BonneGueule x Maharishi: our olive “Custom pant”

The BonneGueule x Maharishi pants are now available here .

This collaboration represents something very special at BonneGueule because we worked with a brand that we love, but that we have almost never talked about on the site, which is rather unusual. So let me first tell you a little story… Exceptionally, this article will include two videos, as Maharishi's background is so rich and dense.

A big big thank you to Long who went the extra mile to bring you this video shot in the Maharishi store in London!

From primitive peoples to today, there has been war.

And very early on, we realized that it was necessary to dress these warriors differently from the others. Well yes, it was necessary to distinguish civilians and soldiers (and identify each unit), to protect them and equip them as they should be, while impressing the enemy.

As states gained power, it became all the more necessary to assert the power of their units .

Military personnel held high social positions in other eras and, to mark the occasion (and their prestige), they needed clothes with rare and expensive dyes, therefore more status. This is why we have seen very colorful military outfits (with a peak during the Renaissance).

Since in some countries people chose to enlist, it was necessary to entice the new recruits with flashy and flashy outfits , far removed from their condition as country people working in the fields.

Except… all that centuries-old heritage – outfits with panache and flamboyance – was swept away in just a few years. It took ONE battle to call into question the color of a military uniform.

The Boers, the first soldiers in khaki

It is 1880, in the middle of the colonization period. The British, with their desire for expansion, find themselves facing well-established Boers, white settlers who have come to try their luck in Africa. .

Problem: the British underestimated the Boers' resistance. They could indeed be mistaken for simple peasants, with khaki-colored farm clothes (they only had natural dyes available), but they were in fact accustomed to a harsh life in Africa. They were therefore excellent horsemen, had a perfect knowledge of the terrain and, as good hunters, had great mastery of long-distance shooting, while knowing how to be discreet and patient, real Rambos before their time .

Opposite was a confident, disciplined British army, but terribly visible in the African wilderness with its blue and red clothing.

At the Battle of Bronkhorstspruit , which lasted only 15 minutes, the British Army soon discovered the problem when most of its officers and important men were cut down in a matter of moments by Boer snipers. There were 156 British casualties or deaths, compared to 2 dead and 5 wounded on the Boer side. That's what you call a major defeat!

The establishment of a new model

This led to a huge questioning of the role of the military uniform. Gone were the days of colourful and visible clothes to show off, and instead came clothes that were supposed to save the soldiers' lives. Long-range weapons had sounded the death knell for flashy uniforms, battles being played out in well-defined terrain and hand-to-hand combat.

In a panic, the British began to dye their uniforms with whatever they had on hand: tea, dust... Military khaki was born!

The rest is history: armies will become increasingly aware of the importance of blending into nature as long-range weapons and war aviation develop, then will go further by working on specific patterns.

The famous camouflage pattern appeared and its history is quite unique. At first, it was heavy artillery that was camouflaged, because these machines were very expensive and absolutely had to be preserved from enemy bombardment. As an anecdote, during the First World War, the French army commissioned several artists to create hand-painted camouflage!

It was not until 1929 that the Italians invented a process for randomly printing patterns on large areas of fabric.

This is where camouflage took off and became a military, political, practical and functional motif that says a lot about armies.

Except... not everyone agrees. There is one man who believes that camouflage is not a military invention. That man is Hardy Blechman.

Hardy Blechman, the man behind Maharishi

Theft of the camo pattern

He believes that camouflage was stolen by the military from artists and scientists, that it is in fact an ode to nature , a study of it.

As proof, he brandishes the first book published on camouflage in 1909 by a naturalist, Abott Thayer, assuming that the colors of animals are intended to camouflage them.  

Hardy Blechman believes that Abbott was the first to understand the abstract, repetitive patterns of nature and that the military plundered this work to use for warlike purposes .

And Hardy doesn't like that, and he has decided to devote all his work to "demilitarizing" the "camo."

But what work are we talking about, and why am I telling you about peacocks camouflaged in nature?

Let's go back to Hardy Blechman's childhood.

The origins of a passion

His father was an antique dealer and very quickly passed on to him his passion for vintage, and more particularly for military clothing, which he liked to customize with various embroideries. In these pieces, he would find a purity, a sense of functionality and colors that would obsess him forever.

Except that Hardy is deeply pacifist and nature lover .

When he founded his Maharishi brand in 1994 in England, the slogan was therefore obvious: pacifist military design .

The brand's goal? To offer a streetwear line with strong military influences, but totally pacified (we'll see how he goes about it).

Why is Maharishi considered one of the most innovative streetwear brands of its time , and Hardy Blechman considered “one of streetwear’s greatest visionaries” by WAD magazine?

Note: To see with your own eyes all these elements in the current Maharishi collection, head to the excellent Elevation Store at 135 rue Vieille du Temple in Paris, it is the only French point of sale that distributes Maharishi to my knowledge.

An absolutely unique use of camo

It is through his mastery and his enormous work on the camo pattern that he became known. He created some camo patterns that are now signatures for the brand, such as the famous DPM Bonsai that he declined in several versions or the "Tibetan Elemental Tigerstripes" which contains some Korean signs.

I am fascinated by how Hardy spent 20 years exploring this motif again and again. When asked if he was tired of it, he replied:

It's quite the opposite, I regret not being able to use all the camo patterns that I draw!

Seeing camo as an ode to nature, he very frequently uses organic cottons as base fabrics for his clothing.

A (truly) pacifist brand

As we have seen, Hardy Blechman's primary objective is to dissociate military clothing - more specifically camo - and war. To this end, for 20 years, he has been teeming with ideas to convey his pacifism through his clothing :

• He's going to put 3M reflective strips on camo. It seems silly, but if you think about it, he's making a fabric that's supposed to hide us on a battlefield very visible. So, he's removing any military function from camo. 

• He will also do the opposite: hide camo patterns in clothes, supposed to help us hide #camoinception. For example, on some pants, the pocket bottoms are in camo pattern: it is a way of making it unusable from a military point of view. In addition, putting a camo fabric directly in contact with the skin is his way of reminding us of our unconscious love of nature!

• Maharishi's top-of-the-line line is called "upcycled." Hardy sources authentic military clothing from around the world and then completely restructures it. Above all, all the pieces of the upcycled line will be washed in India in saffron water and blessed in incense, to "wash" the clothing of all the military actions it may have witnessed .

• And finally, he will go so far as to make non-violent toys, like these little soldiers doing yoga poses:

Maharishi, a brand imbued with spirituality

Religious influences

We could say that with his camo work and his pacifism reflected in his clothes, it was more than enough in terms of the brand's values, but that's without taking into account the spiritual dimension that is very present at Maharishi !

And here too, while religious symbols are rarely well treated in men's fashion, Hardy Blechman gives them a place that has never been so current...

• He uses several colours characteristic of religions: the gold and purple of Christianity appear on bomber jackets, with "zip pullers" reminiscent of the cords on priests' robes, and the orange of Buddhism is used for T-shirts and a cotton jersey cape inspired by the robes of Buddhist monks.

• He also places great importance on atheism , since the words "no rel. pref." for "no religious preferences" can be seen on his clothes. . Hardy Blechman wanted to highlight how religion invites itself onto a battlefield, and demonstrate the contradiction that this creates. Indeed, if it is possible to have "no rel. pref.", the American army did not deprive itself of printing its own version of the Bible by replacing "Thou shalt not kill " with "Thou shalt not commit murder" . It is important to point out that through the "no rel. pref.", Hardy Blechman wants to show that he respects and puts all religions on an equal footing, and he will find a rather original way to show it...

• … On this same summer 2016 collection, we sometimes see a pangea embroidered on the clothes, this famous supercontinent at the origin of our current continents . It's simply a beautiful message to remind us that no matter our religious preferences, we all come from the same place, and we are all united.

A politicized creation

Asian culture is, along with camo, Maharishi's other great source of inspiration, where we find recurring elements:

• The tiger, which is an omnipresent figure in the "Maharishi mythology", taken from the kung-fu of the Shaolin monks. It represents power,

• Obviously, all the bonsai, the pagodas, also refer to Asian culture,

• If you look closely, some clothes are regularly inspired by kimono.

Sometimes, Hardy Blechman uses his clothes to convey a political message, something that is rare among menswear designers. Free Tibet is a recurring theme in his collections. He has also denounced the rise of citizen surveillance laws with a magnificent ninja-inspired collection , which allows the wearer to effectively hide from surveillance cameras. .

What is fascinating with Maharishi is to see such richness (concretely mixing religion, spirituality, pacifism, camo, it had to be done and few creators would be capable of it with such brilliance), which unites harmoniously with military-inspired designs.

Many brands loudly proclaim their values, but ultimately, when you are in front of the product, when you hold the garment in your hands, you say to yourself, "Okay... so what? How does that translate?"

And precisely, if there are very strong values ​​behind the brand, Hardy Blechman shows an obsession for the product itself, by taking care of the finishes, the materials and the details . Let's see that right away!

An obsession with quality products

Clothing that is above all functional

But why have so much attraction to military clothing when Hardy is profoundly peaceful?

He is someone who loves functional and utilitarian clothing. However, with workwear, “military wear” is the most functional… And precisely, when it comes to giving functionality to his clothes, he doesn’t do it by halves!

Among his findings are:

• Its famous discreet and zipped double-pocket system . You had to think of it but it is terribly effective, especially for not losing anything precious (keys, passport, etc.). I use it all the time, I don't even know how I did it before,

• Hidden pockets inside the garment, especially at the back. This is a very secure pocket because access by an outside person is impossible ,

• Straps to carry your outdoor items over your shoulder or as a backpack,

• Inside pockets on pants, to put your phone,

• And he developed a very clever system with Riri to tighten the bottom of his pants or the waist as desired , thanks to a tiny metal ball that lets an elastic cord pass through only when it is stretched. It's the famous Snoball!

I'm stopping here on purpose because I'll have the opportunity to talk about the pants in more detail during our collaboration.

High-end finishes and materials

Hardy is someone who loves the product. In addition to making the garment functional , he uses beautiful materials and is a maniac for small details :

• Organic cotton, high-end wool from the English Moon, technical materials from Sympatex, Italian technical materials, Schoeller material... Hardy doesn't deprive himself of anything!

• In terms of details, there are also zero concessions : his clothes feature waterproof zips, personalized Riri zips, colored piping that can only be seen on the inside of the garment, and he even thought about the way the pockets are sewn so that they remain perfectly flat.

So you're starting to understand why this brand has been considered one of the most innovative in streetwear? 🙂

While Maharishi is a twenty-year-old brand, it is well ahead of its time, since it embodies several fashionable and very current values:

• Environmental awareness,

• Spirituality,

• Peaceful message,

• Very functional clothing.

Hardy was already a visionary 20 years ago and finally, he is more than ever today. As suggested by the name of his brand which, in Sanskrit, means… “great seer”.

This introduction is long, but necessary, because Maharishi is a brand very different from those we usually talk about on BonneGueule. I really wanted you to understand why I love it so much, and what pushed us to collaborate with it.

How I discovered Maharishi

My love affair with this brand began with pants. I was looking for a model that was not jeans, not classic chinos, nor wool pants, with a cut a little more worked than a semi-slim.

Milone, to whom you owe the fantastic articles on workwear and techwear, then advised me to turn to a brand I had never heard of: Maharishi.

There, I come across the Corarden cargo pant , in organic cotton, with heat-sealed seams on the outside, along the leg. I like the piping along the leg, I am delighted! Impeccable, exactly what I wanted, because the ankle is well fitted. Problem: it is quite expensive (more than €200), but my wardrobe is already well stocked with basic and versatile pants, it is time to make my "pleasure purchase / favorite" of the semester. So I order.

When trying it on, there is a certain anxiety because it is a piece very different from all the pants I had tried until then, but I fall in love with this cut as elaborate, with volume at the thighs and a well-fitted ankle. It is quite low-rise but sits perfectly at the buttocks, there is an extremely worked pattern!

So you know what I did?

I ordered another one. Then a few months later, another one, for a total of four Maharishi pants that have stolen the spotlight from most of my jeans and chinos .

Among these four, there is one cut that stands out, the Custom pant. It synthesizes all of Maharishi's know-how without the excesses (the others are still very particular: very tight at the ankle, quite loose waist, etc.). The Custom pant, on the other hand, is perfectly measured. We'll talk about it again in a moment.

So you know what I did? (repeat)

I mentioned this to Geoffrey, because on a much more practical level, I saw him struggling to find pants that fit his well-muscled thighs. However, Maharishi, with its slightly loose pants at the thighs and well-fitted at the ankle, was the perfect solution.

It was also love at first sight between Maharishi and Geoffrey, who now owns six pairs of trousers (!!!).

With a brand that we loved so much, it was clear that we had to try the collaboration. And Maharishi and collaborations, it's a long love story.