Agape Mdumulla from Yorkshire, and Sam Cotton from Stratford-Upon-Avon were students of Fashion Design at Manchester School of Art and Illustrations at University of Lincoln. In 2008, the two young fellows graduated and headed for London separately to pursue their career. They later met while interning at Alexander McQueen but soon separated after a collection or two when Sam moved on ahead to work for other fashion houses.
Even though they accumulated splendid experiences from interning at different labels such as Karl Lagerfeld, J.W Anderson, Carolyn Massey and Blaak Homme. The recession took a toll on Agape and Sam who were stuck midway in their careers as they were too experienced as juniors, and inexperienced for the positions of mid or senior designers. Frustrated and refusing to continue with their current path, the duo decided to make a difference. Their eponymous label, Agi & Sam, was established in 2011.
Believing that fashion should never be taken too seriously, bespoke prints and humour are the characteristics that are present on Agi & Sam's design concepts along with an abundance use of contrasting colours. At the same time, longevity and craftsmanship are also the factors they would emphasise on. According to the duo, Ace Ventura Pet Detective is the ideal client they were picturing of.
This youthful and enigmatic trademark soon drew the attention of Fashion East - a British non-profit organisation that supports young design talents. They sponsored the duo on their next show on Man Menswear Showcase and guided them out of the struggling early stages. Shortly after, the duo were chosen by Topman to have their collection presented for another three consecutive seasons. The collaboration between these two talented youngsters and the British retail giant went further eventually. On summer 2013, with an early invitation by Topman's creative director, Gordon Richardson, a co-branded capsule collection was released. It exhibited massive bright colours of turquoise and mustard along with scale-like patterns and animal motifs. The inspiration evolved from the duo's imaginary football team - The Owls.
Having currently released eight menswear collection and one for womenswear, Agi & Sam have been consistently bringing amusement and freshness each time to the British fashion industry. It's surely exciting to see where the promising future of these two young men will lead them to.
Lastly, below is this documentary of Agi and Sam by Tom Forde in 2012. It depicts how these two motivated designers anxiously marked their very first journey from scratch of creating each outfit to the final exhibition for their first runway of Autumn/Winter 2012 at Royal Opera House, London. Watch it here!
For Agi & Sam apparels, you can shop online via oki-ni, The Corner, HypeBeast, and 6000ad.
Image via Agi & Sam
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