AW12 Print Picks: Matthew Miller's Expedition

Restlessness, irritability, paranoia, irrational frustration and exhaustion are just a few of the common symptoms of the cabin fever experienced by designers following the long and often lonely hard slog of finishing a collection. Shortly after making his accomplished on schedule LFW catwalk debut as part of MAN, Matthew Miller broke free from the shackles of work at every opportunity he could. After each hardworking day spent in the studio Miller ventured beyond the confines of his studio and explored his adopted city. Rather than travel from a to b and ignore his environment like so many of us do, Miller looked about him and focused in on key changes in his environment. This daily routine saw him tread across the centre through to its industrial and suburban outskirts, taking photographs as and when he encountered something interesting during this series of inner city journeys. From tree bark in Hyde Park to chip boards in Chancery Lane to well worn bill boards in Shoreditch and under the magnifying glass of the designer's eye, his chronicled snapshots evolved in to his AW12 collection. 

Entitled 0.05 Expedition, the collection reimagines man made and naturally formed patterns and textures into digitally printed garments. By taking its inspiration from the environment Miller's man lives around, from the city to the country, the young designer has created a wardrobe fit for all manner of adventures.

"The communication of surfaces that we see everyday but are forgotten beauties."

Matthew Miller on the inspiration behind AW12

Given Miller's (almost) obsessive attention to detail and love of technology, it should come as little surprise that each design is accompanied by a QR code that informs the wearer of the exact co-ordinates of its geographical. With the addition of QR codes, Miller invites the wearer to interact with and respond to the piece. As his series of prints have captured one moment in time and by sharing the location, the design talent offers the opportunity for us to revisit the surfaces to see how they've altered, naturally or not. Eager to take a closer look but far too lazy to go out exploring ourselves, we invited the talented Little Doodles to reinterpret a few of Miller's prints to help us celebrate these otherwise forgotten beauties... 

Hyde

51.506109 - 0.16278
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Gainsborough

51.534682 - 0.087163
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Inner City Riot

51.518644 - 0.113815
(Illustrations by Little Doodles for us, shown alongside surface shots by Matthew Miller and backstage shots by Robin Sinha for Dazed Digital)