Jigsaw's new collection masters the art of collaboration

This season, Jigsaw turns to the impressive archive of William Morris to create a collection replete with moody blues, says Rebecca Gonsalves

Model wears: T-shirt £35, skirt £129, brogues £198; jigsaw-online.com

Last week, the Frieze Art Fair rolled into town and back out again, providing the short sharp shock of the new that the fashion world loves, as well as a temporary thrill. But there are plenty of more permanent artistic influences to be found elsewhere this season.

One of the most classic interpretations of this is Jigsaw’s new collection – a collaboration with the William Morris Gallery, which is dedicated to one of the leading lights of the Arts and Crafts Movement. While Morris’s nature-inspired prints were once relegated to wallpaper and upholstery fabrics, the artist has enjoyed something of a renaissance in the fashion world over the past few years.

“There has been art as inspiration on the catwalks for some time now, with painterly prints juxtaposed with modern engineered print techniques,” says Barbara Horspool, the product director at Jigsaw. “But it was the relaxed elegance of Morris’s work that inspired the team.”

The central motif for the collection is Morris’s “Brother Rabbit”, which features twin rabbits entwined in Gothic-inspired leaves and vines and has been interpreted as a print on T-shirts, pompom scarves and shift-shape silk shifts. The collection boasts more than just printed matter, however, as the pattern has been interpreted in indigo devoré silk separates. Weighty jacquard embossed with the artist’s foliate flourishes comes into its own in structured pieces – a box-pleat skirt, an opera coat and a cropped jacket.

Thanks to such rich prints there’s a sense of luxury to the whole collection, taken to its pinnacle with a llama-wool coat that is cosily soft and warm and will remain a favourite for almost as long as Morris’s work.

jigsaw-online.com