London-based tattooist and graphics maestro Fergus ‘Fergadelic’ Purcell’ has returned to the McQ fold on a special menswear collection for SS15.

He’s the man to butt heads with right now, having risen to mainstream consciousness via his work for Palace Skateboards (the iconic ‘Tri-Ferg’ logo) and on the motocross and BMX inspired FW14 collection for the recharged Marc by Marc Jacobs. Look to his references and the thinking behind such pairings slide into focus: his work draws from pop culture, comic books, 80s trash VHS stores and YouTube. It’s all about the language of a piece of clothing – where what you wear speaks of what you’re into, thereby introducing you to the world. Subcultures at ground level.

Here, Fergadelic has put together three keystone designs for McQ – Sidetrack, High Rolling and Into The Night – which are cast across a streetwear rooted capsule collection of sweatshirts, t-shirts and trackpants. It’s not the first time the two entities have butted heads, and hopefully not the last.

Tempe Nakiska: You’re hot property right now! How did this collaboration come about exactly?
Fergus ‘Fergadelic’ Purcell: Ha ha… This collaboration had an unusual starting point: it was one of a series of collaborations that McQ had done with London based tattooists. Liam Sparkes and Maxime Buechi preceded me and I was included because of my own home made tattoos. It was really refreshing to be approached to work on the project because of my tattoo skills – I’m not even sure how aware of my commercial work the design team were as we didn’t discuss that, we just talked about how cool tribal tattoos are at our initial meeting.

TN: Did you work on the cuts as well as the graphics? Does your own style come into play much?
FFP: No, that was entirely the McQ team’s work, I was just privileged to be privy to it from the beginning, which was very helpful to get me inspired and excited about the project. As for my personal style, that didn’t come into it too much, I’m pretty much a hoodie/jeans/flannel shirt/metal-hardcore t-shirt/Vans type of person and I think the McQ customer dresses in a more exciting way. When I work with other people I really enjoy the opportunity that it presents to make me create something new and different, and also I enjoy the new context that it puts my work into.

TN: How does your process go, do you swap between physically drawing and using a computer a lot or is it more streamlined?
FFP: I draw stuff with pen and paper, I take reference photos on my phone, I even tried making some tin foil stuff for this project, that we didn’t end up using! I also rely massively on Photoshop and Illustrator and it’s all the same to me; I have no hierarchy between things that are drawn on paper, or drawn directly into Photoshop, it all ends up as pixels.

TN: What drew you to the McQ brand?
FFP: Obviously I was aware of the incredible heritage of Alexander McQueen himself and I was also intrigued about the opportunity to have my work reaching the McQ customer.

TN: Your influences pull from all over – what things were you thinking about most heavily during the design process for McQ?
FFP: I was left very free to do my thing but was also given a lot of useful input from the design team. They provided a very strong set of references and themes that guided me. What was on my mind was how cool the clothes were going to be and how I’d have to make something really great that would enhance them. And also, given the chance to reach this new audience, I wanted to do a really great job for them.

TN: Feels like your love of 80s trash comes in pretty heavily here. What was the last 80s film you went nuts for?
FFP: My love of 80s trash is always there, even if I’m designing something posh. The last killer 80s film I watched was a re-watch of John Carpenter’s The Fog.

TN: Your references often include Youtube videos and internet culture. Are you heavily influenced by digital culture in general, and is it more throwback or current in impact?
FFP: Yeah, I do watch stuff on Youtube all the time. Some things I watch are contemporary but most are from times past, because there is such a wealth of old stuff out there to be discovered. I’ve never been concerned with being current, with keeping up with contemporary culture, even in my youth. I think what’s interesting about the internet is the way in which it presents old stuff alongside the latest thing in a way that really blurs the boundaries between the two.

I think I’ve always had this sensibility and now, because of this internet phenomenon, it’s ironically the contemporary point of view.

TN: What’s up next for you?
FFP: More Palace stuff – I’ve just completed a really killer season and looking forward to the next. Also some Life’s a Beach, some Aries, some Marc By Marc Jacobs, some Paul Smith, some Krew, some Finisterre… Lots of cool stuff.

The Fergadelic x McQ collection is available in stores and online now.