We take a lot of pride in the people who walk through Trend’s doors; every consultation or fitting welcomes a new connection or re-establishes a lost one. Our genealogy grows in this way, and we can often trace back a garment’s inception in addition to the lovely patrons that they were made for and why. The jacket we chose to feature in this week’s blog post was done for an individual whose roots extend further than the company itself.
While the majority of the jacket is constructed with the same fabric of Donegal tweed, it is almost as if the soil from Algonquin Provincial Park, pieces of bedrock from Georgian Bay, and lichens and moss on the trees of Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve in British Columbia were extracted and interwoven into each individual wool fiber. From the yellows and burnt ambers to the emeralds, moss greens, siennas, and white flecks of colour, these were the hues found on the palettes of the Group of Seven. These landscape painters were able to beautifully illustrate the tenderness inherent in Canada’s natural wonders even during the coldest seasons, and the same can be said for the jacket as well. The short-staple fibers in the Donegal tweed provide a level of durability and vigour like no other wool but the various embellishments and finishes on the garment done by our talented team at Trend softens the actual composition of the fabric and brings the entire look together.
Symbolically, the jacket marks the patron’s move to the West Coast where he will be enclosed by mountainous terrain and vast shorelines and expansive skies. The brass mesh vents, Cifonelli-inspired patch bellow pockets and extended elbow patches, and pig-skin piping were specifically chosen to compliment this transition and speak to the qualities of who it was made for…someone who is kind, considerate, well-spoken, and a lover of the outdoors. Additionally, a vertical ribbed twill composed of wool and cashmere was chosen for the contrast of this jacket. Similar to the crevices or ridges on tree bark that arise to accommodate for growth, the texture from the raised lines allows the jacket to stretch and conform to the body of whom it is made.
It was an absolute pleasure to create this jacket and we cannot wait for this patron of ours to rock it on the other side of Canada!
