Black Squid Jacket 2018

The Black Squid Jacket was one of our earliest and most experimental pieces. It’s a waterproof outer shell that mimics one of nature’s most mesmerising innovations – the adaptive camouflage of the squid. Ultimately we stopped making clothing out of glass as it lacked the durability we wanted. And this batch of jackets wasn't made available at the time because of imperfections in the material that meant it didn't perform well in extreme cold. But if you’re prepared to forgive its faults, visually it remains one of our most iconic pieces.

Over the last 500 million years the squid has evolved its ability to change its colour and appearance at high speed and with almost infinite variety to hide, attack, or communicate. We replicated elements of this biological survival mechanism using lasers, resin and over 2 billion disruptively-structured microscopic glass spheres. While it looks like metal or oil in dull light conditions, when exposed to bright light it instantly reflects every colour in the visible spectrum.

The Black Squid Jacket focused on replicating the elements of squid skin that makes it hyper-visible. Because the same nerve network in the squid’s skin that allows it to change its colour and markings also lets it appear to be emitting stunningly bright light. With a special layer of cells in its skin acting like a mirror, it can turn iridescent and radiantly bright by reflecting and scattering all visible light, creating mesmerising patterns across its skin.

While most colours we see are caused by pigments absorbing and reflecting certain wavelengths of light, iridescence is caused by structures on the surface of the object interfering with how the light is reflected off it. The interference means that light isn’t simply reflected but scattered. The result is that iridescent colour appears different whatever angle you look at it from. It isn’t constant, and it can’t be. So squid skin can appear to be every possible colour at once, and different from every angle.

As the jacket develops colour through structural colouration, it acts like a mirror for whatever light conditions you expose it to. When you’re inside or in subdued light conditions during the day, the jacket is a dull metallic black. As you move around, you’ll see flashes of colour in the surface just like you’d find in a pool of oil or sheet of metal.

When exposed to bright light the jacket instantly reflects every colour in the visible spectrum, creating pools of vivid colour that make it look liquid. If you’re in the sun, as colour shifts rapidly across the jacket the entire surface appears to warp, creating patterns that mess with your head.

Just like squid skin itself the Black Squid Jacket can appear to be every possible colour all at once. And because of the way the disruptively structured microscopic glass spheres on the surface of the jacket scatter light, two people can be looking at the jacket from two different angles and will see entirely different patterns and colours. Even if you’re holding a camera up to the jacket, what you see through the lens and what you see in real life, will be two different images.