Like last season I was asked by Kiya to take care of the shoot for the online lookbook for the Mister Freedom SugarCane collection.
This time the pictures were taken in the harbor of San Francisco by my friend and regular Self Edge photographer Sidney Lo, and the photoshop magic again by Cameron Eldred
(the last two pictures are of items that were delivered late and as such the pics were taken when I had left San Fran already).

Here is the concept in Christophe his own words:

The Summer Collection is based on a cruise in the Northern Pacific that started in 1936.
It showcases a denim Peacoat, utility chambray shirt, denim uniform shirt, khaki chinos, seafaring denim bag, and a pair of denim work dungarees.

The second chapter of this concept is our sailor's last cruise that took him to the cold waters of the Southern Indian Ocean, after serving 10 years in the Navy.
This Winter Collection, "The Last Cruise, Salty Years" focuses on extreme weather gear, custom Naval Tailor-made.
Our sailor had become an "old salt" (an experienced seaman) by then and his clothes were weathered and faded by sea water, sun and wear.
Although non-regulation, a popular practice since the 1920's for Navy enlisted men, was to have custom "LIBERTY CUFFS" and multicolored stitching added to to their uniforms by local Tailors. Sewn on the inside of the garment and invisible to the patrol Officers, the fancy cuffs were rolled up and displayed while on shore leave.
Our sailor's CPO denim shirt and denim Peacoat are "LIBERTY ISSUE", customized by the MFSC Naval Base Tailor, featuring a mermaid patch (also used as a secret money pocket) and hidden custom stitching.
The collection also includes a Modified Type of jungle cloth Deck Jacket and Deck Trousers, a pair of Modified Type 7161 denim dungarees, a wool/cotton sweater, a rain hat and a cotton undershirt.

All photographs by Sidney Lo

I had the honour to be asked by Kiya from Self Edge to shoot and model the Spring/Summer 2008 collection of MFSC for use online.

As I wanted the pics to stay as close as possible to Mister Freedom's story, I shot them on location in the harbour of Amsterdam and then sent them to my friend Cameron Eldred, who worked his photoshop magic.

This was the first full collection Mister Freedom did in collaboration with SugarCane, and also the collection where he introduced the "Mister Freedom Naval Tailor concept".

I'll let Christophe himself do the talking with regards to the story:

Here is a little recap of the concept of the collection that was never publicized:
It is the story of a Merchant Navy sailor in the 30s/40s who cruised the South Pacific Ocean. At each Naval Base he was anchoring, he went to see the local Naval Base Tailor and had custom made garments. He'd bring his own fabric, collected during his travels, and his own specs. Being the Merchant Navy and not the US Navy, restrictions on personal effects were looser and he was able to get away with looking sharp even in work dungarees. His custom clothes mixed naval aesthetics, work practicality and period accurate detailing.

For example, his Deck Coat pattern was inspired by an original 1920's US Navy wool Pea-Jacket, but he preferred to have it made in 14.5 oz indigo denim, more suitable for his cruise weather requirements. The lining was collected during a previous tour of Europe, an original mattress cover striped ticking twill.

The utility chambray shirt had an inside passport secret pocket, a chest original slanted pocket he designed for easier access and indigo fabric facing from Japan. The chambray fabric came from an early 1900's work apron from France. (it was re-woven exactly like the sample by Toyo).

The denim Utility shirt was the osmosis of a 1930's CPO wool shirt/a uniform shirt/ and original pocketing. Some detailing influences came from British shirting makers tailoring (curved bottom flap and tucked button to keep shirt closed at all times). The metal snaps were 'borrowed' from US Army web gear production.
The denim seafaring bag original design included leather handles (from the chin straps of a USAF type B-3 flight jacket), an original horsehide leather pocket (Our sailor had a USAF aviator buddy on board and traded some tobacco for a pocket of his type A-2 leather flight jacket).

The denim Utility trousers are an absolute original design. The 'mysterious' red tape comes from a European tailoring period detail. Bottom hems were often done in that manner, to avoid the bulky aspects of fabric fold. The local tailor used available bias tape (restrictions due to troubled times), found red to match the coin zip hip pocket. You'd only roll up your pants on cleaning deck duty, to keep your breeches dry, so the colour was not supposed to show. (the bell shape of original Navy trousers actually has its origin in the 'keeping your pants dry' when mopping the deck. Comes inspection time, you'd better have ya breeches down!).
The original "denim rivets" were used/thought of because no metal rivets were available at the Tailor Shop. The waist hook is a common detail in European early work pants.
The lighter 11oz indigo denim fabric was used for comfort, again as climate requirement. These dungarees need to be really worked on to get their real 'beauty'. Once worn and sun faded, they get to another level.

The chino pants are of a 1940s US Army influence (therefore using metal US Army tin buttons). The lower rise, striped cotton ticking lining, and navy blue cotton stitching were our sailor personal custom specs.

Voila!

This script, historically plausible, was the backbone for all the original designs. Garments that never existed, but could have. Not replicas, nor 'vintage inspired with a twist', that i let other design studios tap into.

Cheers,

MF®