Levi's links with Central Saint Martins for limited editions

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 3, 2021

The Levi’s brand has this week launched three limited-edition collections designed by Central Saint Martins MA Fashion students.

The project forms part of the Levi’s by Levi’s range that launched last October and took branded dead-stock, allowing the students to  “reimagine and repurpose the back catalogue to create brand new pieces”. 

And the company said its link-up with one of the UK’s (and world’s) top fashion colleges “further demonstrates the brand’s perennial pursuit of sustainability, as well as its ongoing initiative to bring together fresh new forces in fashion”.

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The three students chosen are Charlie Constantinou, Juntae Kim and Pip Paz-Howlett. Each of them has taken a “highly personal approach to the project and immersed themselves in the partnership in a way that says as much about the highly involved research-based process of design at Central Saint Martins as it does about the future of sustainable fashion”.

Constantinou explored the potential for zips and fastenings to transform fit and personalise the way a garment can be worn. The company said his work incorporates some of the modular nature of function-focused, high performance garments that can be added to or stripped down according to need. He also looked at the DIY dynamic of punk.

Kim meanwhile “plundered a bountiful archive of European rococo and baroque costume and artworks to create rich, fresh imagery that contrast with the simplicity of original Levi's icons”. That means brightly coloured floral embroidery added to the front panels of a trucker jacket, while dramatic gold architectural curlicues “transform the waistline” of pair of jeans.

And Paz-Howlett took a graphic, psychedelic approach to his collection "inspired by the imagery of queer youth culture from the 1960s and 1970s". He worked with eco-friendly pigments to silkscreen his own artwork onto 501 jeans and trucker jackets.

The products are available exclusively at Levi’s Haus London, the brand’s concept store on Great Marlborough, which sits in a sweet spot between Carnaby, Soho, Oxford Street and Regent Street. Prices start at £150.