Lavenham Stories - Fit for Purpose

Kosuke Tsumura X Lavenham.
Garments for Survival.

A continuation in our collaboration with the artist and designer. Designed in Japan, made in Suffolk.

November 2022

Kosuke Tsumura X Lavenham: The Jacket as the Home

A continuation of our collaboration with the artist and designer Kosuke Tsumura, we have once again explored Tsumura’s iconic survival poncho design.

Kosuke Tsumura

Tsumura first emerged onto the fashion scene in 1982 where he won the prestigious So-En prize and was quickly hired by Issey Miyake, who’s design studio he worked in until the 1990’s. In 1994 Tsumura he started his brand FINAL HOME and created his now iconic Survival Jacket.

Since then Tsumura has continued to explore themes of loss of home linked to our changing environment through his work as designer and artist.

Kosuke Tsumura X Lavenham

Designed by Tsumura and made in Suffolk, England at the Lavenham factory, the collaborative garments once again play on the idea that clothes are a person’s ultimate home, because we spend almost all our time within them.

Essentially a jacket within a jacket or a gilet withing a gilet, the body of each garment is made from the recycled polyester quilted fabric used across Lavenham’s most popular outerwear. To this base an Italian-made, technical nylon shell has been added, creating a ‘space’ between the two layers that can be accessed through the numerous zips which run up and down the body and sleeves.

Cut with an oversized, angular silhouette dominated by a large hood the jacket is intended to truly protect the wearer in the way a home would, shielding from the weather and providing the option of privacy wherever one finds themself.

Dungeness

The landscape of the Kent headland is often compared to imaginings of a post-apocalyptic world thanks to its stark, flat topography. In fact, far from being an almost uninhabitable dystopian setting, Dungeness is home to enough unique bird and plant species to make it an area of special scientific interest.

This interesting contradiction plus its arresting appearance made it the ideal place to capture the collaboration.