Harry McNally: Year Five | Hypebeast

Last year in 2009 and as well as just recently, you hooked up with Opening Ceremony on a capsule of products. How did things develop for that. Were you given a pretty free reign over the designs?

Working with Opening Ceremony has been great. Their floors are a fertile ground for experimental and playful ideas. They were attracted to some of our more whimsical styles and invited us to produce a collection of special items for them again in 2010 which resulted in a few different floral jump suits. The whole project represents a sort of tangent from our normal line. In regards to our design approach- producing items exclusively for Opening Ceremony enables us to take some more playful/experimental liberties with the pieces. For instance, we have always wanted to do our own version of a “sequin piece” but knew that it wouldn’t really have a place in our normal collections. Working with Opening Ceremony provides a unique opportunity for us to produce items that are going to be received by a very diverse and open minded audience. The collections we produce for Opening Ceremony are not so much unadulterated versions of our normal collections, but rather tangents of various ideas/designs that have already made their way into our collections.

What are your thoughts of Opening Ceremony on the whole and as an American retailer/brand, seeing as they’ve also made their way across the ocean and opened a huge store in Tokyo.

Opening Ceremony is perhaps the most original retail concept to emerge out of the US since its inception in 2002. They have a unique ability to successfully merge established designers, emerging designers and one of a kind vintage and select items on their floors.

Will we see PEGLEG branch outwards and apply your aesthetic on different platforms beyond just what we’ve seen in terms of apparel and accessories?

In regards to the branching out- we are currently working on several projects that will manifest in the next year. These projects will broaden our brands’ reach and audience.

What sort of future projects are in the mix? Are they all pertinent to fashion as well, or simply something that appeals to the PEGLEG consumer?

The upcoming projects for PEGLEG will consist of an assortment of collaborative products, new accessories, and new collections created exclusively for specific retailers. So yes, they are all related to fashion unfortunately. More details on these projects will be available when they are ready to surface.

Thanks a lot for your time and the opportunity Harry