A Meagher Revolution

Liam Maher is on a militant tailoring mission. With little more than a few jacket prototypes and a rigorous, Dogma 95-style manifesto, Maher launched Young Meagher three years ago—and the menswear line/conceptual fashion project has been incubating whilst wrapped in a shroud of secrecy ever since.

A self-described "failed art student", Maher began making tailored clothes while living in Boston. Now the creative director at Oilily, he has also held design posts at Timberland and Burton. Though Maher says that his design sensibilities owe much to these American companies, his limited-edition Young Meagher pieces possess a revisionist aesthetic entirely their own.

The Amsterdam-based project—which has since expanded to include a global network of collaborators—adheres to a rigid set of rules, as decreed by the mysterious 19th-century Militant Guild of Rural Tailors. The core precept dictates that "researchers" forego mass production in favor of handcraft; Maher describes it as "a sort of 'defense' of artisan ideals, design invention and high quality." The pieces that emerge are called "test garments" and do not abide by the usual cycle of seasonal collections, which Maher dismisses as artificial and unnecessary. Instead, he advises, "When it's cold, wear the warm stuff; when it's warm, wear the light stuff."

Concepts and precepts aside, Young Meagher's handmade and meticulously tailored clothing is a force to be reckoned with—if not for its inventiveness (which is substantive), then certainly for its technical dexterity. Drawing from the construction of a fisherman's traditional oilcloth coat, a top placket covers the buttonholes of a tweed jacket's curved hem; a pair of shorts made of British barathea wool features cargo pockets derived from a Swiss Alpine bag; silicone-coated trousers are lined with luxe Mileta cotton; and a super-lightweight cotton shirt sports buttons that can be placed and secured anywhere in the placket or cuffs.

Though Young Meagher is, well, young, the project has already been presented in shows at LA's Naked, New York's Earnest Cut & Sew and Tokyo's Isetan, and Maher has begun producing prototypes with Confederate Motorcycles to re-imagine the company's signature leather jackets. Thus far, acquiring a Young Meagher test garment has been rather like finding a four-leaf clover—production has been limited to six pieces per style, and future availability remains uncertain. "Although it might sound crazy, we would actually just as soon not sell anything. The whole point at this stage is to provoke the industry and maybe ignite some imaginations," says Maher. After all, this is a research project.

—Robert Cordero