FIRST SAMPLES

The first round of physical garments was treated as evidence rather than a finished catalogue. A digital file could establish an intention; the samples made that intention answerable to fit, wash, surface and movement. Each piece was read at full scale and then again under a camera. The useful distinctions became physical: whether a volume held, whether distressing belonged, whether a graphic sat inside a textile or remained visibly on top of it.

Some decisions became Garments. The Cathedral Barrel Jeans became part of the current collection. Other decisions stayed open. The Cat Sweater print was rejected in its current form because the transfer looked separate from the garment. CALL MY STYLIST remained a type study, refined through removing elements rather than adding them.

The fitting itself became another kind of file. Mary tried pieces from the first sample order while Jeremy recorded details, movement and changing zooms on a Fujitsu camera from 1999. The loose footage was useful precisely because it was not made as a polished campaign. It preserved the garments under review rather than arranging them as conclusions.

FIRST SAMPLES brings these records together without giving every test the same status. Current Garments remain available as Garments. Rejected and unresolved work remains identified as such. The publication preserves both categories selectively: enough material to show how a decision was made, without pretending that every document belongs in public or that every problem has already been solved.