LFW Interview: Basso & Brooke

‘More is more’ is the motto of arch-maximalists Basso and Brooke. And when they produce hit show after hit show, who are we to contradict them? The Anglo-Brazilian design duo’s AW12 collection displayed all the feverish eclecticism and breathtakingly innovative collage techniques that have won them fans as varied as Michelle Obama and Katy Perry. This season, the prints included deconstructed houndstooth check, tessellating Moroccan tile patterns, preppy stripes and Matisse-echoing organic forms, often within the same garment. Shapes were languid and relaxed – slouchy knits, while paired with clashing trousers for maximum visual effect on the catwalk, were perfectly translatable for Autumn wardrobes. Matching silk separates suggested that this season’s pajamarama won’t abate soon while the gauzy knee-length pantaloons – Christopher Brooke’s favourite pieces, he told us – were a jolly nod to seventies style. These days it’s impossible to throw a brick at London Fashion Week without hitting a computer-generated print and we have Basso and Brooke to thank for this. The boys told Planet Notion how it felt to be the godfathers of graphic print.

Planet Notion: You’ve been credited as the progenitors of the print craze which is so big in London right now. You must be super-proud.

Bruno Basso: (pumps fist) It feels good. I think just now we are getting recognition for it.

PN: It’s been said that you were the first designers to use print in that way. Is that right?

Christopher Brooke: It was around but I think we were the first designers to really explore it and see what we could do with it. It was really exciting for us.

BB: Also, because I’m a graphic designer – he’s a fashion designer – so I brought into the perspective of fashion a different way to manipulate things, which is why it still feels fresh, because it’s two different industries brought together.

PN: Do you think that it’s easier or harder to design as a duo?

BB: I think it’s easier. Just because it divides tasks.

PN: You’re a graphic designer. Do you design most of the prints?

BB: I do all of the prints, he does all of the cuts. We don’t tread on each other’s toes.

PN: But do you ever come up with anything the other hates?

Both: Oh yes.

BB: But it makes you think about it. It creates a dialogue.

PN: How are you planning to celebrate now?

BB: Partying! Loads of partying, loads of champagne. And tomorrow, stay in bed. No phone, no email, no nothing.

Words – Alexa Hall

Photography – Kevin Chesnais