It’s is rare for a menswear label to consider itself print-based – digitally print-based for that matter. London-based label Agi & Sam is the product of ex-Alexander McQueen interns Agape Mdumulla and Sam Cotton. Sam completed a illustration degree, while Agi graduated with a degree in fashion design, thus a label with a print focus seemed the perfect way to amalgamate these skills. Believing digital prints to be latent within in the industry, they hope to bring new life and depths to their print art.
For their Spring/Summer 2012 collection they began with the Mexican festival ‘El Dios Del Muertos (The Day of the Dead). It would seem thorough cultural research was an important part of the design process. Agi and Sam explain that after intensive investigation their interest was honed in on the workwear of early 20th-century labourers and farmers of Central America. In particular the story of kidnapped mine workers, known as the Bisbee Deportation. In 1917 Mexican American miners had been striking when they were captured by vigilantes, driven 16 hours through the desert, left in New Mexico without food or water and ordered never to return to Bisbee. Struck by the clash of cultures and the pervading social binary of the lawful and the lawless Agi and Sam developed vivid digital print designs representing these influences. The result: 3-dimensional weaves, traditional geometric Aztec prints, a blanket check with the texture of wool and bright dip-dye gradient prints.
Print board from stylesalvage.blogspot.com
For in depth interview visit Style Salvage. Click here.
