The pop star has just co-designed a new capsule collection with HUGO – and it’s got consciousness at its core.
Liam Payne has a leather jacket that was passed down to him by his dad. It came into his possession years ago now, and after a decade of travelling the globe as one of the planet’s most recognisable pop musicians, it’s still hanging in his wardrobe; something he returns to, and wears, quite often. “It always goes with something,” he says.
The methods by which we expand our wardrobes sustainably - both considerate and conscious of the environment - are growing as time goes by. Some are patchworking old fabric into new garments; others are using vintage stores and thrift shops to buy second hand. Meanwhile, an array of premium brands are figuring out how to put their best foot forward when it comes to creating new collections, in a way that puts focus on sustainable futures.
It filters down into the mindsets of those who design them. Case in point, Liam, who’s co-designed a new capsule collection with HUGO; one that carries a message of mindfulness. During his time working with them, Liam says he’s been given the freedom to make garments that seem “a little bit more dishevelled [than the] sharp edges you're used to with a HUGO design”.
The results for this capsule are true to that: exposed-stitch hoodies and sweatpants in earthy shades, jumpsuits that can be worn by anyone no matter how they identify, and graphic tees and jumpers that bear references to nature, consciousness and a genderless wearer. “I think the key to sustainable fashion, more than anything, is making good products that people want to buy and keep for a long time, so I wanted to kind of keep things very neutral and not go too far,” Liam says. HUGO are transparent with their progress on the ‘Clean Up Your Act’ section of their website. They call what they create "responsible fashion" and endeavour to add to the number of "responsible products” in their range. A grid gives us a regularly updated rundown of everything from their reduced CO2 emissions and water consumption, to the percentage of cotton they use that’s grown and sourced sustainably.
Eco-entrepreneur Marina Testino appears in the imagery created for HUGO’s Liam co-designed capsule too. Having previously shown the power of re-wearing outfits in her #OneDressToImpress project, in which she wore the same red suit everyday for two months, she fits perfectly into the ethos of the campaign. “The fashion industry has to change as a whole,” she insists on how the climate crisis can be addressed in clothes manufacturing. “I’m talking about complete business models; the approach to consumption; how many things are being produced. Also, like HUGO, working with initiatives [to make that change].” The initiative in question? Cotton made in Africa, who HUGO has partnered with to help improve the living conditions of its farmers, thus taking part in the fight to alleviate poverty. “It's all about small steps, but I think it's amazing, then everyone's waking up within the industry and really vouching for the future of sustainability.
“[This] image of constant consumption… it's not healthy for the industry, and it's not healthy for the planet,” Marina adds. “This is what we need to push for,” she says, of major brand’s recognising the need for change, and major talents like Liam supporting it. “This is what the future is going to be. I think that’s super important.”
The lockdown in the UK - where Liam’s spent much of the past nine months - gave him time to hone and revisit designs for the capsule collection that he’d drawn himself. His process is “quite logo driven,” he says. “I drew some things one night for the second collection, and it was quite fun! I was looking through my iPad that I use for drawing recently, and found all the colour swatches again.” Some, inevitably, have wound up in the natural, nomadic colour schemes in the clothes and the accompanying campaign, featuring Liam and Marina, that channels the beauty of the brush and the outdoors.
The final line-up of the HUGO x LIAM collection is a coterie of garments that he’s clearly delighted to play a part in the formation of. It’s given him the chance to utilize both his illustrative flare and his understanding of what the fashionable people of the world - a cognoscenti he’s now firmly a part of - want. “I’m not a fashion student,” Liam says bashfully, “but the way HUGO has coached me through this has been really fun for me. It’s been great to be a part of.”
