Moore & Giles Introduces Limited Edition Collaboration with Illustrator, Richard Haines
Moore & Giles is pleased to announce their design collaboration with illustrator Richard Haines, best known for his raw illustrations of menswear as seen on the runways and on the streets of New York. This limited-edition capsule collection consists of five classic Moore & Giles silhouettes. Each piece is imprinted with laser etched interpretations of the figures the Moore & Giles man dreamed of one day becoming when he was young – an astronaut, scientist, cowboy, rock star, superhero, firefighter and beyond. Rooted in nostalgia, the collaboration intends to stir the imagination and rekindle fond youth memories.
The desire to work with Richard grew out of the similarities the Moore & Giles team saw between Richard’s approach to his work and their own: a genial indifference towards perfection and an appreciation for the unique individual. A grid of figures is layered onto the varied surface of the leather, compounding the limited-edition nature of every piece in this collection. Both the natural markings on the leather and the positioning of the characters vary discretely from bag to bag. The collaborative capsule collection consists of five silhouettes: the classic Benedict Weekend Bag, the Elliott Writing Portfolio, the Arnold Portfolio, and the Half-zip and Bi-Fold Wallets. Each silhouette has been rendered in two color ways. Each color way consists of only 25 pieces produced.
A prolific illustrator and keen observer of the human form, Richard Haines’ impressive and long career in fashion included design for the likes of Calvin Klein and Perry Ellis, which primed his pencil for the work he does now. With a sharp eye and swift hand, Richard has become well known for his ability to turn seemingly banal moments into sensitively observed vignettes. His trademark line – a tangle of confident strokes braided together into clothing, faces, and gestures, has quickly become highly sought after in the world of luxury fashion. In 2012 Prada approached him to illustrate a season’s worth of looks for a bound anthology. In 2015 the Belgian fabric maestro Dries van Noten crafted beautiful suits out of material laden with Richard’s evocative handiwork.
The process of figuring out how best to recreate Haines’ style of drawing onto leather pushed Moore & Giles into a new way of treating leather. “His style is loose, but exceedingly precise, capturing not just the look of a character but a mood as well. Nothing could be lost in translation,†explains Thomas Brennan, Director of Design at Moore & Giles. The grid of characters was crisply etched into the leather using a laser to faithfully capture every flick of Richard’s pen. Permanently cut into the leather, the figures – an astronaut, scientist, cowboy, artist, rock star, baseball player, detective, firefighter, performer, and superhero – look as if Richard has inked each bag and wallet individually.
The Richard Haines x Moore & Giles collection was first debuted on the runway during the Palmiers du Mal “Wonderland†2017.01 Collection show held with CFDA NYFW: Men’s on July 14th, 2016. Styles from this collaborative collection will be available for pre-order on MooreandGiles.com starting August 2016, and in select retail stores starting September 2016. Prices for the Richard Haines x Moore & Giles collection range from $275 to $1,700 USD.
