Noki

Noki

Noki House of Sustainability (NHS) is preparing for another season on the Fashion East catwalk and is guaranteed to give us another great collection of Jonathan 'JJ' Hudson's infamous edgy designs made from recycled vintage finds. Female First look at the mystery surrounding the man behind the mask.

Although the Noki label has been around for almost a decade, NHS only launched it's first collection through Fashion East last season.

The creative genius behind Noki is one of the most mysterious figures in fashion at the moment. Designer Jonathan 'JJ' Hudson never shows his face to an audience and always wears a surgical mask to hide himself from photographers. He rarely speaks to the press and has never been known to do an interview....so just who is he and where did he come from?

His Myspace page indicates that Hudson is 31 and originates from Aberdeen...but that's about it. He's been around in the fashion business for almost a decade now and his label is well known all over the world.

'JJ' as he is known to his friends started out as an MTV presenter and music industry stylist before he discovered a passion for customised vintage clothing.

Hudson is a deep thinking and eccentric character who described his inspiration last season as “A need to see extreme modernist design to counterbalance the corporate retro overload.” He also describes his occupation as “slaughterhouse”, and says “the New York Slasher” is his hero.

His odd outlook on fashion and the mystery around his identity only add to the impact of his creations. For Spring/summer 2008 Hudson gave us a cross between fun childish cartoons and terrifying nightmare zombies. Slashed vintage tshirts, knee high stripy socks and crazy clown wigs were all finished off with the Noki signature surgical mask.

This September we can expect to see more great use of recycled vintage pieces but hopefully Hudson will also give us some innovative cuts and structures that will give the label the extra push to make the step away from Fashion East and the strength to stand alone for 2009.

Caz Moss- Female First