ARTIST BIO

Nettie Wakefield (b.1987) is a British artist based in London. She spent summers at the Charles Cecil studios in Florence before completing a foundation year at Chelsea College of Art, a BA in Art History at Leeds University and her Masters degree in Drawing at Wimbledon College of Art, graduating September 2013.

nettiewakefield.net

OCEAN TRASH

WEARABLE ART.... LITERALLY

For Nettie Wakefield, the illustrious illustrator tapped into the irregular muse to collaborate with POAN on a capsule collection that is sure to outfit you whether for dinner or dance. In the mind of a certain type of person the urban camo that comes with crumpled McDonalds bags on the street and the disregarded cans of beer match well with countless sea of empty cigarette containers and candy wrappers. Any city dweller can appreciate this mundane part of life when you walk amongst the night creatures. Check out the article by Reversed Magazine

Photograph by Marianno Vivanco

QUICK QUESTION

What inspired you to take on these specific disregarded items to add to your collage?

Nettie: So I actually produced all these watercolour and colour pencil works in 2014 but they’ve recently attracted more attention than ever before. I think this might be down to a thirst for colour and vibrancy post pandemic! But at the time in 2014, this was my second series after the reverse portrait series. I was sitting with Georg Weissacher (creative director at POAN) and he took a liking to the trash series, especially for a summer collection. We went through a few background options and settled on the ocean background both because of the cheerful aesthetic juxtaposed with an environmental reminder. We called it Ocean Trash. POAN are big on sustainability and cruelty free clothing. They don’t use leather, fur or feathers. They opt for materials kinder to mother nature such as recycled materials and organic cotton. The clothes are made at family run artisan workshops in Florence. They reduce waste in a number of ways, including a more mindful approach in pattern cutting and reworking leftover stock fabrics.