For Spring Summer 2020, dunhill has collaborated with Tokyo-based digital artist, Kenta Cobayashi. Known for his use of distortion, Cobayashi’s work is characterised by digital manipulation of images; drawing inspiration from the changing landscape of Tokyo and its evolving arts scene.
Creative Director Mark Weston handpicked four archive images for Cobayashi to rework. Chosen for their graphical and abstract composition, these collaborative works have been applied as prints to selected outerwear, tailoring, casualwear and leather goods.
“I really believe in collaboration. I like the way things unfold when you are working with someone else that you respect. It is how the conversations around the subject take place that interests me. I had really been taken by Kenta’s work a couple of years ago and I was just waiting for the right time to ask him to work with me. In a sense, the whole digital field has become much more appealing – I love the idea of ‘digital crafting.’ The way Kenta’s work utilises distortion really struck a chord with me for this collection. Kenta was so open, generous and easy,” said Mark Weston, Creative Director at dunhill.
“His ‘Smudge’ series is a favourite period of mine and we absorbed those ideas in an open dialogue about dunhill. In this way, we transferred designs to bags, silk cotton shirting and paper nylon hats. Kenta was so new to this and yet he was never precious about his approach to artwork and was genuinely excited about experimenting with fashion.” – Mark Weston, Creative Director, dunhill
He further added, “For dunhill, it was a new way to approach the archive without being a slave to it. To look at classic campaign imagery, such as the Jermyn Street storefront from the ‘60s, or lighter advertising in the ‘70s, and bring it to the point of today through Kenta’s craft felt distinctly new.”
