Adsum’s Spring/Summer 2018 collection draws its influence from the Group of Seven. Only beginning to become known on the international art scene, the Group were mislabeled in their time as an eclectic band of Toronto bourgeois outdoorsman masquerading as an art collective.
The group was often ridiculed and dismissed before their impressionistic paintings of the Canadian wilderness helped form the national identity of a young country and become the most celebrated artists in Canadian history. Their unofficial leader, Lawren Harris, was as well known to frequent private high-society clubs & parties as he was to venture shirtless into the unforgiving wilderness with his paints and easel slung over his back.
One of, if not the most celebrated artists of the group, Tom Thomson, was a vagabond who lived in a shack in Harris’s backyard until his mysterious death while canoeing in 1917. None were particularly celebrated outdoorsmen and all came from a young country with an arts scene that lacked international recognition. Yet, they still went out and produced a collective body of work that would become absolutely essential to the national identity of Canada. The groups work and their mix of high & low and casual & put-together was our jumping off point for the collection.
A rich navy cotton/linen blend short sleeve button up paired with the Easton pant, in a medium weight Italian cotton twill, will get you into any respectable establishment. Alternatively, on more relaxed days, a pair of our more baggy Bank pants in a lightweight cotton ripstop and a Lawren tee will become your summer workhorses.
The Lawren graphic was inspired by Lawren's reverence for the outdoors and a photo of an aging bare-chested Harris hiking up a mountain to paint en-plain air. We printed the design in a "puff" ink, a plastisol ink that has been modified with the addition of a heat reactive foaming agent. The ink expands when exposed to high temperatures as the garment is cured that gives it a three-dimensional quality. We love the way this type of ink ages over time, developing individual cracks and scuffs that are well earned with a well worn piece.
Everything is made well and meant to be well worn so, take a note from The Group of Seven; go outside and do what you love.Shop SS18
