Designer Hosts Live Online Video Talk
English Laundry designer Christopher Wicks hosted an online video chat on Aug. 1, using the live video stream as an opportunity to announce upcoming lines within English Laundry and to answer questions from fans of the brand.
Hosted through his own Web site (asktherebel.com) and Virtual Promo Tours (www.virtualpromotours.com), Wicks appeared from the Los Angeles headquarters of Defiance USA, the parent company of English Laundry.
Wicks opened with a brief history of the English Laundry brand and his other music-inspired brands, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Fender. For 2009, Wicks will introduce a neckwear line, a formal shirt-wear line called Workwear by English Laundry and a watch collection. Wicks hopes to “grow the brand organically around the world” through various channels, including the Web.
Wicks described the new lines in English Laundry as a “story within a story.” The Independence line draws from the history of England and the lands that it helped to develop, such as India and Hong Kong, according to the U.K.–born and raised designer. Wicks held up to the camera a woven shirt that had Indian-inspired art on the back.
People’s Army, Warriors for Peace is a military-inspired line featuring mostly olives, tans and beige. The shirts are made from organically grown cotton to create an eco-friendly line, according to Wicks.
Questions were submitted by e-mail from fans hailing from locations across the globe, including Canada; the United States; Hong Kong; and Wicks’ hometown, Manchester, England. The questions ranged from fashion questions about suiting and French cuffs to inquiries as whether the brand plans to open more retail stores. The archived video chat can be viewed at http://asktherebel.com/thankyou. —Connie Cho
