C.P. Company’s new collection reinvigorates a design classic
Drawing inspiration from the 1999 Urban Protection range, C.P. Company’s Metropolis collection is primed for the demands of city living
![Left: Male model wearing khaki hooded jacket and trousers, against a white tiled wall. Right: Male model wearing a long brown jacket and black trousers, leaning forward onto an orange metal guard rail, stone paved floor and metal shutter backdrop](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/J2ykXZE9jEZ3Cu3RDRvoe9-415-80.jpg)
‘No smog, for protection, a shell for consciousness,’ ran the original tagline for the Metropolis jacket by C.P. Company, part of the Italian brand’s seminal Urban Protection range first released in 1999. Designed by then-creative director Morena Ferrari, each piece was primed for the demands of turn-of-the-millennium city life – from a jacket which warned its wearer of air contamination via a flashing green-to-red LED light, to pieces crafted from dynavil, a fabric which is water, wind, oil and tear proof (other garments were created with built-in torches, travels pillows and even a scooter). The Metropolis parka jacket itself came complete with a removal ‘smog mask’, and a multitude of other functional features, pockets and compartments.
C.P. Company Metropolis collection: made for city living
C.P. Company Metropolis Series A/W 2022
The Metropolis serves as inspiration for a new collection of the same name, released by C.P. Company this month. Drawing inspiration from the original Urban Protection range – which the company deem ‘true objects of industrial design’ – the various pieces utilise the innovative fabrications and manufacturing techniques long at the heart of the label to create a collection which reimagines a uniform for city living in the 2020s. C.P. Company say that they hope the collection will ‘reduce the stress of urban life’.
Spanning dynatec parkas – a lighter version of the original dynavil used in the inaugural Urban Protection collection – multi-pocket overshirts, and soft-shell jackets, crafted from recycled nylon, the Metropolis collection is defined by ‘minimalist design’ and utilitarian features, alongside signature C.P. Company branding (labels inside denote the various fabrications and features). Other innovations include a modular pocket system which utilises seamless technology for ‘optimum comfort and functionality’, while other garments are playful hybrids – one jacket, for example, comes with the sleeves of a knitted sweater for a unique two-in-one.
INFORMATION
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Jack Moss is the Fashion Features Editor at Wallpaper*, joining the team in 2022. Having previously been the digital features editor at AnOther and digital editor at 10 and 10 Men magazines, he has also contributed to titles including i-D, Dazed, 10 Magazine, Mr Porter’s The Journal and more, while also featuring in Dazed: 32 Years Confused: The Covers, published by Rizzoli. He is particularly interested in the moments when fashion intersects with other creative disciplines – notably art and design – as well as championing a new generation of international talent and reporting from international fashion weeks. Across his career, he has interviewed the fashion industry’s leading figures, including Rick Owens, Pieter Mulier, Jonathan Anderson, Grace Wales Bonner, Christian Lacroix, Kate Moss and Manolo Blahnik.
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published