We have been wanting to interview artist Jo Baker Waters for quite some time now. Her work in and contributions to the fashion industry spans decades and across countries. Her style cannot be boxed in or pegged as traditional, and we find that quite refreshing. We dove in to find out where it all started and learned a lot more.
AD: When did you develop an interest in fashion?
JBW: I first developed an interest in menswear aged nine years old, my grandfather was impeccably tailored, and I had a fondness for his coats, suits, and the accoutrements he used to style with them. I loved trying on his blazers, they were enormous on me. I was fascinated with the lines and their proportion on my frame. Fashion followed suit, I loved drawing outfit illustrations, and coloring them up with markers. It really started there.
AD: Can you explain the education you received in fashion?
JBW: I completed a BTEC National Diploma in Art History and Fashion Design for two years, then went on to achieve a BA (HONS) Fashion degree, for four years, both in Britain. They set me up with the skills to design, and produce a collection, practicing live drawing, pattern cutting and sewing skills. What I valued more is the extensive art history theory, which was a part of the courses I selected. At heart I am still an artist, and it drives the message in what I do, but with the hands of a tailor and the eye of a fashion designer.
AD: How did your educational background influence your path in fashion?
JBW: It helped open the door to opportunities starting out in the industry, especially internships, which helped gain some basic experience on getting started, which led to other jobs by meeting people in the business of fashion.
AD: How did that path turn into tailoring?
JBW: After graduating I headed straight to New York to work with Anna Sui, firstly as an intern, then a design assistant, which was an amazing experience, especially at that time in New York, in the years before 9/11. However, my passion for tailoring did not diminish, and I wanted to find an apprenticeship on Savile Row, so I moved back to the UK to try. This wasn’t an easy task. At the time male apprentices were preferred for gentlemen’s tailoring, especially cutting, which is why I leaned more towards the tailoring at first.
After repeatedly hand delivering letters to every shop on the Row, and being declined; it was Gieves & Hawkes, who invited me for a trial with a coat maker. I was offered an apprenticeship the same day, after bonding with my mentor over a mutual passion for tailoring.
AD: How do your skills in design and tailoring overlap?
JBW: Design gives you the eye for color, concept, and fabric selection; tailoring gives you the style, make and fit to realize the design outcome as a piece of work. Both skillsets overlap to achieve the desired outcome. I see no conflict of difference between the two.
AD: Can you explain why pattern cutting and tailoring is so crucial to the fashion industry?
JB: It’s the 3-dimensional realization of an idea or sketch, using these skills take the sketch to the next level of development, so it is indeed very important for designer brands to get this right. Pattern cutting is the blueprint of a style on paper, and tailoring is the made garment which is fitted and altered according to aesthetic. Both are crucial in fashion for emphasizing more on the style and cut.
AD: I see you’ve worked with several notable people in the industry. Is there one relationship that stands out? If so, why?
JBW: I can narrow it down to 3…
The first is the late Richard Nicoll. We had a longstanding relationship, working together on many of his collections. Not only was he a true gentleman, his vision and his approach to effortless dressing was unlike anything I’d seen before. I took a lot from my time with him. To me he was the ultimate modernist and futurist.
The second is Raf Simons. I followed his menswear shows throughout my working career, so when he joined Calvin Klein, I was naturally thrilled. Though it was only for a short time, I loved that he brought an attitude, and a point of view, one that I resonated with and admired immensely. After all, clothes should be about identity.
The third is Andreas Gomez. An eccentric Spanish tailor at Gieves & Hawkes, Savile Row, London, who tutored Alexander McQueen, known back then as Lee. He was my mentor and taught me everything there is to know about tailoring coats and blazers. He was sixty-five years of age when he accepted me as an apprentice, sharing endless knowledge and techniques for historical gentlemen’s clothing and uniforms as part of my training. Andreas taught me the history.
AD: What other creative endeavors do you engage in?
I like to play piano keyboard and bass guitar. Music is very important to me. I also engage in writing, currently writing a fictional horror novel; I have also published one book documenting Pattern Cutting Techniques for Ladies’ Tailored Jackets. It was a huge task which took several years to finish, I began in 2010, and it was published in 2017. I am also a keen Artist, using my photographs and artworks as mood to inspire color and concept for the collections I design.
AD: What inspires you creatively?
JBW: I have a penchant for androgyny, and genderless dressing, but I like to look at everything culturally both past and present: art, sculpture, photography, film, music, literature, and vintage clothes. I am also a deep thinker, so I always consider a social message, an artistic point of view; where we are, and where we are going. I like to study out of print antique books for historical clothing. I have tailoring books printed in 1880 during Victorian England, 1930s draping and 1940s cutting publications, to call out a few from my collection. I find the history of dress fascinating. I like to innovate cut and drape techniques, merging multiple systems, soft and hard woven, but also, I like to use fabric to sculpt with on the mannequin.
AD: Are you currently working on a project that you would like to share?
JBW: I am currently working on an independent project under the name of: ARTISAN. 44. It’s early days, but I wanted it to be an assemblage of Clothes and Art. ARTISAN 44 is a celebration of beautiful hand-crafted clothes; hand designed, and hand made by myself. Each piece is unique, designed, and made to order. These are seasonless, gender fluid pieces, combining a vision of Art and Clothes. It is not a fashion brand, the clothes are not mass produced, and the product is not aimed at popular demand. After several years of working in corporate fashion and meeting the ever-changing demands of the fashion calendar, I would like to reestablish my bespoke heritage. It’s also the more ethical path to be on right now, which has taken me full circle back to where I started. I plan to showcase them in an art film and photograph the pieces around Los Angeles, as that is where I am based right now.
Be sure to stay up on all Jo’s projects by checking out her website at jobakerwaters.com and following her on Instagram @jo_baker_waters.
