Atelier E.B

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Atelier E.B (Edinburgh Bruxelles) is the company name under which the designer Beca Lipscombe and the artist Lucy McKenzie sign their collaborative projects. The group was formed in 2007, and since 2011 the pair have operated as a fashion label which uses local production methods and alternatives forms of distribution and display. Lipscombe and McKenzie place art and design on an equal footing, applying methodologies from both spheres (for instance, embedding critique into clothing and utilising the notion of ‘styling’ as an artistic strategy). Their designs are produced, sold and promoted ethically, yet are too stylistically hacked to be marketed as an ‘eco brand’. They are also too inconsistent in price and material to be niche luxury; they defy categorisation.

Art is fascinated with fashion; dazzled by its pace and glamour, jealous of its utility. On the flip side, fashion’s adoption of approaches associated with contemporary art are rarely in ways that challenge the fundamental hierarchies, prejudices and exploitation that exist in the fashion industry. Atelier E.B’s designs do not look avant-garde in the way generally considered, with unusual (or even unwearable) materials and silhouettes. Rather the complex narratives that create each collection are expressed in different ways, leaving the wearer to imprint their own story onto the clothes. The brand is able to develop idiosyncratically because it is facilitated by the networks and opportunities within the contemporary art scene. This creates many advantages for the label; utilising an existing structure keeps overheads to a minimum and brings the product directly to the customer. Selling directly also circumvents the mediating power brokers such as stylists, buyers and editors that come between the designer and the wider public.

ATELIER E.B PASSER-BY: LAFAYETTE ANTICIPATIONS, PARIS by Atelier E.B

WALTHER KÖNIG

REGULAR PRICE ¥6,200