Installation by Aidan Duffy and Jewellery collaboration with Colombe d'Humières

For Autumn-Winter 2023 comfort has been their primary concern. Since their first season for Spring-Summer 2020 Mainline:RUS/Fr.CA/DE have been preoccupied with the workplace, subverting its sartorial codes and sensualising its dress conventions. For Autumn-Winter 2023 they’re taking a step back and reconsidering this genre of clothing.

With photographer Jules Moskovtchenko and stylist Hamish Wirgman, Mainline:RUS/Fr.CA/DE created a campaign which reflects how they perceive how dressing for work has changed in the last few years. Characters mill around what appears to be an abandoned office block as though in a strange dream. Codes clearly signify a home situation: a couple lie in a bed, cups of coffee pile up on an office-chairmeets-bedside-table. The home becomes office, and the office, home, as it has for so many of us in the past few years. Existing as both contemporary office-wear and leisure-wear, Mainline:RUS/Fr.CA/DE’s collection reflects this change in the workplace, meanwhile forming a bridge between both optimum comfort and innovative pattern cutting and garment design.

Reacting to this, the brand has shifted using more natural fibers for this collection, predominantly 100% British Wool and cotton jersey. Wool, it is said, is the original sportswear, with cotton jersey coming in a close second, so a move to these natural fabrics from their use of performance synthetics feels instinctive. The result is a more relaxed, softer fit on the body as well as a more elevated garment. Given the fabrics’ natural stretch, Mainline:RUS/Fr.CA/DE’s signature drapes and pulls are still present, but are less taught than previous seasons. Classic grey jersey adopts the marks of a pair of tailored trousers, and with Mainline:RUS/Fr.CA/DE’s trademark piping appearing as a trompe l’oeil screen print by Emilien Rabin on top, the garments are fully cemented within the brand’s design lexicon. Multipurpose jewellery by Parisian jeweller Colombe d’Humières takes the form of silvery twists which defy understandable form and obvious function, but can be worn as necklace, belt or bag charm.

This event presents you with a couple of firsts: the first time the brand has returned to Paris since Autumn-Winter 2020 and the first time Terminal 27 have hosted an event in the city. Mainline RUS/Fr.CA/ DE and Terminal 27 are joining forces to present the new collection as well as a series of Mainline RUS/ Fr.CA/DE’s signature pillow bags in six new colourways: Charcoal, Fawn, Blush, Algae, Sand and Tan. Each is dyed using an innovative technique developed by Italian fabric development firm Majo Tech called WATER ZERO which can dye nylon in a range of tones using 99% less water than other chemical dyeing methods. These bags will be exclusively available at Terminal 27 in LA.

Text by Eilidh Duffy