Designer, Richard Malone: I’m Richard Malone. I’m a designer based in London, and I was commissioned by MoMA to create a prototype of what the jumpsuit could be. The jumpsuit is this sort of uniform and I find uniforms really interesting, especially when it’s something that you wear every day.
My background is around working-class uniforms and I was always quite aware of the difference between what uniforms ask of a woman and what uniforms ask of a man. I like those ideas of a very unisex garment because it feels a lot more modern and contemporary, and I think we’re at that point where people are buying and wearing things from either category. It doesn’t really matter because the fit is what’s inevitably important.
When I make these twisted shapes, they come from me drawing a kind of basic shape around my body and then I would cut into it and build on it. I came across this guy in North London, near our studio, and he had all these leftover acrylic yarns that nobody wants. But with these recycled acrylics, you can do these graphic effects that you don’t get from anything else. So it was using this vintage way of knitting but then trying to make something really contemporary.
The shape in front of you is something that’s completely machine washable. It’s really thick, hard stitching that will hold together, and it’s something that’s gonna last as well.