Sam Smith's controversial Brit Awards suit made headlines earlier this month after they wore an inflatable latex outfit designed by Kerala-born menswear designer Harri. Now, local manufacturers, Four D, which supplied the latex for the masterpiece has spoken out on the much-discussed garment.
Based in Heanor, over the Derbyshire border, staff at Four D, the 45-year-old fashion arm of the latex company known as Supatex, said they are very pleased to see their work on show to the world and that “everyone is entitled to their opinion” about the controversial design.
Stars often make a statement with their outfits on the red carpet at the high profile event but popstar Sam Smith's head-turning 'balloon-style suit appeared to just be too much for some this year. The "Unholy" singer prompted comedian Ricky Gervais to photo shop his own head onto Sam's body for a picture, which he posted on Twitter, and, according to the Mirror, savagely joked the singer was seeking attention when they walked the red carpet. It seems, that Four D, didn't share the opinion.
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Watching their work transformed, the firm that manufactured the latex rubber sheeting for the show stopper, confirmed to Derbyshire Live that they “supplied all of the latex sheeting elements to the design worn by Sam by Harri”. A spokesperson for the firm added: "“It is great to see Harri put his artistic talent into different types of designs using our latex, especially in ways that some people will have not seen before and to also then get recognised for this".
They went on to reveal that the business had been “partnering with Harri for a number of years, starting when he reached out back in 2019 as a student working on his final collection for his MA in Menswear Design." Adding: "This has continued throughout, working on a number of projects and we have a really good relationship and love seeing what Harri creates.”
After being asked what the firm makes of people’s views about the outfit they helped create, the spokesperson said: “Everyone is entitled to an opinion on it but the technical detail that goes into making a garment like that is often overlooked. It is a piece of art and not something you would see every day, but for us, it is great to see our latex sheeting being so versatile and used in so many unique ways.”
The firm says that: "Both as a company and with our brand Supatex, we have made latex for a number of large fashion houses over the years, as well as regularly supplying specialist latex designers. Many of these designs from both areas have been seen around the world for many years in various designs and applications, but it is always great when it is seen and shows how versatile latex can be.
“I’m sure there are many outfits you will have seen but not necessarily known that it is latex. Often latex designers will design or make for a large fashion house due to how specialist it is working with latex but you will have seen it on catwalks, stages and red carpets.”
If you have your eye on a similar outfit and were wondering how much the suit cost to create, Four D, said: “We cannot comment on this as we did not make the outfit. Four D is the leading manufacturer of Latex sheeting so we manufacture latex as standard, with black being a core colour for us and something we typically have in stock so we weren’t commissioned as such. Although we have previously worked on bespoke orders for other customers, this was not the case here.
“We understand that the garment took Harri around four days from the order request […] As for the latex, this was just within our normal manufacturing process as a stocked colour.
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