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Thriving Brits
Nevertheless, they do share plenty of common experience. For starters, each of our subjects has, at some point in their lives - whether setting off from Stevenage, Ramsbottom, Ipswich, Fraserburgh or Northampton - relocated to the capital, in order to pursue their ambitions. And all have, by hook or by crook, survived the frugality of student life in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
Neither the day-to-day difficulties nor long-term complexities arising from establishing a business post-graduation has deterred any of them. Most impressively, Eary, Holland, Lawrence, Gray and Long have launched eponymous labels and have flourished as designers against the grim backdrop of global recession.
Other similarities, too, underpin their creative processes, working practices, and the momentum gathering around them. Employing family members or close friends as part of their teams, for example, is clearly important to almost all of these designers - and in doing so, facilitates a much less distinctive divide between work and fun than might have existed in businesses of the past. Other divides, meanwhile, can be fully broken down. In terms of inspirations and research, the five designers have apparently not only absorbed, but expanded the type of postmodernism touted by previous creative cliques back in the 80s. So, for this generation, populist culture is no longer to be appreciated with a knowingly arched eyebrow, but has instead assimilated honestly and instinctively into their overall remit - with zero contradiction or confusion.
Growing up with innumerable TV channels and more specifically, the internet at their fingertips has clearly played a massive role in their ability to flit between the extremes of source material. The result? Katie Eary can draw influence from the gritty penmanship of Irvine Welsh, while liking the notion of her collections being aimed at a forever-young, Hollywood-constructed, Macaulay Culkin-like character. Henry Holland, meanwhile, can effortlessly cross over from being a high street brand and almost household name, to hobnobbing with the more elitist movers and shakers of the fashion industry. Craig Lawrence can create one-off pieces revered as avant garde, while being infused with his own enthusiasm for glitzy bints in the totally mainstream TV show, The Only Way is Essex.
Louise Gray can simultaneously cite the cheery chart-topping likes of Cyndi Lauper, or edgy punk legend Poly Styrene. And James Long can utilise the raucous strains of Iggy Pop at his show, but can also translate his menswear aesthetic into designing stage costumes for Take That.
In tandem with this is their obvious understanding of how fashion can nowadays be promoted across differing forms of media, and consumed via all manners of physical and virtual retail contexts. With that understanding comes an increased willingness to collaborate credibly with high street brands in order to promote their name, broaden their customer base, secure vital income, and draw attention back to their own mainline collections.
Finally, it is their ability to work in conjunction with various nurturing networks - including Fashion East. On/Off, the British Fashion Council and the Centre for Fashion Enterprise, which furnish young designers with spaces in which to showcase their collections during London Fashion Week, as well as providing financial advice and publicity - that has been useful for these particular designers. All of the above differences and similarities have, indeed, enabled them to thrive. Long may they continue to do so.
A blonde bundle of energy, she is a designer who proudly beats her own path, avoids easy options and - despite the often dark themes behind her collections - laughs a lot. Katie describes herself as "a really kooky, happy person but I think deep down I am quite an angry beaver!" She suggests her creations could be, "For people like Macaulay Culkin! A forever young child that doesn't really exist." Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2008 with a masters, and unleashing a menswear label shortly thereafter, Katie - who introduced womenswear in 2011 - has brought much excitement to London Fashion Week's MAN days and way beyond, with her shows, films and installations. References and inspirations for her impeccably crafted street couture-type collections have so far included prose by Hunter S Thompson and Irvine Welsh, plus other gritty stuff like boxers, bruisers, addicts, rent boys, dog fighting, gangs and horror films.
Early industry support for the designer came from London-based fashion writer Dean Mayo Davies and photographer Brett Lloyd, not to mention the super-stylist and Mugler creative director, Nicola Formichetti. Katie's reputation, sales and stockists have since expanded internationally, with a keen fan base for her work noticeably growing in Korea, China and Japan. She has also worked in a low-key capacity with Kanye West on his fashion label, collaborated with Nike on running shoes, as well as joining forces with the photographer Fabien Kruszelnicki to publish a book about teenage life. Touchingly, Katie is aware of having engineered her own success, to some extent, against the odds, "I'm from Stevenage and a lot of statistics would say a girl coming from there - my mum a single parent, three brothers, had nothing, grew up on a council estate - would never be in this position."
For Autumn/Winter 2012, Katie upped the ante in a collection simultaneously showcasing dramatic men's and women's pieces full of her trademark use of texture and contrasting fabrics - patent leather, ponyskin, mock crocodile skin, marabou, crystals, saga raccoon and fox furs. The palette placed an emphasis on dense black - noticeably devoid of that bilious green hue, hitherto an Eary staple. "The inspiration was Warhammer-esque... a Middle Earth-y kind of army," she explains. "Every fairy tale from Sleeping Beauty to Lord of the Rings - any fictional kids' story - there's always a dark army or a villain. I thought, this season, I'm going down that avenue. I'm going to do a completely self-indulgent collection. This isn't for anyone else, this is for me, because it's the first season that I'm not under any kind of support system so I don't have to please anyone apart from myself."
Reflecting upon this, Katie now says, "I feel really happy with it. There's nothing I would change, I loved all of the clothes, I loved the makeup, hair, everything. Everything was considered. We even had the room scented like a leather-lined coffin. I feel it got seen through right to the end and I am quite proud of it. Now that I've shown the collection, I have this overwhelming feeling of relief, as usual. I just remember thinking, 'If anyone doesn't like it, they can fuck off because I fucking love this one!'" Such cocksure comments are all the more warranted when one considers the constant challenges facing new independent designers based in the capital these days. Rent hikes resulting from excessive urban gentrification, increasingly homogenised clobber flogged in high street chain stores, a persistent and misguided belief among industry figureheads in Milan, New York and Paris that new London design is undeniably kooky and charming but, well, not really commercial enough. Even taking into consideration the combined and noble efforts of organisations including the British Fashion Council, Fashion East and the Centre for Fashion Enterprise, to help promote and provide platforms for emerging designers, the stark reality is that only the most single-minded of the city's talents can survive and build their own brand.
Others, understandably, flock to fill lucrative posts at established fashion houses both here and abroad. "I'd say one of the main obstacles that's still a challenge is not having any money. It's still a brick wall that I hit all the time, I think every young designer does, especially if you're not from a privileged background," she acknowledges. "So I keep going because I love it and I'm an artist and I have to create things. I don't care about money, really, all I want is money in order to keep doing it." She continues with some advice for homegrown designers just starting out, "If you can get your head around not making money in the first five years, then go for it because at the end of the day. you get to wake up every day and do exactly what you want to do." Despite these sometimes harsh economic realities, the romance of living and working in the capital has not diminished for her. "I'm constantly inspired by London," she enthuses, "I think we've got the best film, the best music, the best everything. Everything's so gritty and we don't try and pretty anything up and I love that."
Katie believes the main reason her career is thriving now is because, "I don't compromise on anything. I consider everything and I think that's really important." There could, however, be another actor contributing to the rise and rise of Katie Eary. Bite-sized and sweet, it unfailingly propels her each morning - after a night of dreaming about those endless new ideas - to the studio in which she toils with such zeal, "I eat chocolate or breakfast," she concludes with a giggle. "And maybe it's the secret to my success, because I'm always extremely hyper. That sugar hit first thing... Bam! I'm ready to go!*
With his trademark quiff, skinny trousers and cheeky grin, Holland is a flamboyant and instantly recognisable ambassador for his work: the perfect upbeat charmer to cater for the wardrobes of today's Facebook generation. Remarkably, though, he has no fashion design qualifications. Ten years ago, Holland was studying journalism at London College of Printing, before interning at Emap's now-defunct, rather hilarious teen gossip magazine, Sneak, where he eventually bagged a job on the fashion desk. After this, he became fashion editor at Smash Hits, then Bliss, and there spent his days cobbling together the obligatory spreads of celebrity focused style, fashioned for Primark budgets. By 2006, in his spare time, he'd designed some t-shirts for a laugh, adorned with satirical slogans about fashion designers, the most famous proto-Holland creations being, DO ME DAILY CHRISTOPHER BAILEY, or UHU GARETH PUGH and CAUSE ME PAIN HEDI SLIMANE. These took off big time (and were subsequently ripped-off by high street chains). whirling him into areas of the international fashion world about which he then knew little, though has since become more than familiar. Henry recalls "I remember going to see the buying director for Barneys with a carrier bag full of t-shirt samples. I had no idea of the magnitude of what I was doing. She called in the whole buying team and I just pulled out the t-shirts one by one... they placed an order for, like, thousands of them. I didn't really compute it properly. I mean, now I'd be petrified, but I was blissfully ignorant which made things much more fun and organic.
In the aftermath of that first flush of success, some critics reckoned Holland would be a one-season wonder swiftly heading down the pan. He had other ideas. "The reason why I started a label, was because in one of the reviews of my first show, from style.com, there was a line that said, 'It's all very good and fun but the joke will only last five minutes, so if Holland wants to carry on doing this, he'll have to think of something else. That, for me, was my real turning point - it spurred me on. So the next season we launched dresses, swimwear, denim, jewellery, handbags, eyewear."
How the fuck did a sewing machine virgin manage to do all of that, one wonders? "I was like, 'Okay, I make t-shirts but I need full outfits, let's make them longer, that makes it a dress.' I had an intern teaching me how to cut a t-shirt pattern in my living room - because I was operating with one over-locker in Agyness' old bedroom, which was the spare room in my flat. I was taught by interns early on. I think from that point, I just had to employ
people much sooner than a lot of other designers would have to. I had to employ a pattern cutter and work with sampling factories, rather than making things myself. I missed out that step of locking myself in my bedroom and making everything from concept to finished collection. I just had to get people to help me realise the ideas."
Now in his 11th season of showing collections, Henry acknowledges, "I think I always feel like I have a bit more to prove perhaps because I don't have any formal training." He oversees a team of employees in his studio, a grown-up reality that he admits often freaks him out slightly. "Sometimes I walk into the studio and I have to ask someone who all these people are." Working alongside his best friend, Jessica - they were at school together, and have been close since the age of 11 - they and the team have evolved the House of Holland into a seriously business-like fashion success story of the 21st century. High-profile fans of the brand range from Beth Ditto, the Olsen twins and Naomi Campbell, to Mischa Barton, Sienna Miller and Gwen Stefani, not to mention Anna Wintour, who was an early champion of Holland's youth-quaking charms Stateside. Stockists have at various times ranged from Harvey Nichols and Browns Focus in London, to Colette in Paris and the aforementioned Barneys and Opening Ceremony in New York, and Debenhams in the UK. Collaborations have come thick and fast - though he drew the line at an invitation to design uniforms for McDonald's staff - meaning thus far House of Holland has at various stages joined forces with Levi's, Topshop, Pretty Polly, Wrigley's and now Boots.
Media-savvy, the designer attributes some aspect of this success, as well as the brands USP, to his own tongue-in-cheek sense of humour and, possibly, his approachable 'northerness': "I like to think that there's a humour and a personality to what we do and I think a lot of that comes from my northern upbringing." Henry elaborates. "It's that sort of cheeky, I don't know... self-effacing kind of humour. I want to create something that's enjoyable. I mean. I'm not stupid, I know it's a very serious business and obviously now it's a very important business for me. It's only dresses, no one's going to die but, obviously, it's still a big business and it pays a lot of people's wages. I just think it should be treated as something to be enjoyed."
It is indeed hard not to raise a smile when he explains the themes behind the Autumn/Winter 2012 collection, which are characteristically devoid of any unnecessary angst. "The inspiration that I was quoting was kind of Mork & Mindy do the Tour de France," he enthuses. "I used to watch Mork & Mindy when I got home from school every day, eating Nutella sandwiches, and I just remember the really vibrant colours. And then we found some amazing reference images of these old cyclists from the 70s - so it's kind of like sportswear mixed with a weird 70s sci-fi palette."
His brow furrows, albeit briefly, when asked to cite one specific career highlight so far. Not because there aren't plenty for him to potentially choose from, but rather he is thoroughly enjoying every aspect of the ride. "I get a real feeling quite often of how lucky I am," he confirms, cringing in case he sounds smug. "I work with two of my best friends every day and sometimes I get flown around the world at other people's expense. I love what I do and I think I'm really lucky. That's probably my ongoing highlight. I just love it."
Self-described fashion artist, Craig Lawrence, is no exception. Originally from Ipswich, he has become increasingly hugged to the heart of the capital's fashion avant garde, since graduating from Saint Martins in 2009 - thanks to his remarkable new take on 21st century knitwear. With references veering wildly from trashy Essex-style vajazzling to mermaids, or English beaches and coach trips, his collections so far have utilised metallic covered yarns, gold foil, sweet wrappers, tape and plastic bags to create mind-boggling, sculptural, elegant and mischevious pieces full of contrasting sleek or fluffy textures. Back in his school days, though, he knitted his way to a different sort of renown: "I was the only boy in textiles for GCSE and then the only boy doing textiles for A-levels as well so 1 did stick out like a sore thumb a little bit," he recalls. adding wryly, "Ipswich was a right treat... that's why I moved to London as soon as I could!"
It would be too simplistic to state that Craig - who currently resides in Dalston in east London - has cast off his past. In fact, he still harbours a fondness for and fascination with the place of his youth and its surrounding areas, returning there both physically and mentally for ongoing inspiration. He enthuses. "Felixstowe is a good place for me. It's a seaside town just outside of Ipswich and I'd say it's quite trashy but I don't think it means to be. The people there are quite honest and open. It's not pretentious or anything so I think that's why it's good." Furthermore, he harbours an ambition to one day, "open my flagship store in Ipswich and then my mum can run it. That will make her happy and then I'll be done!"
Quips aside, Lawrence's genuine enthusiasm for such classic English seaside-ness was cited within his Spring/Summer 2012 collection. "It's kind of joined back to Martin Parr's photography of the seaside, and holiday photos," he explains. "T was just picking up textures from the sand and then the beach huts - they're all pastel colours. So I brought some pastels into it. We had the rose gold element as well which was more of the tackier side, and making that look luxury was a good challenge." The collection for Autumn/Winter 2012, meanwhile, took its initial cues from coach seat patterns, as scrutinised by Craig on a day trip to Liverpool, resulting in high volume knits, shawls and snoods in combinations of rich browns, reds and greens with flashes of glitzy gold.
It was actually Gareth Pugh who helped to draw wider attention to Craig's talent, back in the mid-200s. "I had just started the BA in fashion design with knitwear and I was making scarves as birthday presents for a few of my friends, because I had no money. Gareth was chatting to a friend of a friend about needing a knitwear person for his show in London Fashion Week, and the friend of a friend was just like, 'Oh Craig makes nice scarves for his friends, why don't you have a chat with him?' That's how we got together and I showed him some samples and started making show pieces from there." Six seasons of working with Gareth followed, which must have proved pivotal for Craig's own creative development."I think working for Gareth had a really huge impact," he confirms. "I was dipping in and out of the studio and able to see the whole process of doing the collection from the start, which was an immense thing to witness. Then seeing the final show at Fashion Week was the most exciting thing I could see. That's when I realised what I wanted to do."
With the help of stylist Katie Shillingford, who he met during his Pugh days, Craig has shown his eponymous collections to much acclaim at London Fashion Week across the past six seasons. Although some of his own heroines and style icons include the mawkish TV chatshow presenter Trisha Goddard and the brash female cast of The Only Way is Essex, attention and custom has not as yet come from their ilk, but instead the sorts of high-profile trailblazers who instinctively align themselves with the hottest talents in fashion. Björk, Lady Gaga and Tilda Swinton have been triumphantly swathed in his designs, while Patrick Wolf notably performed a gig bedecked in a vast, white ribbon construction of Craig's. "It was so immense because it was in the context of his gig. and I think that the visuals brought the mood of his music together and it just made it all a really exciting theatre performance piece."
Moving forward, Lawrence hopes to make his work more accessible and affordable, without it losing its edge. "I want to see my friends wearing it on a day-to-day basis and not just have them wearing my pieces for a really extravagant fashion party, or something. I think expanding the ranges and moving into knitted under-garments, doing more tights, collaborations, and pre-collections, would be nice - making an impact by making it more wearable." Might that present a risk of the ideas being watered down? Craig ponders this notion briefly, before concluding with the same quiet determination, honed back in his school days, "It's about simplifying and extending the ideas. Not about diluting the ideas."
Such humour and feistiness are integral to the Gray way of doing things. And this spirited approach to fashion was engrained way back when she was growing up - surrounded by four fields" - in Fraserburgh, Scotland. She, her mother and three sisters liked to make clothes, while MTV beamed a constant source of additional style possibilities on to the family telly. She recalls, "Obviously there was Madonna, she was a huge inspiration to me when i was a kid. In fact, I was obsessed with her. Then there was Cyndi Lauper. The way they dressed was so interesting to me. All those music videos I used to watch in the late 80s and early 90s just appeared crazy to me and I loved them for it."
Having left the family home at 17 to embark on a degree in textile design at Glasgow School of Art, Louise then headed for "hardcore" Central Saint Martins to undertake her MA. One of the first things she did in London was attend a talk given by Mary Quant, another strong, focused heroine, "The spirit of what she did and said seemed to exclaim: this is her and here is her work - it went hand in hand. Chanel also had this effect. As does Poly Styrene, who I adore. It's the exact same thing when you look at her then hear her music; you understand. Having that voice is exactly what I try to show to people in my work, too."
While studying her MA, Louise was also working on embroidery at Peter Jensen for two seasons, yet she didn't at this point entertain the notion of striking out on her own. "I never thought while I was studying that I would start my own label, I always thought that because I worked for Peter, and worked freelance with embroidery and textiles, I would continue to do so, but it turned out otherwise..." After showing her triumphant graduation collection, Louise was encouraged to launch her own label by the ever-supportive Fashion East founder, Lulu Kennedy. "Meeting Lulu has been a massive part of my life," Louise enthuses. "She really opened up the doors to lots of people who could help me in so many ways." Louise has since shown her own womenswear collections across the seasons at London Fashion Week, consistently unveiling a daring and original take on how non-shrinking-violet women can dress and express themselves. Certain quarters of the fashion industry have likened Louise and the buzz surrounding her to Vivienne Westwood; possibly in relation to the grande dame's fever-pitched creative phase of the late 70s and early 80s. 'There always seems to be a comparison between Vivienne Westwood and myself," she nods. "I find that it's not based on my work or how I dress, but our energy, which is a really great thing."
From her east London studio - in which she is assisted by a veritable army of interns - Louise continues to energetically experiment with and refine a maximalist mash-up of hand silk-screened pattern, vibrant colour, contrasting texture, and embroidery. It is an uplifting vision: if clothes could speak, these ones would probably slap you about the face and urge you to get out and have some fun. And it's a vision that has deservedly earned the designer a reputation as being a rising fashion star in her own right (further confirmed by her winning the British Fashion Council's 2012 Fashion Forward initiative), as well as an appealing collaborator to the wide mix of edgy designers and more mainstream brands which have so far hooked up with or sponsored her. These include Judy Blame, Nasir Mazhar, Crown Paint, Brora, Nicholas Kirkwood, Cotton USA and The Smiley Company. Mindful of her own teenage past, when she aspired to directional popstar styles as seen on MTV. Louise would now also be more than happy to translate some of her ideas into offshoots for a younger market. "Producing something for a lower high-street price point would be really great. I think for young people it is nice to feel like they're buying into part of what you do. I mean, bloggers just go crazy every time someone does something like that and you can tell that they are desperate for stuff. So I would say I am all for it."
Despite Louise's Scottish roots, it is London's past and current style tribes and attitudes that can sometimes be spotted - albeit wildly re-worked - in her designs. This is evident in her Autumn/ Winter 2012 collection, titled "I'll Take It", and full of her own woven fabrics plus tonnes of eye-popping graphic prints and clashing hues. She explains, "I looked at London's punk girls from the 70s and tried to think about who she would be if she existed now. I went to Camden to hang out and asked myself where they were, as they certainly are not around now." The capital's most dressed-up denizens at the East End nightclubs and pubs, in which party-loving Louise is a familiar face, continually excite and inform her. "I am very social and I think that it's very important for my sensibility and mentality to be so," she says. "I love going out and dancing. I love to see what the kids, so to speak, are up to. Without a doubt these two things go hand in hand, there is absolutely no way 1am going to sit inside bored, especially when I live in London. I like to enjoy myself." Indeed, tonight she and a gaggle of giddy mates plan to head to the White Swan pub - an old school gay establishment infamous for its raucous strip competitions and general sauciness.
Within this convergence of work and life, of hard graft and good times, lies the essence and success of the Louise Gray brand. A fabulous blur it might be, but the designer is absolutely clear about her aims. "I want to celebrate individualism in women. I want people to be themselves and not to be scared of fashion, or think of fashion as being a certain way. I want to push this idea that you can be who you want to be, and fashion is certainly a place where you can do that.”
By his early teens, James and his own sister, Charlotte - now a trusty sidekick at his east London studio - would make regular Saturday visits to Camden Market. "We'd go and get dreadful shoes and horrible clothes, but we'd wear them and think that they were really individual," laughs James. This early interest in style was not, as yet, directing him to a career in design. Pivotal to that decision, were clued-up tutors at the local college, where lames subsequently attended an art foundation course. They recognised his wide-ranging interests in colour, print and photography - not to mention his frequent rummaging for weird and wonderful clothes at jumble sales, or scraps of leather thrown out by the nearby shoe factories - could most successfully be combined in the context of fashion. James also cites a figure, emerging to much acclaim and controversy in the early 90s, as another personal inspiration. "Alexander McQueen was exploding on the scene when I went to college. Before him, most designers didn't seem approachable, or like someone you might have even been at college with. He was a real person and it made you think, 'Oh, wow! Maybe I could do this...
Fast forward to 2006, and after completing an MA in fashion menswear accessories design at the Royal College of Art, James - an affable and very articulate individual - set up his own menswear label, and, in 2011, introduced womenswear. His debut men's collection at London Fashion Week's MAN day was well received, so much so that it was stolen from his studio a few hours after being presented. This devastating incident - which has since passed into fashion biz folklore - only served to fuel James's determination. Successive collections since have proven him to be an impressive designer, whose sense of craft, use of colour and innovative deployment of leather, prints, knits and embroidery results in striking pieces full of rich textures, well-considered detailing and decoration. As his professional reputation has grown, and stockists of his collections have gone international, james has enjoyed working collaboratively with respected stylists such as Alastair Mackie, Patti Wilson, Bryan McMahon and Luke Day, and for brands and designers including Retrosun sunglasses, CAT footwear and jeffery West. He has designed limited edition accessories for Browns, t-shirts for Colette and leather bags for Topman's Lens concession, as well as creating tour costumes for Take That's The Circus arena tour Central to james's success as a designer is, to some extent, his willingness to keep reinventing some of the core elements - beautiful leather pieces and adventurous knitwear, in particular - established within his brand early in his career. "I want people to know what they can expect from me, but with a new take on it each time I do a collection." he explains. "So I think you know you're going to get a great jumper and leather jacket each season, but also there's always an element of surprise too." The designer is also keenly aware of modern men wanting to dress well, but not wanting to be constrained by fashion: "I've always thought that you can't be too precious with clothes. I want them to be worn, and especially some of the knitwear pieces should get ruined! I don't mean, like, stamp on it on the floor. But just have fun in clothes." This carefree ethos was formed when James worked at Virginia Vintage, a clothing boutique in Holland Park. "Virginia had all these incredible clothes from the 1900s and 20s - pieces of history - but her philosophy was that these clothes were meant to get fucked up and worn. In Ibiza, she'd be in a vintage Fiorucci gown, dancing around the beach in it, which is really extravagant and hedonistic. I love that."
The maturity and sophistication of the reference points and sources of inspiration behind each collection similarly ensure there is never a dull moment. For his Autumn/Winter 2012 menswear collection - which was accompanied by a soundtrack of Iggy Pop and David Lynch's music - James had looked at the work of photographer, Edward Burtynsky, specifically a series of images called Quarries, that documents scars left on the Earth by quarrying. "They're really beautiful, all the layers of stone - that's where a lot of the textures and colour come from in the collection," reveals James. "And Iggy Pop's in there, you know, with the tight leather trousers." A mix of layered biker jackets fashioned from leathers with sheepskin or woven wool, as well as chambray shirting scattered with matte-gold sequins, plus shaved sheepskin coats, amounted to a kind of extravagant take on workwear that left attendees at London Fashion Week salivating. Meanwhile, James's womenswear collection, for the same season, also prompted a similar excitement.
Bringing together gold embellishments - inspired by the rooftops in Red Square, seen by James on a recent trip to Russia - as well as a "pink disco" feel, which he associates with long-term heroine Amanda Lear, there was plenty of the leather and "punk knitwear elements previously associated with his men's collections.
But why did he want to introduce womenswear into the equation anyway, considering his name was so firmly associated with the menswear boom of recent years? "Because women started wearing the men's jumpers, especially Lulu Kennedy of Fashion East." james recalls. "She didn't bully me - i was thinking of doing it anyway - but she said, This could be a really good idea, if you stick to what you do and don't go too far from it. Come on! Get your arse in gear and do this!' So we did! There's an element where the men's and women's collections cross over, and feed into each other. But it isn't about androgyny for me. I don't want them to cross over in that way."
While other young designers have emerged in a blaze of hype during the past few years, only to flounder when the harsh economic realities of running a business in the midst of global financial meltdown took hold, James has somehow held his nerve. "I've only ever been a designer in a recession," he shrugs. Adopting a positive stance, he believes recession can even encourage a leaner, and more focused kind of creativity. "I'd say it makes you edit your choices and think about them a lot more, yeah. You're not just splashing out; you've got to really, really want that fabric. Or you've got to really want to create that piece. because you've just got a tiny bit of money to make that happen."
When James ponders the future, his ambitions include making the shows bigger, making each section within the shows stronger, exposing the work to a wider international audience, and adding more people to his team. He also hopes to work with people who have long since been close to his heart. "It would just be great when you're researching a collection, to do what some of the big houses do, and actually ask that person you are inspired by to come to the studio and talk to you about their take on it." Anyone in particular? "Someone like Iggy Pop!" he grins. "Or, you know, millions of incredible photographers that I can think of. I don't want to use them in the show, I think that's naff. But to have a little chat with them about their life and how they wear clothes... that would be amazing!"