Creative Process ~ Isalos Silk Button-Up Shirt

Isalos is a fun, summer-ready printed silk button-up shirt imbued with painted motifs by artist Laurence Watchorn. It's ready to be layered over a bathing suit to head to the pool, or worn with wide-leg pants for a breezy dinner by the ocean.

In Laurence's Chelsea, West London studio, we selected painted elements from his various works of art. These were photographed, extracted digitally, and then printed on a large metre of silk to pick and match what would be selected to decorate the shirt.

 

Selecting and testing digitally extracted art elements from Laurence's works.

 

The motifs resemble joyful images that give us the same feeling as a serotonin boost on a summer's day. On the back, an expressionist nude figure lounges under the sun. On the front, a spiral sun is casually etched on the shoulder.

After selecting the motifs from Laurence's canvases, they were cut out and pinned to a button-up on a mannequin in our East London studio. After tinkering with positioning for some time, we calculated measurements of placement on metres of fabric as each painted element needed to be placed exactly so as to fall in the correct position on each pattern piece of the garment. 

Many garments, especially in fast fashion, are printed with continuous 'all over' prints. This means the print continues from metre to metre of fabric, and the pattern pieces can be cut anywhere on the roll. It's more cost effective, but much less intentional. At our studio, we are fascinated by how our patterns interact with and highlight specific parts of the human body, which can be lost when placement is random.

 

Creative Director, Katarina, considering motif placement in her East London studio.

 

Our silk is digitally printed by a supplier working out of the heritage 'silk town' of Macclesfield, UK, which has been established there for over 50 years. In 2024 they installed solar panels at their production facility, avoiding 103.23 tons of CO2 emissions. It's equivalent to the emissions of 24.6 cars being driven for one year.

Silk is a biodegradable natural fabric, though it is worth noting that traditional silk production kills silkworms in the process.

Isalos' blue marbled buttons are bioresin, meaning they're plastic-free.

You can purchase the Isalos Silk Button-Up Shirt here.