Nestled in the bustling, chaotic Stables Market in Camden is Arckiv, a retail concept that makes for a unique shopping, curatorial and even educational experience. Known for its enviable collection of vintage eyewear, proprietor Fraser Laing made
Nestled in the bustling, chaotic Stables Market in Camden is Arckiv, a retail concept that makes for a unique shopping, curatorial and even educational experience. Known for its enviable collection of vintage eyewear, proprietor Fraser Laing made the leap to collecting and archiving men’s fashion after seeing a particularly revelatory Central Saint Martin’s MA show. Says Laing, “I’ve always been a collector and hoarder in a weird way and I like to use markets as a way of getting random ideas and also to create them. But I don’t obsess over completing my collection. Instead I go for the things that other people neglect.” A trip to the obscure flea markets, factories and workshops in Italy yielded an incredible treasure trove of 1940’s military uniforms, 19th century dress costumes and unusual artefacts, stirring up particularly romantic and heroic visions from the past. “I love how clothing and fashion was used in a different way back then. This idea of French poets in the 19th century who had no money or were sleeping in parks but still wearing their finest evening dress because that was all they had. Or a man passing down his coat to his son meant there was a real emotional relationship between the guy and what he wore.”
With Arckiv, Laing seeks to revisit pieces from a bygone era, remaking them as something relevant for today, and in the process reviving a long gone intimacy between man and his clothing. Interjects Laing, “But if something is beautiful and perfect we’re going to leave it as it is. A lot of them would be folly to try and reproduce – there’s some craftsmanship you don’t see anymore. You have to have a certain humility.” In this cavernous space, one can see a 1940’s sheepskin aviator that wouldn’t look out of place at Burberry’s A/W10 show, a display of Masonic badges and more esoteric items like a cabinet of vintage collars and cuffs. With no formal background in fashion, Laing made slow incremental steps in expanding his business, aided by a cadre of designers, stylists and photographers who became passionate about the project. “When I first started doing it, I looked at a lot of magazines to work out what menswear is and how it works. I realised that suits are something I’m not interested in. The things I’m interested in are at the edge of society – military and workwear.” Though Laing initially viewed this developing project “purely as social discourse – about clothing with social ties, ties to the past,” his vision became clear when he sent a troop of young models decked out in these elegant, functional yet mysterious clothing out to Somerset House during London Fashion Week’s menswear day, luring curious Fashion Week attendees to his emporium. “It’s acquiring a life of its own,” admits Laing, “Seeing these young guys put our clothes together in unexpected ways – I realised it could be something very glamorous yet otherworldly. It’s refreshing to come up against clothes that were beautifully made.”
Image credits: Photography: Xiaoxiao Yu, Styling: Nina Walbecq, Hair and make up: Andrea Gomez Anzola, Model: Lukas Grout.
