Throup is calling these limited edition pieces “archetypes” and he likens these no-compromise objects to concept cars. The plan is that a new archetype will be released each month until the whole collection has been introduced. Once that has been accomplished, there will be a general release. Throup calls this approach “hyper-slow fashion.”
On a material level, one of Throup’s goals was to “bridge the gap between fashion and product design and art.” Anatomyland is however a heart-led project, its lofty mission being no less than “exploring themes of inequality, mental health, and higher consciousness.”
There’s more to say on the designer’s philosophy, but let’s bring things back down to earth for a moment. All of Throup’s work is to some degree autobiographical, with roots that stretch back to 1992, the year that Throup and his family arrived in an English town from Argentina via Spain.
In England new worlds opened up to the 12-year-old; particularly those of football (soccer) and fashion. “For the first time,” he said on a phone call, “I saw this world, this energy, these uniforms that these men were wearing that were so avant garde.” He was drawn to the “specific sartorial style” cultivated by the football hooligans, particularly when they were wearing pieces by Stone Island and C.P. Company. “Those two brands, they just seemed so futuristic to me, it seemed like the comic books that I was interested in were coming to life. They had goggles in the hoods and jackets that turned different colors and reflected light in weird ways,” Throup recalls. “It really looked like sci-fi stuff and it was just such a confusing and inspiring thing to me.”
While Throup’s world was expanding, it was also contracting. “As a young immigrant with tanned skin, not being able to speak the language,” the young man found himself labeled, alienated, and less-than. Whether expressed overtly or subtly, racism deeply affected Throup, who says as a consequence, “every single one of my projects has really been an analysis on inequality.”