#edward meadham

[mode-genesis]

The Legacy of Meadham Kirchhoff

by MODE GENESIS

Known for their outrageous interloping of romanticism and rebellion, Meadham Kirchoff had become an iconic brand in the early to mid-2000s. The brand was founded by designers Edward Meadham and Benjamin Kirchoff, both graduates from Central Saint Martins, which gained fame through its extravagant expression of whimsicality. An interview by Glamcult with Kirchoff verbalizes how he designs from instinct in a state of “aborted happiness,” and both feel the fashion industry is “based on a repetition of ideas, often aimed at product placement.”

Their inspirations ranging from Victorian dolls to Courtney Love lookalikes in the SS 2012 show, the duo expressed a fresh approach to fashion which became one of the signatures of their brand identity.

Each show transported you into a carefully crafted almost theatrical performance with scent, visuals, light, and music accompanying. Their rebellious spirit brought new design innovation through patchwork dresses in velvet and leather, stacked glittering platform shoes, and a runway decorated with what looked like blood-dipped tampons. Each piece in their collection was carefully made through tailoring research and using techniques such as Elizabethan lacework. The handwork which came in forms of hand embroidery showed in garments in almost all seasons, and detailed construction of each piece became a standard for the brand

Although their womenswear lines achieved most of the media attention, their menswear emerged as out of the ordinary on the London scene. The collections set the direction of modern-day menswear, anticipating the arrival of gender-fluid casting and boy-meets-girl styling. One of their final shows, SS 15, was reclaimed as a celebration of different bodies, genders, and races. The use of rubber, chiffon, color, and layered drapery was an ode to the liberation they stand for. They were chosen as LVMH Young Fashion Designers but weren’t included as finalists so in their show notes they elaborated, “Fuck LVMH corporate fashion,” which is admirable considering the nature of the fashion industry, LVMH, and celebrity culture. As a Dazed article states, “Because fashion doesn’t just have to be about seasonal trends; it can, at its best, be a broader reflection of society, and like riot grrl, BodyMap, Westwood, and Leigh Bowery before them, Meadham Kirchhoff is making clothes for the people they love: the dykes, fags, slappers, and freaks.”

The brand met its demise when most of their clothes they were making weren’t sellable; the market was too niche, and production costs of garments became too high. While it was believed for Meadham Kirchoff as a whole for their clothes to be either too expensive or costume-like, critics praised them, and many designers looked at them as an inspiration. As a Dazed Article states, “They were showing detailed lace on par and on time with the wonders that Alexander McQueen was showing on its runway. Some have even likened the brand’s jackets—particularly from years ago—as foreshadowing those that made Christophe Decarnin a star at Balmain.”

Most of the brand’s pieces have been long lost, as the archive was taken by their landlord and sold in 2015, leaving only pictures and memories of what once was. Since the brand shut down, the duo has gone on separate paths. Meadham launched a new label called Blue Roses, and Kirchoff has become a stylist and menswear consultant. While Meadham Kirchoff could not have survived in the corporate fashion world, they live on as a martyr of sorts through their fun, cheeky, whimsical yet rebellious spirit, which inspires the future of the industry and may even have been ahead of its time.

References:

[waysideangel444iloveyou]

I love Edward meadham so much cause this is literally what his studio used to look like in 2015. This bitch gets ittttt

[zeemeermyrthe]

Edward meadham

[beautynursedondarkness-blog]

Edward Meadham for Sophia Webster fall/winter 2016 at London Fashion Week via i-D magazine 

[crusaderkings-gf]

[ajolotada]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BIhOe3_gkJm/?taken-by=edwardmeadham

[she-makes-rainbows]

by Edward Meadham

[cometuramen]

[niceatfirst]

Edward Meadham x Sophia Webster

[ashawednsday]

Edward Meadham - Blue Roses

[rapid-hart-beat]

Edward Meadham’s Miss Havisham-inspired wedding dress for Sophia Webster AW16@anotheragazine.

[formalinorchid]

[nodebutanteblog]

NEW BLOG POST -  Edward Meadham of Meadham Kirchhoff is back with an anti-fashion collection Blue Roses for Girls, Kids and Wierdos....which one are you???

http://no-debutante.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/where-wild-roses-grow.html

[sgairewood]

edward meadham and benjamin kirchhoff  at meadham kirchhoff ss 2014

[slowishgreen]

This is the nap dream I had today:

First I had arrived at my house from church, and I was very sleepy ( we wake up at 7am to go), so i sat inside of my wardrobe and was falling asleep, but I had a cool idea for my book, so i wrote it for myself in a message, but ended up sending it to a friend.

Then we proceeded to talk but i couldn't write anything normally because of how sleepy I was. She then sent me a video of this beautiful place she was visiting with her boyfriend. She showed me the place and a table full of breads, so I sat outside to see it and my backyard was different, it had plants all over and was painted in an orangey color and had a tree in the middle. I think by the time she sent me the video I was already alseep though, so her video and my backyard were all a dream. I woke up and told my parents all about that dream and how different and pretty our backyard was.

After that I went too meet my boyfriend. We were in this place that was very messy and had a tiny bed in it. We went to sleep and after we woke up one of our friends arrived, so I left them there and headed home.

The place was in the down street, so it was an easy way to home, but I tried to go through a shortcut and got lost! I ended up in a train station that was basically a mix of two of the ones I'm most familiar with. There were three ways to leave: the one I came from, the one by the train station, which was deserted and creepy, and the stairs that seemed very popular.

The stairs seemed to be the best way, so I went there. It was horrible. They were more like a ramp. But it was like, two thin orange ramps with an empty space in the middle, but we could easily just run through them. I was more afraid of falling, and I was crying that I wanted to go home (the priest talked about going home (with would be heaven) today so I guess it stuck to me but idk). And people around were just amazed by the view, wich wasn't that amazing, it was cold and raining. As soon as I found one of the ends of the stairs I left and started to wander around.

As I was walking I found a friend. He was one of those muscular but snuggly kpop boys. We talked a bit then he said "hey, I just left military, let's go meet our friends!" and I went with him.

We arrived soon at this tall, imposing building at the edge of a river. It was so big and you could feel how much power it held. It had many balconies and each one of them was full of water. In the river there were some little hovercraft/houses, and there was a city in front of them. I realized I was very far from home.

So after we went in we met two more guys, Ken and Hyuk yeah, we talked a little and they joined us as we went further in the building. They took us to this small room in a corner that had like four or five blonde people. They were all dressed in early 2000´s fashion, and their leader was wearing pink from head to toe. They were organizing a fashion magazine, and it had such a terrible name, and I thought about saying it was bad but I didn´t. They were talking about stylists for a photoshoot, and I recommended they called Edward Meadham (???), but they said he wasn´t available.

After that me and my friends left. We met two more guys and they performed a SHINee song in the stairs for me to watch (yeah). After that they sat around listening to music in earbuds, some other girls arrived and stood there with them, and I left to explore the building.

And then the mood shifted. The lights went out and I could hear sirens, as if the place was being invaded. So I looked up and the only place that had it´s lights on was the fashion people room. I could also see the girl in pink through the glass walls. I ran up to find my friends but they were all kind of paralized. I thought the music had something to do with it so I yanked the earbuds from their ears, but it was too late. Then pink girl appeared. She told me about her plan to rise to power, and that for that she had to control some people, but she said it didn´t affect me because I didn´t matter, I wasn´t important enough. But she still wanted me because I was a witness. So I ran from her.

I ran down some stairs but I realized it was useless, so I jumped to one of the water balconies, then to another, until I reached the river. I forced one of the hovercrafts open and locked it from the inside. The outside of it was shiny green and inside everything was green and beige. That one was being used as a spa. As I explored it I found out that all the employees were ok, but the rich people who were enjoying the spa were paralized.

I don´t remember what we did to the rich people, but after I found the driving panel of the hovercraft I gathered all the workers and told them that I was going to drive us away from there because something dangerous was happening. Things started falling into us from the top of the building, and we started to hear sirens and loud news reports talking about the mass paralization and what was happening. Some ladies didn´t wanted to go, so I kinda told them they could just leave if they wanted, but they didn´t, so I just drove away. In my head I was thinking that I should go get the other guys who were in the army ( I kept thinking about CAP and Onew) because they were older and also the leaders, so they´d know what to do.

So we went through the water, but not every place had it, so we struggled a lot, until we learned that the hovercraft had legs that we could use to walk (they were cute tall thin legs and the feet were like saucers). In the way we found this old men that told us that he knew about a place were we could hear the news and charge the hovercraft, so we let him in and he guided us there.

The place was very high so we went all the way up there, and it was gorgeous. It was this yellow sunlit place with flowers all around, and it had this beautiful art on the floor that at the same time looked elvish, art noveau and digital. I parked the hovercraft there and right in the front of it there was the tiny charger plug. But as I was going to plug the cable to it, this woman from church (that just appeared from nowhere) told me that I she and some other ladies didn´t think I should do that because it was dangerous and at the other side were the rest of the group and the old men telling me I should do it because we need to recharge and we needed to hear the news, and the choice was up to me.

So meeehhh when i was going to plug it in woke up.

[ambivalentlyyours]

My contribution to the latest issue of Polyester Magazine, Issue six, which features several amazing contributors like Pussy Riot, Smart Girl Club (Princess Nokia), The Love Witch, Cherry Glazerr, Lora Mathis, Panteha Abareshi, Laurence Philomene, Wolfie, edward meadham, Bao Ngo, Nicolette Clara Iles, Lauren O’Neill, Rachel Hodgson, Elizabeth Lee, Liv Thurley, Brie Moreno, Hobbes Ginsberg, Tayler Smith, Alice Longyu Gao, Camille Mariet,  and many, many more!  Get a copy while you can! Available here.

(Also it must be said, that this is exactly how I feel today and most days, maybe every day, I feel everything, all the time)