Claire Barrow is a DIY designer and luxe leather specialist. She’s made the likes of FKA Twigs stand out in her jackets, and uses unique, folkloric inspired illustrations to decorate her materials. She’s something of a design It Girl with a feminist twist (as evidenced by her zine), rocking the catwalk with sci-fi references and casting real nurses in her SS15 show.
Barrow started making her mark on the fashion world by being motivated by the concepts of doing it yourself. Her hand-crafted ethos has a political edge with a youth culture twist. She’s a fixture of fashion weeks and renowned for her edgy illustrative designs, drawing on girl gangs and pagan rituals for inspiration. But recently, she’s also taken a dive into the world of wearable tech, collaborating with smart-clothing maker Glofaster. Staff uniforms at Wyld nightclub have been given a twist, with popping colour that moves to the beat of the music. The LED strips inserted into different parts of the panelling are echoed in the neon lights that decorate the club.
This mix of events, entertainment and fashion seeks to create an immersive environment for clubbers and perfect tailoring for the staff. It’s a stretch, but what W London actually get (apart from their uniforms) is a chance to be connected with both an emerging British designer, and an emerging industry. Well played.
The excitement around wearable tech might have been slightly dulled by Google Glass and Apple Watches (who but the Silicone inventors actually wears them?). Style and tech have been at odds, but even so it’s an exciting concept that people aren’t willing to give up on. And for fashion, the possibility of combining smart technology with some sweet stiches is an intriguing thought. We’ve already seen clothes that can charge our iPhones and bracelets that can track our fitness. But again, who wears this stuff? Are you sporting the latest dress that responds to the colours of the environment or Ying Gao’s admittedly beautiful but totally unfunctional motion-sensitive designs?
The problem is: these trends haven’t permeated the mainstream yet. And when they do, imagine how much more garish those emoticon t-shirts from Primark are gonna look.
So Claire’s cracked it. Her pieces are functional, stylish and well-made. There’s no chance the staff at Wyld’s aren’t going to turn up in these pieces, and they’re definitely not going to look like a Google Ass (thanks Conan).
Claire Barrow painted Guernica jacket
Image: I-D Magazine
