Behind the set: the Tors of Dartmoor provide the mystical reference for John Lobb’s A/W 2016 presentation
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter
Watch John Lobb’s A/W 2016 show space come to life
Paula Gerbase readily admits that there is no long-standing connection between herself and Dartmoor. But that doesn’t mean the magnificence of this area of moorland in Southern Devon wasn’t deeply inspiring for her A/W 2016 John Lobb offering.
‘Working on the collection and going to Dartmoor,’ Gerbase reminisced, ‘I just absolutely loved it. The first time I went on this massive tour, there was a strong way that I felt in that environment. There’s something really primitive about it and it’s just beautiful.’
The set, which Thomas Petherick created with Gerbase and took two days to build was a witty study on what a natural environment can look like when combined with human-made elements. ‘I’m working with very natural materials, and my job is to bring them to life,’ explained Gerbase. ‘There’s a certain element of manipulation involved. That’s why I felt like manipulating the natural elements made sense in terms of this presentation.’
A gravel walk way led to a space filled with artificial Tors – heaps of rocks precariously balanced atop each other. Some emerged from white stucco freestanding walls, others were suspended in the air with metal cables.
The footwear, grouped in three ‘families’, sat perched upon them, illustrating how, ‘it’s all about walking; the contact of your sole with the ground’. They all shared a main theme: ‘lightness’, Gerbase summed up. ‘We wanted to make shoes that feel like gloves.’
INFORMATION
For more information, visit John Lobb’s website (opens in new tab) / Thomas Petherick’s website (opens in new tab)
-
Colour Clash is a bold compendium of dazzling supergraphics and logos that pop
Polychromatic perversity in graphic design is celebrated in Colour Clash, a monograph that looks at the new wave of visual expression
By Jonathan Bell • Published
-
Beacon House is the contemporary rebirth of a midcentury San Francisco home
Beacon House by Edmonds + Lee Architecture is a renovation project that sensitively brings a modernist San Francisco home into the 21st century
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Supergraphics pioneer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon: ‘Sure, make things big – anything is possible'
94-year-old graphic designer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon talks radical typography, motherhood, and her cool welcome for St Moritz
By Jessica Klingelfuss • Published
-
Jil Sander’s A/W 2020 show is set inside a refurbished thermo-electric station
Industrially inclined for autumn, the Meiers chose a recently refurbished former thermo-electric station, filled with mismatched vintage chairs
By Laura Hawkins • Last updated
-
Sole searching: John Lobb offered tor stories for S/S 2017 with a trek across Britain’s wild west
By Georgia Dehn • Last updated
-
Behind the set: Bureau Betak’s vision for Dior’s Cour Carrée A/W 2016 show
By Katrina Israel • Last updated
-
Behind the set: Prada’s A/W 2016 men’s show is endowed with civic responsibility
By Katrina Israel • Last updated
-
Behind the set: Jason Wu’s S/S 2016 Boss show space offered an ode to the Bauhaus
By Katrina Israel • Last updated
-
Behind the set: Dior squares up the Musée du Louvre’s courtly Cour Carrée for its A/W 2015 show
By Katrina Israel • Last updated
-
Behind the set: Erdem resurrects a 1960s Paris pied-à-terre for his A/W 2015 show
By Katrina Israel • Last updated
-
Behind the set: the making of AMO’s marble marvel for Prada’s A/W 2015 menswear show
By Eleanor Vousden • Last updated