Creative Process ~ Arctic Optic Hooded Raincoat
Upon approaching Studio Cosmogram's Coline L'Achiver to work on Borealis and travel to Svalbard, I piqued her interest with one phrase: 'arctic op art'. I had envisioned reinterpreting Blue Nude's signature raincoat design with a lining that leaned geometric in style, in icy arctic colours.
Op art is an artistic style most commonly associated with mid-century art, where optical illusions are created with geometric shapes. Using radical simplicity, the contrasts create visual fallacies.
Op art was an artistic movement corresponding alongside the 'space age' aesthetic of the late 1950s and 60s, as our reality of human existence and modernism was broadened by the increasing curiosity and yearning for our species to leave its planet of origin. The art is psychedelic-leaning, in its ability to warp the eye's perception, though constructed through a scientific lens.
In present day, traversing across Svalbard's arctic on snowmobile, one becomes accustomed to a wash of white and grey. It makes it all the more magnificent to encounter glaciers, witnessing their brilliant turquoise emerging from the snow.
Two glaciers in particular mesmerized me. The first was lighter blue in colour, arranged like diamonds pushing through the snow, providing a 'James Bond villain's lair' effect. The second was a dazzling wall of deep turquoise. Looking closely by eye, the cracks and fractures in the wall of ice created magnificent patterns, layered within for a reality-contorting, kaleidoscopic effect. I could have stayed there for hours. Alas, with daylight receding and an intensifying blizzard, we were on the move once again with the memory preciously stored on my cameras.
A glacier on the arctic island of Svalbard.
Working on design ideation in London, Coline also became entranced by my videos and photographs of the deep turquoise glacier. Coincidentally, while I was on my snowmobile excursion, she had discovered an interesting graphic: a solargraph, at one of Svalbard's museums. A solargraph, also known as a sun path, is a scientific diagram where the movements of the sun over the horizon are charted into waves. With the help of a London-based scientist, Coline was able to create a solargraph of our time spent in Svalbard - March 8-14th, 2025. She painted this by hand in ink, then digitally layered multiples of the graphs with different shades of grey, white and blue. Adding varying transparencies, the print began to emanate the look of ice. The perfect artwork was made for our new raincoat's graphic lining.
An early sun graph rendition in ink, by Coline L'Achiver.
Coline's artwork is printed on recycled rPET silk twill and used as the lining for the inside of our jacket. It's an organic allusion to op art, with the lining creating a fantastic contrast with the smooth dark exterior of the coat. Truly, arctic optic.
The lining's rPET is recycled polyester, spun to feel like silk and custom-dyed with the sublimation technique. The polyester is sourced from 100% Global Recycled Standard (GRS)-accredited post-consumer plastic waste such as plastic bottles, diverted from landfill or reclaimed from the ocean. The inks used are also Oeko-Tex Class II-certified, meaning they are free of harmful chemicals and safe for skin-contact. The printing is done in London in a zero-to-landfill facility, using 100% renewable energy.
The coat's exterior is made from a luxurious recycled polyester called Seaqual. It's a European-made, water resistant technical gabardine with a light sheen. Its fibres consist of 70% Seaqual and 30% recycled polyester, meaning it has a high concentration of recycled recovered marine plastic.
While we typically avoid using oil-derived fabrics in our collections, we source responsible polyesters for our raincoats as they offer the most durable and suitable water resistance. It should be noted polyester is a contributor to ocean microplastics - when washing your coat, we recommend using a Guppy Friend washing bag to capture the microparticles before they enter the water stream.
Each coat is manufactured at a North London based small-batch production studio. The studio specializes in high-end production, working with many emerging and established designers and brands in the city. It takes eight hours to cut and sew just one of our pieces.
You can purchase the Arctic Optic Hooded Raincoat here.
