Photography by Shoji Fujii
19th century botanical drawings were the starting point for Sarah Swash and Toshio Yamanaka for their S/S 09 collection "Botanical Psychedelia." "The more we looked at the drawings, the more unreal they became," says Swash, who together with Yamanaka have applied their unique illustrations to loose silk shapes. As always, it's the detailed ink illustrations that do the talking as the flora and fauna overtake the garments, as seen in the skechbooks which Swash allowed Dazed Digital to take a look at. The printing techniques which Swash have developed means they can combine intricate drawings with watercolour strokes that look like ink has seeped into the fabric. Cream satins and silks provide the perfect canvas for the drawings. Painters smocks get treated in pale pink, denim and tartan and add a different dimension to the collection that is as expected from Swash, heavily print dominated. On a rucksack and a sporty cardigan the illustrations are also given a different context. Prettiness is abound but Swash know how to pull it back to let their complex illustrations shine.