See and Be Seen (SABS) Collection

Manufacturer: Vexed Generation Clothing Ltd. (Adam Thorpe)

The 'SABS (See And Be Seen)' clothing collection includes six garments addressing urban mobility, surveillance, air pollution, and civil liberties in relation to visibility and privacy. It is a result of my research process, which exploits a rigorous understanding of new materials and ethnographic research focused on ethical and environmental issues and life choices. For SABS the research (with Hunter 50/50), included the transfer of technology from the sportswear and industrial sectors to clothing that provides utility within an urban context. SABS garments were the first to utilise phase change technology outside of sporting and industrial application. Our research-led design practice experiments with new materials to fuse functionality with the expression of concerns about metropolitan experience. SABS particularly addresses pollution, surveillance and police powers of arrest. SABS clothing realises garments as political communication, and is part of a broader exploration of the relationship of the individual to the environment, set within a research agenda concerned with socially responsive design (SRD). The development of my research methods, which are strongly practice-led, has evolved through the design of 24 collections and 250 pieces of clothing and accessory design (with Hunter 50/50).

SABS explores themes of particular relevance to the Centre for Design Against Crime (CDAC) and the collection has featured in publications (with Gamman 50/50) reporting the development of SRD within that context, setting out our perspective on SRD in relation to precedent design movements including Design for Social Need, Socially Responsible Design and Transformation Design.

Launched at a Vexed installation which contrasted the permanence of retail architecture with the temporality of fashion garments, SABS clothing has featured in numerous exhibitions including ‘Safe – Design Takes on Risk’ at MoMA, New York (2005), 21st Century Dandy at Moscow Centre of Arts, June (2003); and publications including ‘The Supermodern Wardrobe’ (A.Bolton, V&A Publications, 2002)