Story of the Style Patchwork Parachute

Story of the Style – Patchwork Parachute Group

In our next interview instalment of ‘Story of the Style’ read about how our founder, Georgia updated and evolved the bestselling and much-loved reversible Parachute styles to create the special edition, playful and responsibly produced Patchwork Parachute Group.

What was your inspiration?

Inspiration for the Patchwork Parachute collection stems directly from military parachutes, featuring parachute panel seaming, bold colourblocking in geometric shapes, a layout reminiscent of survival parachutes. Each reversible Patchwork Parachute styles combine multiple panels with surplus and deadstock materials, which are utilised to great effect as the panels are small and each garment holds an assortment of textures and colours, seamed together and produced in small, limited edition quantities as the finite amount of deadstock material dictates. This richness in texture and colour is emphasised by the choice to juxtapose quilted and non-quilted panels on each side, once again taking inspiration from the military parachutes that are highly detailed, multi-textured and multi-functional.

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How long does it take to make?

Sourcing the surplus fabrics from our Venetian factories and Italian mills, cutting, piecing and hand stitching together all the different materials is time consuming. The numerous seams and panels create the styles distinctive shape, the colour story, and the uniqueness. In total this collection will take 18 hours per piece.

How many artisans work on it and who are they?

There are 5 different individuals from our factories who will work on one Patchwork Parachute piece during different stages, as each element is distinctive and requires specialised skills and knowledge. These stages include sourcing the surplus fabric, creating the adjustable cords, quilting the Marfa Stance signature quilting, sewing, finishing, plus quality control. Each process is managed by different expert artisans.

What are the key design elements?

The numerous seams and panels on the pieces in this collection are key to the design, as they capture the inspiration of military style parachutes. Each of the Patchwork Parachute panels have one principal colour, as seen with military parachutes that use high visibility colours, and our designs feature either yellow or orange in homage. The colourways have been purposefully selected to be subtle and tonal in the front, with a jolt of a high visibility colour placed in the back, while the reverse of the piece features our more classic, tonal and signature colour stories.

The Patchwork Parachute range features many limited surplus and deadstock materials, and consequently only a small number of each colourway can be produced. Each owner can rest assured that they possess a collectable piece, and coupled with their choice ofmodular accessories it can become completely unique.

The fit offers many versatile ways to wear - style it more fitted by cinching the waist, hem, neck, and cuff using the functional drawcords; wear it uncinched and loose for a dramatic and oversized silhouette; or fully reverse for an entirely different look with one jacket.

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What are the modular elements?

Personalise your piece and make it modular. Add a hood for extra protection against the elements, add a collar for both style and function as the weather changes, or layer a reversible liner inside for added warmth during the colder seasons.