One of the most wonderful things about attending a Libertine show is seeing the extroverted, happy, colorful clothes worn IRL by Johnson Hartig’s loyal followers. Go and you’re likely to notice a trench with a silk-screened eye, do a double take when encountering a sequined jumpsuit with pendant beaded locks, smile at a tie-dyed sweatshirt with Magritte’s pipe, or swoon for a lavender chintz suit (the pa of which is named after my Vogue colleague Hamish Bowles).
Private Eyes
Looking through the back catalog of Libertine shows in Vogue Runway’s archive is like getting a glimpse into Hartig’s mind. Enthusiasm is catching, and the designer, an avid collector of things including Victoriana, Staffordshire dogs, blue and white pottery, gardening, modern art, literature, and all things Cher pours his passions into his fashions. Hartig has turned vintage button cards into a print, and used 19th-century Valentine motifs as the inspiration for dimensional embroideries; and he’s not afraid to mix and layer prints. Aesthetically, more is more is more in the wonderland of Libertine.
Full Coverage
As an independent brand, his production is not massive. In fact, when Libertine was founded by Hartig and Cindy Greene 20 years ago, their concept was to silkscreen and adorn vintage garments. As buyers demanded standard sizes, the kind of “upcycling” Hartig does now relates more to motifs and silhouettes: Coats with big collars have ’60s style bracelet sleeves, 1930s via the 1990s slip dresses are staples, too. For guys, punk and prep meet in hoodies with concert poster-style graphics and khakis with crystal skull heads.
Idol Worship
The skull and the eye are among the most recognizable Libertine tropes. Anglomania is a favored theme, and the Queen frequently appears in Hartig’s designs. The philanthropist Pat Buckly, actress Joan Collins, poets Keats and Shelley, and the existentialist Sartre are also part of the Libertine clan. It’s not just literal likenesses that Hartig uses, but text, too. “I love the idea of poetry in motion; following behind someone that’s wearing a coat or a jacket with a poem on it and catching glimpses of a sentence or a word as they move. I just love the romance of it,” said the designer on a walk-through of his spring 2022 collection.
If Libertine had a patron saint, bets are it would be the impish Spaniard Salvador Dalí. Hartig’s use of lobsters and ruby lips with pearl teeth pay homage to the artist. Surrealists often displaced or juxtaposed incongruous images, which reflected the turmoil of Europe in the aftermath of World War I, and also challenged the viewer to question the meaning (visual, psychological, spiritual) of familiar things seen in unfamiliar ways. The creation of happy surprises through craft is Hartig’s modus operandi. A self-described “realistic joyful person,” the designer chooses to focus on the positive, and in so doing, spreads the love.
Here, in advance of the brand’s “Happy Stupid Holidays 20th Anniversary Party” at Maxfield’s tonight, a celebraton of Libertineisms.
Surrealist Manifesto
La Vie en Rose
Royal Leanings
Head Games
Never Mind the Bollocks
Toile Tales
Face Time
Text Addiction
Surplus, Plus
Art Class
Quilting Bee
L’amour Fou
California Dreamin’
Stawberry Fields Forever
Magic Johnson
