If it seems obvious Basso and Brooke showcased yet another collection of inventive and shockingly brilliant digital prints, think again. While a few designers have been dipping their toes in the proverbial pond of digitizing paintings on garments, Basso and Brooke categorically rejected the thought of synchronizing their original aesthetic with that of every other headstrong designer attempting to revolutionize the art of implementing technology into fashion. Modesty, complacency and simplicity does not have a home in Basso and Brooke’s lexicon. So, the challenge this season for them was to not feature just another spectacle of technologically manipulated creations, but rather to modernize the synergy of Chris Brooke’s expertise in garment assembly and Bruno Basso’s passion for graphic artistry by exploring the notion of opposition – symmetry vs. asymmetry, human vs. digital, surface vs. structure, flat vs. angular. After an expedition by car, from London to Beijing, an idea was born.
The Spring/Summer 2012 runway show symbolized a tropical greenhouse exploding with futuristic designs, architectural construction, rural elements and commercial wearability. Influenced by the progression of landscapes during the drive across Siberia, the collection presented an evolution of these digital prints, as each new garment gracing the runway signified hints as to what the next piece would be, each bearing a sort of galactic infused floral motif. This concept would take the show’s attendees on an extravagantly colorful journey that can only be classified as quintessentially Basso and Brooke. There were flowing maxi dresses, tailored shorts, cropped tuxedo jackets, draped dresses, buttoned up shirts and loose fitting trousers. The kaleidoscope of colors, featuring everything from vivid turquoises to earthy greens to tangerine oranges to feathery grays, created hyper-digital patterns, which would eventually be strewn haphazardly across each item in contrasting shapes, like sharp, angular Vs or soft, smatterings of paint. The clever juxtaposition successfully defends their reign as pioneers in digital artwork in fashion, defeats their original challenge and paves the way for future designs.
