FIVE POINTS
When my family immigrated to New York in the 1800s, they lived in a Lower Manhattan neighborhood called Five Points. My research into the colorful history and folklore of Five Points informed this collection and guided my decisions as I designed and patterned garments and accessories, sewed each piece, and developed my own textile—a blend of 50% linen and 50% wool with a unique broken twill weave. In keeping with the rest of my work, as well as my personal values to advance quality and sustainability, this collection utilizes exclusively natural materials like wool, cotton, linen, leather, shell, and horn with an emphasis on hand spun and hand woven textiles and natural dyes.
Suit of 50% linen 50% wool cloth I designed, handwoven to my exact specifications. Handwoven cotton shirt. Handmade suspenders with aged silver hardware.
Shirt of antique linen from a defunct Irish mill. Scottish diamond twill wool trousers lined with cotton.
Naturally dyed diamond twill handwoven cotton shirt. Trousers of Scottish tweed with naturally dyed stripes and a cotton lining. Scottish windowpane tweed blazer.
Suit of Scottish windowpane tweed. Shirt of handwoven cotton with naturally dyed stripes. Personally handwoven striped wool gathered cap.
Scottish tweed overcoat with back pocket detail. Stand collar shirt of handwoven striped cotton. Lined trousers of Scottish herringbone wool. Personally handwoven striped linen scarf.
PROCESS
Cloth sampling on my 1940s loom.
I worked closely with a weaver who wove the cloth I developed at full width.
Ten yards of the final cloth with random intentional "errors" in the treadling to emphasize its handwoven nature.
Antique Z.S. labels.
Cutting, ensuring stripes align, and thread marking.
Gathered cap of personally handwoven wool with hand stained reverse leather brim.
Six pairs of suspenders.
The lining of my trousers.
Photos and tintypes: Timothy Ng.
Models: John Adewuni, Khalil Amore, Eli Dolton-Thornton, Maxwell Gray, Axel Keppler, Nathan Kottler, Tobias Micko, Tuan Phan, Zak Sclare, Brandon Soffer, Antoine White.
January-April 2024.