+collections so far: Autumn/Winter '07, Spring/Summer '08, Autumn/Winter '08, Spring/Summer '09

Ok, so we're working on our web-site for SS09. The cover picture is from the show we did for Gen Art, and we'll have the rest of the pics from our collection up as soon as we shoot our look book next week. Also, you can watch our show and purchase some of our clothing at YOOX.COM.

On a side note, this was a pretty awful New York fashion week (besides our stuff, of course, and like Khai Kahune). With Chirstopher Kane and Louise Golden the Brits put us to shame. How can we expect people to buy when what we're showing is both boring and so easily imitable, let alone when we're in a recession. Yeah, I'm going there.

TWO BIG THINGS:
1. We're in the August issue of Elle with Mariah Carey on the cover--touch my body.
2. Jesse is a published author: check out Securing the Homeland. Jesse co-wrote a chapter with Professor James Der Derian of Brown University. Now a few words from Jesse:

The chapter is basically about how the technology industry is capitalizing on the war on terror, and is producing a whole slew of new gadgets to track and anticipate violent activity. It's an interesting read.

Currently I'm working on something a bit more germane to fashion: Warfare and Design - an article examining the way states and military organizations have affected the evolution of architecture and fashion. I'm looking for help on this, so if anyone cares to lend a hand...email me at jesse@jfandson.com.
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Writer and historian Shiela Breckman interviews Jesse Finkelstein about JF & SON's Autumn/Winter '08 collection.

Shiela: I just received the draft of your fall lookbook. What is all this falling about—other than of course the Fall collection?

Jesse: All of the looks are named after the world’s tallest towers, so there’s a cheeky reference to jumping off of buildings. There’s also an allusion to being on the brink of something and actively jumping into it rather than abjectly falling into it.

Shiela: You’re partly telling a story about change, and the ability to create change, but how does this idea relate back to fashion?

Jesse: For JF & SON we're exploring a vision of the future. Every fashion company, intentionally or unintentionally, proposes an ideal that their clothes exist within. Currently, the most successful brands have given us a picture of the future which is uninhabited by change; where randomness is contrived, beauty calculated, and people resemble adolescent cyborgs. Before 9/11 this vision made complete sense, because it assumed the complete success of liberalism; albeit in a slightly menacing way. But times are changing and designers are now forced to account for a future that is far less inevitable.

Shiela: So what is JF & SON's vision and how is it articulated through the clothing?

Jesse: We're still in the process of figuring that out. We tend to focus on form, material, and function, but not at the risk of losing whimsy or imagination. It’s important that the clothes reflect a balance between play and antagonism.

Shiela: I think the Canvas dresses are a good example because they're so armor-like yet delicate. The coats function like fortresses and the digital printed dresses look like camouflage for a city of lights. So I definitely see this antagonistic or battle-ready element in the line. But at the same time, I wouldn't say the collection is too dark or sinister. The colors are often bright and the prints seem traditional and blithe. Even the digital Lantern dress, whose print is a manipulated image of Baghdad’s skyline, is innocent looking. So you’re definitely getting at something.

Jesse: JF & SON imagines a future that is unpredictable; therefore the need for dresses that protect, but not at the expense of loosing their playfulness. At the end of the day, a dress is a machine to play in.