Sportswear stalwart Fred Perry’s collaboration with London designer Richard Nicoll goes on-sale today. Nicoll has designed Fred Perry’s SS11 Laurel Wreath collection, drawing on the company’s heritage for inspiration, then cleverly subverting it. While his own summer collection shows signs of a modern sportsluxe influence, the Laurel Wreath collection unites Ken Russell’s images of Fifties teddy girls with subtle, modern androgyny.
“I like the idea that something as conservative and traditional as a cameo brooch could become subversive in the right hands,” says Nicoll. “I mixed sport jersey with lurex piqué and brocade cottons to create a clash of sport and traditional Fifties couture elements in dynamic but recognisably Fifties colours such as eau de nil and peach.” Rizzo eat your heart out.