I hope you have all seen by now the launch of Stiaan Louw's new collection project '6' on other blogs, most particularly Man of the Cloth. StyleGuideCT loves us some Stiaan and believe that he is one of the most forward-thinking, creative and talented designers operating on the African continent today.
But I hung back a bit on the new project and let the others break the news. I — and I believe you, my readers — am far more interested in the story behind the launch, the thinking behind the creativity. And so I reached out to Stiaan, who as ever, was incredibly generous with his time and transparency around his thinking. It is one the reasons why I believe he will continue to greatness.
Stiaan shared with me that he felt he needed to redefine the way in which he was working. And while 6 is not a seasonal project, it was a tool in which to reposition his outlook and brand image as an 'androgynous' designer right now. Always playing loosely with gender and sexuality in his collections — never defining, never restricting — 6 was an opportunity to spell that out clearly once again as a state of diversity, as seen by him.
The 6 project consists of four components. The first component will be released next week with a component following every month until next year February. And they all feature Eric Bester, a model from Boss. Stiaan decided to use Eric to signal the shift in perception of the brand — in essence, to sexier.
This evolution comes out of a series of questions that Stiaan has been battling with — some about himself and some about his work, and he believes he is starting the process of answering them with 6. And from hereon his collections will only be numbered. I don't know why, but this fills me with a frisson of excitement.
Women's wear will be a complementary collection to 6, which I believe will excite a whole new market to Stiaan Louw. When I asked him about this specifically he said, "I believe this is my most defining collection since the show at fashion week in 2008. And it makes sense to extend the brand to include womenswear in the same handwriting in South Africa that poses incredible challenges for contemporary menswear." I can't wait to see it.