KTZ (Kokon To Zai), Menswear, AW15, London.

“Scale”, as a principle of design, can provide designers with a never ending treasure trove of options when it is used to iterate a single idea into a myriad of different variations. For the KTZ men’s collection for Autumn-Winter 2015, the experiments with scale seemed to have very specific conceptual links to A Clockwork Orange, which was the inspiration behind the collection.

While some garments in the collection featured pixelated faces on appliquéd patches, these faces soon loomed closer to the viewer, seemingly in a menacing reference to The Ludovico Technique from the book and film. In this way the coloured fabric of the later looks becomes more subversive, with garments having both a superficial Rubik’s cube playfulness and a darker undertone for the diehard fans.

At times the overblown pixelated effect seemed to be created by individually positioned squares in a furry fabric, however the corners of some of these squares appeared to be joined, perhaps to help with positioning and spacing of the pieces. At other times, the squares appeared to be tiles, like flat plastic sequins with holes in each corner so that they could be sewn onto the fabric.

Aside from the pixelated images (including what appears to be a bust of Beethoven), other details in the collection were also scaled up. Large oversized zips cut through the front of what appears to be black rubber boiler suits and oversized grommets punctuated the edges of coats.

There were also some interesting pocket details to note with tilted pockets cut so that the lines of the fabric remained vertical, and tailored pockets cut with contrasting jets.

Images from KTZ»