Saif Bakir and Emma Hedlund launch their new brand name and explain the ‘Whitewash’ collection’s use of intricate embroidery
Whitewash is a metaphor meaning to gloss over or cover up. White is the colour of new beginnings; it is a blank canvas waiting to be written upon. White is cleanliness personified. Spring is an annual opportunity to restart – it’s like a cleansing of all that has been. We found ourselves in a situation where we needed an evolutionary change. Not only are we presenting a new collection but we are doing with under a different name. Leaving COMMON behind we are now morphing into CMMN SWDN, our new home from this season and onwards…There will always be a sense of rebellion and elements of youth culture in our collections and for this season, we went back to our early fashion references, influenced by the minimal and clean aesthetics that characterized the late 90s. As such, details are scaled back and we place the emphasis on fabrication and texture.
The colour palette is kept to minimal shades and we wanted the white pieces to form the backbone of the collection, with shots of silver metallic and greys.
We ventured into new territories with fabric technologies for SS15. Technical sportswear fabrics like paper-thin nylons are paired with classic poplins, elegant sheer voile and bonded loopback jerseys. There is a play of sheer and opaque.
“Not only are we presenting a new collection but we are doing with under a different name. Leaving COMMON behind we are now morphing into CMMN SWDN, our new home from this season and onwards…”
For us it’s about that juxtaposition of future sport and classic smart. Tailored jogging bottoms are paired with pure white shirts, tactile bonded sweatshirts are combined with smart trousers and it is all perfected and worn with a pair of pool sliders…
As every other season, we introduce a new collaborative artist for SS15. This time around we were looking to work with texture and surface decoration, rather that print. We were immediately drawn to the art of tattooing. What struck us was the similarity of the crafts, both done by hand and a needle, one using ink and the other thread.
We were inspired by bold blackwork tattoos and wanted to translate them into whiteworks, an entirely needle-made embroidery using white thread on white fabric.
We found the beautiful, award-winning and amazing work of San Francisco-based tattoo artist ROXX. Unlike most tattooists, she uses no reference materials or stencils. She draws the tattoos freehand, based on what the client want their tattoo to say about them. We were amazed by her contemporary and graphic approach to tattoo art. For SS15 we are proud to see ROXX’s exclusive artwork being translated from body art into bold whitework embroidery on our tops and T-shirts.
