Sustainable Men's Ready to Wear Collection
Check out the most recent collection from Designer Mason Leonard. With a mindset dominated by sustainability, Mason has developed an elevated menswear collection that uses remnant fabrics and interesting style lines that allow for versatility; he has created silhouettes and uses textiles that have synergy in whichever combination is used.
Inspired by deconstructivism, an architectural movement in the 80s accentuating juxtapositions and the "absence of harmony" in structure, Mason created a collection that embodied this energy and mood. The inspiration lent itself to interesting style lines, as well as asymmetric lines and patterns. That said, this worked well with the sustainability element, as there were only a certain amount of each fabric - oftentimes only a yard or less. This created a "problem-solving," "puzzle-oriented" game for Mason as he navigated through decisions of silhouette and patterns based on the fabric amount as well as the inspiration, target, and mood of the collection as a whole.
Look One
The look consists of an off-center, asymmetrical shirt and elastic waistband shorts. The shirt has a short and long sleeve, with various panels along the chest to create diverse and unique style lines. The shorts are also indicative of this with the unorthodox placement of the pockets. Their sizes are also random to signify the essence of an "absence of harmony" outlined through the inspiration and concept. The shirt closes with a bright yellow zipper and has yellow stitch details along the seams to juxtapose the blue tones of the panels of the shirt.
Look Two
This look plays off the geometric undertones of the architecture generated with deconstructivism. Due to limited fabric, the sleeves were created with two tones and a seam going right down the front. The pants provide great synergy with the top, bringing out the greys in each of the blues. The plaid print of the pants provide tactile understanding of the linear yet abstract structures of the architecture from the movement. The look is paired with the shirt from look 1 to further accentuate the pop of yellow in varying directions and lines. In doing so, the viewer's eye is moved around the garment as a whole.
Look Three
Look three is an asymmetric jacket and jogger set. The jacket is a light-weight wool that is entirely reversible - with the two tones of wool being opposite of one another. One side of the jacket is much longer than the other, creating the literal visual of the architecture of deconstructivism. The joggers are pieced together - similar to the shirt of look 1 which acts as the undershirt to the jacket in this look. Yellow topstitching outlines all of these style lines. Yellow buttons go down the front of the jacket. This look is indicative of the juxtaposing lines and colors that are apparent in the architecture.
The menswear collection went on exhibition at the South Coast Surface Design in New Bedford. There was a zoom presentation where Mason presented the inspiration, target market, and collection as a whole. These are some images of the presentation that took place, as well as images from the exhibition. The complete collection consisted of 5 pieces, where three of the garments were made out of fashion fabric.