Lover (clothing)
Encyclopedia
Lover is an Australian fashion
label launched in 2001 by designers Susien Chong
and Nic Briand. The label began as a weekend stall at Bondi
Markets and has since risen to prominence in Australia and internationally, developing a cult and celebrity following.
films, Black Flag
, Marianne Faithfull
. Nic Briand's influences tend to be "heavier" such as the Wu Tang Clan, comic books and Jimi Hendrix
, whereas Susien Chong's are "softer" elements such as Picnic at Hanging Rock
, ballet and Roberta Flack
.
Influences:
magazine (US). Chong has commented that she was inspired by "lovelorn girls working their way through the crowds at gigs around Sydney".
and Black Sabbath
records" according to Nic Briand. Influences:
patch on the back, contrast stitching and a Lover monogrammed lining along the inner waistband. The jeans were made in a limited edition of only 1,000 pairs. The jeans were accompanied by a tote bag featuring the Lover monogram and a key ring with a large button motif. Lover were drawn to the collaboration with the denim giant due to the fact that "Levis rock'n'roll youth culture heritage was a perfect fit with the mood of" their A/W About A Girl collection.
story. Set to a discordant and raw soundtrack by the Kills the runway show chronologically depicts four distinct periods in the Patty Hearst kidnapping saga. The first is innocence; represented via the use of white dresses, blouses and pinafores. The next phase is Hearst
at college; slogan tees, cuffed shorts, bandanas, denim and louder colour accents such as red, yellow and blue highlight this change, whilst the slow seeping of black into the palette suggests the darkness which will come. The third period is during her period as a fighter with the SLA; uniform-like khakis drench this radical phases pallet. The last phase is purely black, featuring black corsages to symbolise the death of Patty's innocence. Influences:
hi-tops and Authentic Vans in white. Influences:
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
label launched in 2001 by designers Susien Chong
Susien Chong
Susien Chong is one half of the Sydney based fashion label Lover.Chong grew up in Sydney, attending St George Girls High School, Kogarah. She obtained a degree in design from the University of Technology Sydney, and came to prominence by winning the Smirnoff Fashion Award while still a student.She...
and Nic Briand. The label began as a weekend stall at Bondi
Bondi, New South Wales
Bondi is an eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Bondi is located seven kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council. The postcode is 2026.-Location:...
Markets and has since risen to prominence in Australia and internationally, developing a cult and celebrity following.
Background
Lover's collections all draw upon various false inspirations from the worlds of art, music, film and pop culture. Designer Nic Briand says each collection "has a narrative and central character". Constant influences on the duo include Jean Luc Godard, early Woody AllenWoody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
films, Black Flag
Black Flag (band)
Black Flag was an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. The band was established by Greg Ginn, the guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes in the band...
, Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
. Nic Briand's influences tend to be "heavier" such as the Wu Tang Clan, comic books and Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, whereas Susien Chong's are "softer" elements such as Picnic at Hanging Rock
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Picnic at Hanging Rock is a 1967 drama and mystery novel by Australian author Joan Lindsay. She wrote it over a four-week period at her home Mulberry Hill in Baxter, on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula. It was first published in 1967 in Australia by Cheshire Publishing and was released in...
, ballet and Roberta Flack
Roberta Flack
Roberta Flack is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who is notable for jazz, soul, R&B, and folk music...
.
Melodies (SS 2004)
Features a palette of cream, pale blue and black with polka-dot motifs and the Lover trademark oversized buttons.Influences:
- Meg WhiteMeg WhiteMegan Martha "Meg" White is an American drummer best known for her work in the Detroit rock duo The White Stripes.-Early life:...
- Françoise HardyFrançoise HardyFrançoise Madeleine Hardy is a French singer, actress and astrologer. Hardy is an iconic figure in fashion, music and style. She is married to the singer and movie actor Jacques Dutronc.-Biography:...
Miss Francoise (AW 2004)
Black, white, red and midnight blues create a loud and vibrant edge to a collection with a title as sweet as Miss Francoise. Oversized buttons and satin are present staples. The collection has an overriding masculine edge with pieces such as crisp white shirts, cuffed wide-legged pants and suspenders.Broken Hearts (SS 2005)
The Broken Hearts collection features tailored, classic, simple staples in a basic palette of black and white with splashes of red and pink. Lace began to creep into their designs this season with an off the shoulder number that was featured in NylonNylon (magazine)
Nylon is an American magazine that focuses on pop culture and fashion. Its coverage includes art, beauty, music, design, celebrities, technology and travel...
magazine (US). Chong has commented that she was inspired by "lovelorn girls working their way through the crowds at gigs around Sydney".
Performance (AW 2005)
Performance tells "the story of a shy schoolgirl violin player who is awakened by the sounds of her brother's Led ZeppelinLed Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
and Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
records" according to Nic Briand. Influences:
- Freaks and GeeksFreaks and GeeksFreaks and Geeks is an American teen comedy-drama television series, created by Paul Feig and executive produced by Judd Apatow, that aired on NBC during the 1999–2000 television season...
- BalletBalletBallet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
- 1970s Rock1970s in musicFor music from a year in the 1970s, go to 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 1970s....
Black Magick (SS 2006)
Black Magick was the collection that made Lover a "one to watch" brand. Fashionistas were flocking to get their hands on the pinstriped denim cuffed shorts and the "it" dress of the season, the white lace Black Magick dress. Velvets, denim and folk-influenced floral trimmings made this collection hippie without being all about free love. Influences:- Folk musicFolk musicFolk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
- Charles MansonCharles MansonCharles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
- TarotTarotThe tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...
Cards - 1960s1960sThe 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
Lover Loves Levi's (March 2006)
The jeans featured an oversized button to fasten the jeans, a black Levi'sLevi Strauss & Co.
Levi Strauss & Co. is a privately held American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's brand of denim jeans. It was founded in 1853 when Levi Strauss came from Buttenheim, Franconia, to San Francisco, California to open a west coast branch of his brothers' New York dry goods business...
patch on the back, contrast stitching and a Lover monogrammed lining along the inner waistband. The jeans were made in a limited edition of only 1,000 pairs. The jeans were accompanied by a tote bag featuring the Lover monogram and a key ring with a large button motif. Lover were drawn to the collaboration with the denim giant due to the fact that "Levis rock'n'roll youth culture heritage was a perfect fit with the mood of" their A/W About A Girl collection.
About a Girl (AW 2006)
About A Girl featured bleached-out white, grey/purple plaids and black. Patterned lace tights and skivis were the base for many of the collection's looks. Vests, pinafores, floaty blouses, playsuits, over sized buttons, cuffed shorts and a stand-out white lacey dress were the threads that linked Lover with their past collections. Influences:- Kurt CobainKurt CobainKurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...
Black Rose Army (SS 2007)
The Black Rose Army collection depicts a transformation from innocent and "rich heiress to sex-bomb renegade"; this is the Patty HearstPatty Hearst
Patricia Campbell Hearst , now known as Patricia Campbell Hearst Shaw, is an American newspaper heiress, socialite, actress, kidnap victim, and convicted bank robber....
story. Set to a discordant and raw soundtrack by the Kills the runway show chronologically depicts four distinct periods in the Patty Hearst kidnapping saga. The first is innocence; represented via the use of white dresses, blouses and pinafores. The next phase is Hearst
Patty Hearst
Patricia Campbell Hearst , now known as Patricia Campbell Hearst Shaw, is an American newspaper heiress, socialite, actress, kidnap victim, and convicted bank robber....
at college; slogan tees, cuffed shorts, bandanas, denim and louder colour accents such as red, yellow and blue highlight this change, whilst the slow seeping of black into the palette suggests the darkness which will come. The third period is during her period as a fighter with the SLA; uniform-like khakis drench this radical phases pallet. The last phase is purely black, featuring black corsages to symbolise the death of Patty's innocence. Influences:
- Patty HearstPatty HearstPatricia Campbell Hearst , now known as Patricia Campbell Hearst Shaw, is an American newspaper heiress, socialite, actress, kidnap victim, and convicted bank robber....
- Symbionese Liberation ArmySymbionese Liberation ArmyThe Symbionese Liberation Army was an American self-styled left-wing urban militant group active between 1973 and 1975 that considered itself a revolutionary vanguard army...
, (SLA) - BerkeleyBerkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
in the 1960s - Nic Briand commented that Black Rose Army was influenced by the last half of Martin ScorseseMartin ScorseseMartin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
's documentary No Direction HomeNo Direction HomeNo Direction Home is a documentary film by Martin Scorsese that traces the life of Bob Dylan, and his impact on 20th century American popular music and culture. The film does not cover Dylan's entire career; it concentrates on the period between Dylan's arrival in New York in January 1961 and his...
about Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, The KillsThe KillsThe Kills is a rock band formed by American singer Alison Mosshart and British guitarist Jamie Hince . Their first three albums, Keep On Your Mean Side, No Wow, and Midnight Boom, have garnered much critical praise...
, Zabriske Point, the first two Public Enemy albums, Glen E. FriedmanGlen E. FriedmanGlen E. Friedman is an American photographer and artist.Coming to prominence in the 1980s with his photography of skateboarders and musicians, Friedman is considered one of the most important photographers of his generation.He is perhaps best known for his work promoting rebellious artists such as...
's photos of the LA punk scene, the box set of PeanutsPeanutsPeanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
with Charlie Brown, Joseph SzaboJoseph SzaboJoseph Szabo is an American photographer.-Life and career:Szabo studied photography at the Pratt Institute where he received his MFA. He taught photography at Malverne High School in Long Island, New York from 1972 to 1999 and he continues to teach at the International Centre of Photography...
's Teenage, early blues players Son Lightnin Hopkins and Robert Johnson and Curb Your EnthusiasmCurb Your EnthusiasmCurb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy television series produced and broadcast by HBO, which premiered on October 15, 2000. As of 2011, it has completed 80 episodes over eight seasons. The series was created by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, who stars as a fictionalized version of himself...
.
Altamont (AW 2007)
Influences:- Altamont music festival
- The Rolling StonesThe Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
- 1970s1970sFile:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
One Plus One (SS 2008)
This collection sees the introduction of a swimwear line featuring 12 styles in either lace knit, French stripe or denim. Reflecting the interest in 1970s skate culture the line was intended to be "At home on the bleachers of a lazy suburban swimming pool mixed with denim jeans or sitting on the beach". To accompany the collection Lover used All-white VansVans
Vans is an American based manufacturer of sneakers, skateboarding shoes, BMX shoes, snowboarding boots and other shoe types.- History :On March 16, 1966, at 704 E. Broadway, in Anaheim, California, brothers Paul Van Doren, James Van Doren, and three other partners opened up their first store...
hi-tops and Authentic Vans in white. Influences:
- Dogtown and Z-BoysDogtown and Z-BoysDogtown and Z-Boys is a 2001 documentary film directed by Stacy Peralta. Using a mix of film the Zephyr skateboard team shot in the 1970s by Craig Stecyk and more recent interviews, the documentary tells the story of a group of teenage surfer/skateboarders and their influence on the history of...
- CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in the 1970s - The Z-BoysZ-BoysThe Z-Boys was a group of skateboarders in the mid-1970s from Santa Monica and Venice, California. The aerial and sliding skate moves that the Z-Boys invented were the basis for aerial skateboarding today.-History:...
skating crew - 70s skating culture
- Robert AltmanRobert AltmanRobert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
's 3 Women - HarvestHarvestHarvest is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper...
by Neil YoungNeil YoungNeil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation... - Prayer of DeathPrayer of DeathPrayer of Death is the third studio album by the band Entrance. It is the band's first release on Tee Pee Records. It was released in October 2006.- Track listing :* All songs were written by Guy Blakeslee#"Grim Reaper Blues" - 4:29...
by EntranceEntrance (musician)The Entrance Band is a band started by Guy Blakeslee . Their style of music has been described as psychedelic rock or stoner rock.... - Electric LadylandElectric LadylandElectric Ladyland is the third and final album of new material by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, released in October 1968 on Reprise Records, catalogue 2RS 6307. It is the only Hendrix studio album professionally produced under his supervision. It topped the Billboard 200 album chart for two weeks in...
, Jimi HendrixJimi HendrixJames Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter... - Imagine Our LoveImagine Our LoveImagine Our Love is a folk album by Los Angeles-based Lavender Diamond. It was released in May 2007 by Matador Records.-Track listing:#"Oh No" – 3:47#"Garden Rose" – 5:04#"Open Your Heart" – 3:11#"Side of the Lord" – 2:48...
, Lavender DiamondLavender DiamondLavender Diamond is a Los Angeles-based Folk/country-pop quartet known for its light-hearted, often winsome sound; its simple, romantic lyrics; and the charismatic, whimsical stage presence and ethereal vocals of frontwoman Becky Stark.-History:... - Brightblack Morning LightBrightblack Morning LightBrightblack Morning Light was a band which formed in Northern California by Nathan Shineywater and Rachael Hughes, both of whom originally hail from Alabama, Shineywater from Birmingham and Hughes from just outside of Montgomery. Shineywater plays electric slide guitar, and Hughes favors vintage...