Indeed, you get a sense from Cooke’s work that he is a hard-working, enthusiastic experimenter, as he playfully engages and incorporates traditional tailoring, personal doodlings and deconstructed garments into his work. He graduated from Central Saint Martins’ BA Fashion Print pathway, and his devotion to the printing process is highly visible in his work. A whole range of textiles — from nylon tattoo-esque fitted tops to amalgamations of traditional British patterns — come together in hectic but poetic looks, which are joyful, nostalgic, urgent. “As a print student, textiles are a massive part of your work,” he explains about his process. “I’m always looking into trying out new ways of putting fabric together. I don’t just want to print, I want to weave, melt, sew, stick; anything I can do to show my ideas. I guess that’s what’s so brilliant about the print course; everything is open to interpretation, and I believe — especially in terms of my designs — that fabric manipulation is one of the most exciting things.”
“I REALLY WANTED THIS ELEMENT OF ‘BEING CAUGHT WITH YOUR PANTS DOWN’ TO HAPPEN.”
Distortion as a manipulative tool has been a central strategy for Cooke’s graduate collection, where he experimented with cutting, stretching and opening fabrics. Long jackets have neatly been ‘undone’ as they are symmetrically pierced, and the printed nylon tops are stretched as they fit the individual wearer. The British sculptor and Royal Academy of Art member (and in fact, Central Saint Martins graduate) Bill Woodrow was one of the main inspirations behind the collection, as he similarly processes and re-purposes found objects; transforming and folding them into new objects while keeping a link of material between both. “There was the idea of making something more out of something else — like cutting fabric away, or shredding it to reveal what’s underneath. I really wanted this element of ‘being caught with your pants down’ to happen too, all with a heavy focus on nostalgia and exploring someone’s past-and-present through layers of clothes.”