Freeing Eco Couture From The Seams That Bind!
Through his ecofashion creations, Johnson Hartig has single-handedly revolutionized the way we look at used clothing. Hartig integrates graphic design, clothing deconstruction and additional enhancements into each piece creating a new, completely distinct look called a one-off, meaning one of a kind. Hartig finds a vintage piece, reassembles it, exposes the stitching and raw edges, augments it with details and graphics and voila, a Libertine piece of art is born. Every Libertine fashion piece on the market is one hundred percent original and one hundred percent recycled.
“I think the thing that initially appealed to me was I loved the idea of putting something on that was already worn in,” Johnson said. “It was very appealing to me to pick up something secondhand, very inexpensive and not have the burden of something new that you have to take care of, watch over or be very careful with. I just like the idea of looking like you don’t care too much. Additionally for me, it’s really exciting to take something that’s been discarded and turn it back into something valuable again.”
Freeing Eco Couture From The Seams That Bind!
Aside from the obvious environmental benefits of recycling clothing, Hartig’s whole graphic silk screening process is also lean and green. For Libertine’s silk screenings, each piece is done individually.
“We do it all on an ironing board here in the studio, using nontoxic inks. We keep it as ecologically minded as possible,” Hartig said.
Hartig and former design partner Cindy Greene launched Libertine in the fall of 2001. With its urbane, topsy-turvy style, Libertine not only remained distinct from other labels, it raised the bar on vintage chic. Just how much did Libertine raise the bar? One of the most iconic designers of the 20th century, Karl Lagerfeld was enthralled with Libertine.
Freeing Eco Couture From The Seams That Bind!
“Karl Lagerfeld would come to the studio in New York and just basically buy out the studio,” Hartig said. “Its’ been exciting that way.”
Lagerfeld isn’t the only celebrity coveting Hartig’s masterpieces. “Celebrities in Libertine” sightings include Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mick Jagger, Michael Stipe, Damien Hirst, Liv Tyler and Orland Bloom.
“I had a Christmas party this year and Orlando Bloom was there,” Hartig said, “Orlando came up to me and said ‘I’ve been such a fan of yours from the beginning.”
Hartig believes it’s the inimitable quality of every Libertine piece that makes it so alluring for those that could have any designer they wanted.
“I think what appeals to so many rock stars and celebrities is that you never see your garment on anyone else,” Johnson said. “And for anyone that wants to look very individualistic, that’s very attractive.”
Freeing Eco Couture From The Seams That Bind!
So how did Hartig, a man that’s never studied fashion design and really wasn’t all that obsessed with fashion become an eco-couture thought provoker?
A return to Hartig’s childhood provides some answers.
“I was raised during punk and new wave in the eighties. It was a period when fashion was creative and exciting. As a kid at home, I can remember rearranging the furniture, hanging pictures, putting out flowers and styling my Mom. I learned, by watching serious fashion, what designer clothes looked like. My favorite was “Style with Elsa Clinch” and that really influenced me. I think that was probably the impetus for my becoming a fashion improver,” Hartig said. “Then my grandmother taught me how to sew a straight stitch on an old Singer sewing machine when I was 16 years old.”
Although Hartig had been wearing vintage clothes since his early teens, learning to sew opened him up to a whole new world. “I would search for interesting vintage clothes and augment them and that’s how the whole thing began,” Hartig explained. “Because it’s what I wanted to wear myself. I first chose and recreated things that I would wear.”
Freeing Eco Couture From The Seams That Bind!
Former designing partner Cindy Greene had been a vintage clothes fan along with Hartig since they were kids and helped create their first collection. The story behind this first collection is a designer’s dream come true.
“Over the course of one weekend in New York City in 2001, Cindy and I bought and remade 15 men’s shirts. We put graphics on them, which was revolutionary at the time, because no one had put graphics on button downs,” Hartig said. “I brought the 15 shirts back to LA for delivery to the Ron Herman store. They called back a couple of days later. They said that people were grabbing them out of their hands while they were hanging them up and they’d sold out in 45 minutes and needed 25 more right away. That’s really how it all began.”
Greene decided last year that she wanted to branch out into other areas while Johnson has remained firmly entrenched in Libertine. Hartig now runs the show solo.
Freeing Eco Couture From The Seams That Bind!
Hartig’s styles intersperse classically traditional designs with flourishes of utter disregard for convention. His frayed seams, raw stitches and unconventional pleats have become Libertine signatures as much as the novel graphics. The graphic themes of past collections have included Abraham Lincoln, early American folk art, goth, 19th century Victorian, and punk.
Hartig’s spring collection “Orbs and Philosophers” was the result of a stay at a haunted hotel in Death Valley with Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte. While taking pictures inside the hotel, Hartig noticed orbs in nearly all the images he shot. Whether it was paranormal energy or bad lighting, the orb phenomena served as the inspiration for this delightful and lighthearted collection.
Hartig’s newest line for men and women features rows of giant dots on tailored tuxedo shirts, on lightweight boldly colored sleeveless shifts over black tights, as well as on sweet classic black and white strapless sheaths, all paired with feathered circular hats and bracelets. A business look for Libertine Spring 2010 features a gray women’s jacket and skirt with the giant dots over a black sequined diamond patterned blouse.
Freeing Eco Couture From The Seams That Bind!
As for the ecofashion future of Libertine, Hartig is excited.
“I feel really fortunate because now I’m in a position to do really, anything I want and there are so many things I want to do. My goal is to just keep it fun. We’re always going to be a very specialized little niche company. I don’t have corporate aspirations for it. Just keeping the customer interested, keep myself and my crew excited about it,” Hartig said. “It’s a nice way to make a living, you know, to be able do what we want and be conscientious about the environment while creating something that is exciting and good to the earth.”
For more Libertine, go to: www.ilovelibertine.com.
Freeing Eco Couture From The Seams That Bind!
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