"First and foremost, the organic dialogue is what I set about to discuss when I first started doing the organic collection in 2003. Not many people were talking about this in that moment, and there was very small selection—almost nothing.

In each collection I use organic cotton and, in winter, organic wool. I also started to use actual recycled fabrics in the beginning, as there was so little selection. This has now become commonplace, which I have noticed with the new crop of sustainable designers.

I started using Peruvian organic cottons first in 2003 with the assistance of James Vreeland, who is an archaeologist that "discovered" color grown cotton in the Peruvian jungle, in Tarapoto many years ago. The native cotton grows in green, brown, and even purple. It is not widely known. I also met Hugo Cardenas from Oro Blanco, who works with the small farmers on the south coast of Peru, near Chincha and Cañete.

Their was not much in the way of supply at the time, and Vreeland was pretty much the pioneer there in Peru. I then worked with spinners and weavers, both large and small, trying to make samples and get people interested to make fabrics and yarns from which I would be able to make both knitted and woven garments.

I used bed sheets in the beginning to make shirts, because there was no poplin for shirts. That company still supplies manufacturers with organic sheeting. I did a small project with 10 farmers also in the jungle and worked with a woman named Zenaida Cespedes, whose family has been growing cotton and other things forever. She has a keen mind, and we used the aspiro cotton to spin a 20/1 yarn, from which we made tee shirts. I got basically no support with that project, as it would need an engineer and financing to grow.

The farmers are keen to work in the organic way, but they are very isolated from the big city and are at the mercy of the big buyers, who come in and offer small $$ to use the cotton to blend with tanguis + pima because of the "whiteness." But it is a short staple, so it can not make fine fino yarn.

Such is the plight of the small indigenous farmers and people: they have no access to the "green" movement and are at the mercy of large buyers who determine the price.

Now I am using Peruvian SKAL-certified cotton that comes from both the north and the south. I have been forced to put the jungle project on hold due to lack of financing. I look forward to the day in the near future when I will be able to help support the 200 farmers there that want to participate.

In the last collection, most fabrics are organic and, if not, they are recycled fabrics."

For additional information on John Patrick Organic, please click here.

Photo 2009 s/s collection Copyright John Patrick Organic.

John Patrick's Organic Hat

John Patrick is actually a man of many hats!

His first was a beanie of macrobiotic foods when he grew up in the counter-culture revolution of the 60's. But he soon exchanged that one for the cap of communal living in the 1970’s.

With no formal training or experience, John Patrick launched his career in 1982, literally from the top down, by making head wear out of vintage finds. He sported the chapeau of women's fashion designer for the next 20 years.

In 2002, John reached for a new headpiece, first, by moving from 7th Street of New York City to an abandoned warehouse upstate where he began researching organic materials and production processes of low environmental impact.

In 2003, John put on a sombrero and set out to explore organic farming in Peru where he later launched Organic—a complete line of high quality and first-rate fits for eco-conscious men and women!

Working with organic farming collectives in the Peruvian Amazon, John innovated the applications of botanical dyes, organic wool yarns, and jungle grown cottons, all the while intertwining the practices of hand weaving, recycled fabrics, and whole-animal leather production.

Not only has John demonstrated concern for green garments like “jungle tees” but he has also instituted ethical working environments for workers to enjoy fair wages. To John, the definition of green goes far beyond fabrics as it embraces honesty, truthfulness, and ethics, which in turn spells c-o-m-m-i-t-m-e-n-t to each individual in the process.

Outfitting men and women from head to toe with eco-wear has been no easy course to chart. Thus, John's journey towards sustainable apparel continues to evolve and change. But sometimes life is just like choosing a hat: you have to try on a few until the right one fits!

So, John Patrick, I take off my hat to you for being the pioneer that you are in the green movement!