Explaining workwear's historical fashion origin.from @frontoffice.co

Transcript

Worse is having a moment. Better jackets, car heart jackets. But why are the collars on those jackets made out of corduroy? And it's all to do with the French Revolution and how rich French aristocrats got their heads chopped off. I will need to explain. Okay. So French Revolution, late eighteenth century. The French upper class and anyone who opposes the French Revolution are being best no the guillotine. King Louis, Marie Antoinette, bad, bang. And these French aristocrats, they dress a certain way. They dress in a way to reflect their social standing, and they have these velvet collars. Velvet is very expensive. These velvet collars become quite synonymous with this social group. So their English friends across the channel were wearing these velvet collars on their hunting gear as a show of support. Like you're having your heads cut off, but I am with you politically. And eventually those design elements get absorbed into the hunting uniform. So workwear designers of the the time took inspiration from other durable clothes, like hunting clothes. Obviously for a big worse, velvet becomes quite expensive, so velvet becomes corduroy. No why is this important? As a fashion designer, when you're designing things, you can't just cobble together things that I think look sick or cool. I like that collar. I like those pockets. I like those buttons. Bang bang bang. But if you know the history and the development of certain design elements, you can choose things that go together. When I design a hunting outerwear jacket, I can use design elements that are classic like a corduroy collar and then subvert it by using unexpected fabrics or unexpected shapes. There are ways you can branch off of that and use Japanese fabrics to make a Japanese workwear jacket, you can make modern materials to make a modern workwear jacket, and that helps you tell the story of this garment. Then I'm not ripping off Carhartt, I am in conversation with a line of design.