‘LUCAS GROGAN x SKARFE’ Debut Collection of Wearable Art.

Although the good old ‘C’ word has been trashed from overuse in the last couple of years, we still can’t help but love a good Collaboration around here. Fewer things are better than when two or more heads from completely different disciplines come together to create something unique that simply wouldn’t have been the same without the other. Enter LUCAS GROGAN x SKARFE. Boom.

Lucas Grogan is a super clever Melbourne-based artist who’s work spans multiple disciplines including textiles, drawing and painting. Grogan is well known for his signature use of blue and white, delicate patterns that often contain hilarious and/ or confronting imagery and phrases. Love! Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Skarfe is Australia’s first specialist scarf boutique nestled in Sydney’s Potts Point, representing a carefully curated collection of scarves from around the world.

Together, LUCAS GROGAN x SKARFE bring to life their debut collaboration of scarves. Each of the three distinct designs are silkscreened onto fine, lightweight cotton in saturated shades of blue, finished with selvedge edges hand-rolled ends. ‘The Ghost Scarf’ is an eerie collage of vultures, Grecian men and ghosts. ‘The Peacock Scarf’ comprises a swarm of beautiful peacocks with snakes and bottles hidden amongst their feathers. And finally ‘The Everyone Scarf’; a cemetery comprising of over 500 unique epitaphs on tombstones.

Let’s not forget to mention the smoking hot art direction – the campaign was shot by Sydney fashion photographer Byron Spencer and make up work was done so brilliantly by Nicole Thompson. Too good. The collection of wearable art can be pre-purchased here. Totally need to get myself one of these. Read on for a little Q+A with Brad from Skarfe.

+ Hi Brad, How did the idea for this collaboration come about? And how long did it take from inception to completion?

Through Instagram, of all things. I snapped a photo of Lucas’ mural in Fitzroy when visiting Melbourne earlier in the year. And he must have seen it, as later that day I got an email asking if I’d be interested in making some scarves with him. It was uncanny – I’ve admired his work for some time and had thought that I’d love to collaborate with him eventually, I just didn’t expect it to be so soon after Skarfe’s opening.

The process probably took between six and eight months, and it was all really easy and organic. I was conscious about allowing Lucas to do whatever he wanted creatively, and he let me take the reigns in terms of manufacture. It’s been a real pleasure.

+ What do you love the most about this collaboration?

That the artwork is funny and offbeat. So much fashion is serious, pretty, or sexy. Lucas is really witty, and that translates to the collection.

I also love the art direction for the campaign. We worked with Byron Spencer (DLM) on photography and Nicole Thompson (MAC) on beauty. I wanted something really ethereal and a little disconcerting. It’s not easy to translate something in your head to physical imagery, but they nailed it.

+ Any interesting/ funny/ quirky facts you could tell us about the process?

We had a minor hiccup when the Islamic women who specialised in the hand-rolled finishing of the scarves finished off both the tombstone and peacock designs, but then point-blank refused to work on the ghost design, due to the risqué sexual subject matter. It’s funny now, but at the time it required some fairly deft negotiation!

[Photography by Byron Spencer, courtesy of Skarfe.]