Dear Diane and Shaded Viewers,
A few weeks ago during Australian Fashion Week, I made some time between shows to check out SHHORN’s new collection. Authored by Sean Tran and Grace Wood, SHHORN is a small atelier that focuses on hand-made textiles and garments, based in Sydney. Sean is an architect and Grace a textile specialist who formerly worked with Dutch artist Claudy Jongstra before starting her own design studio of textiles and homewares. Together they collaborate on SHHORN, and release small collections when they’re ready.
For the last two years, Sean and Grace have been making garments entirely in-house, with a conscious approach and “only things that come from the earth.” Grace makes textiles like felted merino wool and hand-weaves raw silk on the loom in their studio, and they also source fabrics like merino jersey and linen. For the first time this season, a larger collection was presented during fashion week – timing SHHORN has eschewed until now – that included a black cotton fabric from Japan that was unlike anything I’ve felt before, made into limited edition t-shirts.
I think at this point I should add that In Australia it’s not often that people, let alone designers, give such attention and respect for textiles. So within this context, what SHHORN is doing is entirely unique. The garments are sensitive and quiet, and somehow coexist in a market populated by big – and often underwhelming – sartorial statements. In the collection entitled ‘Musk’ the hand-stitching and metal details by Riley Concannon were as if they were always a part of the garments. A brown long-sleeve was mottled and intriguing, woven with a stiffness that allowed the collar to stand up or swoop around the neck, and made of Japanese silk yarn that, if I remember correctly, was from the same mill that supplies Geoffrey B. Small.
These pieces are not for everyone, though they are for all genders and made by two designers whose brand I think you might like to check out for yourselves.
Happy Sunday,
Sophie
