Palmer Harding S/S 2012 Film | Source: Palmer Harding

LONDON, United Kingdom — Designed by Matthew Harding, 27, and Levi Palmer, 30, Palmer Harding made its debut at London Fashion Week last September, focusing on the power of a crisp white shirt. With this simple, savvy strategy, compulsive attention to detail and wizard-like skills for sculpting Swiss cotton, the men’s and women’s shirt label quickly garnered healthy international interest.

While white shirts are at the core of Palmer Harding, the designers stress that the brand’s vision is not limited to one type of garment. “We’re not just a white shirt company. We’re a designer brand that starts with shirts,” explained Harding. But not wanting to add noise to a crowded fashion market, or take on too much, too soon, the duo aim to perfect their shirts, a piece of clothing they feel is often neglected, before moving on to a full line.

“It’s easier to start a business having one focused thing. I think [people feel] there’s a need to rush in fashion. But we’re going to take our time,” he continued. “And when we do branch out into other aspects, we want them to highlight the beauty of the shirt. We don’t want to detract from what our core brand is about,” added Palmer.

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Song For The Mute S/S 2012 | Source: Song For The Mute

SYDNEY, Australia — This month, the BoF Spotlight turns to Song for the Mute, an Australian menswear label founded by graphic artist Melvin Tanaya and Accademia Italiana Di Moda-trained designer Lyna Ty, whose sleek, modern clothes and unconventional approach to traditional fabrics made them the first ever menswear brand to win the prestigious Designer Award earlier this year at the L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival, an accolade previously awarded to Australian fashion industry favourite Dion Lee.

“It’s about modern proportions, exhaustive attention to detail and, above all, a continuous re-interpretation of traditional fabrics through pure construction and new shapes that heighten the natural qualities of the fabric,” said Ty, the brand’s creative director, on the label’s aesthetic. “But we wouldn’t be able to do all this amazing development with fabrics if it weren’t for AWI,” added Tanaya, referring to an important partnership the duo has established with Australian Wool Innovation Limited, a non-profit organization owned by over 29,000 Australian woolgrowers that invests in research, development, innovation and marketing along the global supply chain for Australian wool.

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Malene Oddershede Bach S/S 2012 | Source: Malene Oddershede Bach

LONDON, United Kingdom — This month, the BoF Spotlight turns to Malene Oddershede Bach, the Denmark-born, London-based designer whose meticulously constructed Spring-Summer collection of architectural-yet-feminine silhouettes, textured knits, silks and cottons, and vivid, unexpected prints stood out at Vauxhall Fashion Scout’s ‘Ones to Watch’ show this season.

Oddershede Bach’s spring colour palette of electric pink, turquoise, yellow and black — “it’s always important to have a few black pieces,” said the savvy newcomer — was inspired by psychedelic films, specifically Gaspar Noé’s Enter the Void, while unconventional details like sculpted shoulders and deliberately misplaced arm slits were influenced by the uneasy, psychological horror films of David Cronenberg. “The shoulder details come from the idea of the self not feeling complete,” said Oddershede Bach.

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NEW YORK, United States — Over the weekend, Band of Outsiders’ Scott Sternberg put on a lovely low-key show for his two women’s collections —Boy and Girl — underneath The Highline on New York’s West side. But earlier this summer he pulled out all the stops for a spectacular West Side Story-themed show for his Spring/Summer 2012 menswear collection as a special guest designer at the 80th edition of Pitti Uomo in Florence, Italy.

Sternberg’s star has been rising in international fashion circles, despite his having no formal fashion training; despite his decision to base his business in Los Angeles, far from the fashion mainstream; and despite price points that position his collection closer to high-end European brands than the surfeit of lookalike American contemporary brands which also call Los Angeles home.

I caught up with Scott at the gorgeous Villa Cora hotel the day after his Pitti show to understand the thinking behind these strategic decisions and learn more about his plans for the future of Band of Outsiders.

InAisce S/S 2012 | Source: InAisce

NEW YORK, United States — This month, the BoF Spotlight turns to InAisce, the New York-based anti-trend menswear label launched by Colorado native Jona (first name only) whose poetic and meticulously crafted work — simultaneously forward-looking and artisanal — first caught our eye at New York boutique If. “InAisce doesn’t fit into a category,” Jona told BoF, speaking at his design studio on the fourth floor of a former factory building in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighbourhood. “I’m neither Gareth Pugh, nor an Italian artisan.”

Rather, InAisce (pronounced “in-ask-ee”) manages to unite these very different approaches, creating dark, modern, architectural looks that also feel natural, organic and full of passion for history and place. “The man-made, architectural aspect comes from my actual surroundings,” said Jona, gesturing to the industrial environment around him. “The natural part comes from what I’m experiencing in my head — my imagination and my memories of times in Colorado, Indonesia, Taiwan and Japan,” he continued.

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