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Gorpcore, the technical outdoorsy trend epitomised by The North Face down jackets, Arc’Teryx waterproofs and Salomon trail shoes, swept the world during pandemic lockdowns. Now, as consumers have returned to hybrid lives between the office and outdoors, a new wave of designers is evolving the concept to make fashion-first technical garments or accessories that work for city living, from cycling to carrying pepper spray.
“Gorpcore is starting to develop,” says Graeme Gaughan, artistic director of menswear brand Côte&Ciel and director of Sane communications agency. “Like streetwear, it’s maturing over time. When I speak to designers who started out with [gorpcore], they now understand that they have to evolve [in order to grow]. Maybe that’s where they got their start, but it isn’t where their head’s at [now].”
Some traditional outdoors brands are already adapting. Gaughan recently worked with Helly Hansen on a new line of hybrid products adapted for everyday wear, rather than heavy 3L (three-layer) jackets that aren’t breathable enough for cycling, for example. Berghaus launched its Technical Lifestyle collection in January, designed for city wear. And, unlike the brand’s usual campaigns, shot on cliff sides or glaciers, it was shot in South London.
This evolution is also showing up on the catwalk. London-based designer Saul Nash, who showed his Spring/Summer 2024 collection in London on Monday, was this season inspired by swimwear and wetsuits — using structures and fabrics typically reserved for watersports, that give insulation and a compressive, streamlined aesthetic. Nash’s pieces exist somewhere between gorpcore and contemporary menswear, but his inspiration lies firmly in city life and movement.
“I think about designing for comfort. In the city you have many conditions and I try to design garments which adapt to the needs of the wearer through materiality or cut,” he says. “I want my garments to liberate their wearers while making them look and feel good.”
Hybrid lives
LVMH prize winner Satoshi Kuwata of Setchu, who will present his SS24 collection on Saturday in Milan, brings together learnings from working with a range of brands, from Savile Row tailor Huntsman and Givenchy to The North Face. Almost as an inverse to gorpcore, Kuwata’s modular pieces are designed for city living, but with the functionality that could allow for outdoor pursuits, like fishing, his passion. “I love to travel and go fishing but I don’t want to look like a fisherman,” he says, “I still want to look like the guy in [cult 1970s film] Death in Venice.”
Over Zoom a few days before his presentation, Kuwata demonstrates a jersey sweater that can be unzipped and turned into a poncho, or clipped over the shoulders for warmer weather; a sweater that has a detachable chest panel to make a cardigan, or sleeves, to make a gilet and a suit jacket with special seams that allow it to fold neatly into a bag (inspired by origami). “The bridge between our hybrid lives of activity and urban life is the deep core question of my work,” he says. Setchu is stocked at 10 Corso Como and Machine-A.
Since the pandemic, more people are cycling or walking to work than ever. Consumers are increasingly looking for clothing that can take them through their commute and the work day, says Dan Hastings-Narayanin, deputy foresight editor at trend forecasting firm The Future Laboratory. In China, where a frisbee craze took hold in lockdown, consumers are now seeking fashion that allows them to play after being at the office.
London-based designer Jean-Luc A Lavelle founded technical ready-to-wear brand J.L-A.L in 2022 and is one of the BFC’s Newgen designers. He launched his label after Milan retailer Slam Jam noticed his designs on social media and commissioned him to design a capsule for AW22. After this, they decided to fund his brand, in a joint ownership deal. He now has around 40 stockists across Asia, Europe and North America including Kith International and Farfetch.
Lavelle’s collections were widely described as gorpcore at the start, but now he’s focusing on contemporary menswear informed by technical sportswear, gradually adding tailoring to collections. “I was really interested in technical wear at the start of the brand, but I don’t dress like that every day,” Lavalle says from his London studio. “Now, we’re trying to exist within a more contemporary menswear context, with influence from technical fashion.” This means using technical fabric and functionality, but across more formal silhouettes, like delicate shirting with added utility pockets (SS23) or a trench coat with expandable side vents (AW23).
Lavelle is inspired by the city, rather than the outdoors. “I want to create a brand that the people I look up to and respect would wear and dress in. They’re not on [hiking] trails. It’s my friends in East Tokyo, London — that’s who I’m designing for.”
For AW24, J.L-A.L is planning a further “directional shift”, to expand to new categories and materials. “We’re trying to de-escalate the gorpcore community as well a little,” he says. “It’s become kind of militarised; everyone wants their hood up with all these chords, looking very anonymous. We are trying to add a bit of gentleness to all of that, with lace maybe or other fabrics.”
Clothing to take you from A to B
Estonian designer Johanna Parv, who launched her eponymous womenswear label in 2020 after graduating from Central Saint Martins, says she wants to help women in particular get from A to B. Parv, who is currently part of incubator Fashion East, designs skirts that can be clipped up to allow for cycling, garments with easy access pockets to carry and protect handbags or phones and dresses made from soft jersey or water resistant fabrics, that allow the wearer to run for the bus or cycle across town. Last season she doubled her business, winning stockists like Dover Street Market International and Matches, as buyers recognise the appeal of high-fashion with function.
She has often been referred to as gorpcore, but it’s not something she necessarily identifies with, she says, because her focus is primarily tailoring and high fashion, that’s also functional.
Parv, who cycles herself, observes women in London cycling and has developed a community of cyclists who she consults on their unmet needs. She tests her pieces with these women and her friends and family to make sure the materials and items are comfortable, easy to move in, easy to wash and that “nothing gets stuck”. “My thinking is how could we take the traditional understanding of how women want to look but adapt it for movement. Maybe I’m wearing a suit and I also have a leather handbag. But then, what’s gonna happen to all these things when I’m on a bike?” Parv says.
Modular accessories are becoming more popular to help “urban mobility”, Gaughan says. Côte&Ciel specialises in accessories, most notably functional bags. It’s stocked at Selfridges, Galeries Lafayette and a plethora of Japanese department stores including Beams. The brand’s best-selling Isar bag has an organised section for laptops or charger and then a soft outer shell where you can throw in yoga gear, says creative director Emilie Arnault. Its tote bag has a cord, which attaches to the wearer’s house keys and can be pulled to locate them from the bottom of the bag at the end of a long day. “With some styles such as backpacks or larger pieces, it’s perhaps important to add more utility details into the straps and outer elements, to create modularity with other smaller products,” Arnault says. “Allowing the wearer to choose how they utilise these details, be it more stylistic or practical.”
Lanyards for keys and cards are trending too. The duo behind menswear podcast Throwing Fits say they have spotted a lot of men wearing Aimé Leon Dore lanyards lately rather than carrying goods in their pockets or a bag. Côte&Ciel also creates lanyards with carabiners, so the wearer can attach glasses or keys around their neck, which “adds to the look” as well as being functional and convenient, Gaughan says.
The future of city life: Safety and security
Some brands are going beyond convenience and movement, to make clothing that keeps you safe in the city. Dames is a New York-based label that creates streetwear and sexy, youthful separates and accessories on the surface. But, look closer and you’ll see a series of technical adaptations in the garments, from leather jackets that reverse into a hi-vis fabric, to pepper spray pockets or carabiners that allow the wearer to attach a whistle or safety alarm for protection. Pieces retail from $15-$270 and are sold direct-to-consumer, with the occasional pop-up in New York.
Dames was launched by Mary Katlyn O’Malley in 2022, after she returned to New York from months travelling and felt unsafe in her neighbourhood in Chinatown, following the murder of a young woman nearby. O’Malley is inspired by utilitarian label Carhartt. “It’s such a staple in the world, but it’s useful. I started to build off that, and then it turned into the idea that I could make gorgeous gowns that are still useful for women.”
Now, Dames can protect from the elements as well as crime, O’Malley says. She refers to the recent orange smog in New York following Canadian wildfires. “It was very Blade Runner. And I was thinking how useful everything I make is. I could make a hi-vis dress for being out [in the smog] that turns into a cute leather gown.”
The events in New York signal that cities are changing rapidly, creating their own challenges that will require more technical fashion solutions looking ahead, perhaps different to those made for the outdoors, says The Future Laboratory’s Hastings-Narayanin.
“Clothes are really going to change in the next 10 years because we really have to adapt to rising temperatures, new weather conditions and also ongoing safety concerns,” he says. “Having a wonderful Dior dress isn’t going to prevent you from being bitten by mosquitoes 10 years from now, when mosquitoes [could be more common] in London. The future of fashion could really be about safety and survival.”
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