The ability to pull emotion from people through clothing has long been the formula for capturing the imagination in the fashion world. Lewisham-born British designer Lee Alexander McQueen, arguably one of, if not the best, designers of his generation, could fashion garments that sparked visceral reactions. McQueen’s iconic No 13 spring/ summer 1999 show, in which Shalom Harlow wore a white dress and was spray-painted by robots on a rotating platform, is still a much discussed and referenced moment more than 20 years on.
Fashion’s ability to unlock emotion and feeling has always steered my own approach to shopping and getting dressed. For example, during the pandemic, when so many of us felt isolated and lonely, I’d often find connection through the tribes who followed fashion’s ‘if you know you know’ avant-garde, a cohort of designers whose work centred around handcraft and bold creativity. It’s how I first stumbled across Fidan Novruzova, who was a 2024 LVMH semi-finalist.
Machine-A, one of the first to carry the line, is where I purchased a pair of ombré red boots crafted by Fidan three years ago, and I immediately set about wearing them in my back garden (subsequently, an impromptu shoot took place the day they arrived thanks to self-timer). The visible manipulation and creasing of the boots – a hallmark of her footwear – paired with a needle-thin heel set the designer apart from her peers.
Now, the Moldovan-born designer works between her birthplace and Paris with a small team. Novruzova says creating handmade garments allows her to experiment. “I take risks when it comes to new silhouettes and complicated construction because I can execute it in-house. It fulfils me to be able to work this way.” It’s exciting to own and cherish a piece from a designer you know is headed on an exciting journey.
I realised that I wasn’t alone in my quest for garments visibly made by hand. During the lockdown, there was an uptick in the number of people coveting handmade clothing from designers. With every scroll on social media, I stumbled across a buzzy young designer handcrafting one-of-one knitwear, such as Katya Zelentsova, an ingenious knitwear designer and former Central Saint Martins student. Or I found myself double-tapping a post where a stylist friend shouted out a fashion newcomer, who started up their trade from their bedroom. Meanwhile, New York-based jeweller Shana Cave, beloved by Bella Hadid, began her journey from the confines of her apartment — further testament to the unwavering resilience among young creatives.
At the height of the pandemic, when the world was functioning remotely, the need to feel connected to those around us through clothing was well documented. Working From Home Fits, an Instagram account dedicated to how we all dressed at home during Covid, was proof that we were all suffering from Zoom fatigue and needed a playful outlet. Large businesses shuttered or paused their work in ateliers or factories abroad. And we began to see a wave of emerging businesses built on reconstructing and upcycling.
Fast-forward four years and in 2024 our love for handmade garments hasn’t waned in the luxury sector. Last September, British design duo Jake Burt and Stefan Cooke of Stefan Cooke embarked on a partnership with Mulberry. As someone who purchased my first Stefan Cooke item (a fuchsia-slashed knit piece) last year after waiting for months to pull the trigger, I was immediately interested.
The first launch of the line included 27 pre-loved handbags that had been reimagined for Mulberry’s circularity programme, The Mulberry Exchange. Up until this point, my first and only experience with a Mulberry bag was a Bayswater my older sister proudly wore in the early Noughties.
Stefan Cooke’s reworked iterations, boasting metal straps and handmade bows (signature to the Stefan Cooke DNA) affixed to Bayswater bags was a refreshing jolt of energy and nostalgia. With a second release that recently went live in London’s Dover Street Market, it’s further proof that not only are storied houses shifting their ways of working and embracing the new changemakers, but customers want to see evidence of a more hands-on, if not completely handmade, approach.
Menswear is seeing a shift, too. Paolo Carzana, a 2024 LVMH semi-finalist, and part of a cohort of one-to-watch stars steering London’s Fashion Week calendar, prides himself on the work he creates manipulating fabrics across co-ed collections. “My AW24 collection consists of plant-based materials: aloe vera fibre, eucalyptus fibre, organic cotton and canvas. I also sourced antique materials from Portobello Market,” the Westminster graduate told me inside the LVMH semi-finalist showroom. “I made the AW24 collection in about five to six weeks. It’s a tremendous amount of work. Everything is quite instinctive and I’m working on my designs all the time. There’s never a start and a finish.”
Carzana – who hails from Wales and is one of the designers under the Sarabande Foundation set up by the late McQueen – constructs pieces by hand. Experimentation is the cornerstone of the brand, and his previous collections have included malleable hats made with Welsh tapestries. Raw hand-stitching dominates his work. “In terms of the fabrication and the rawness, it’s something that I’m working on and developing. I want to get to a point where I’m pushing the boundaries even further.”
Rising in the fashion ranks with Carzana is Róisín Pierce, a Dublin-born womenswear designer dedicated to keeping old Irish crafting techniques alive. “Irish crafting and my heritage are essential [to the brand]. I enjoy creating with my hands,” she says. Working with a mostly eggshell and white colour palette to denote purity, Pierce has an affinity for lace and crocheting, and collaborates with her mother to make romantic, cloud-like pieces. When the National College of Art and Design graduate decided to incorporate crochet, she looked to women from the Guild of Irish Lacemakers, a group founded in 1979. For AW24, Pierce, who started her brand in 2020, decided to add innovative flower designs into her ready-to-wear line, working with Swiss lace, deadstock cotton and recycled poly. Sourcing materials is a year-round process. “With each piece, I feel like they say something new; I want my designs to look as though you’ve not seen them before.” So determined to keep Irish craft going, Pierce and her mum taught a small class of three young girls Irish crochet. “My mother and I wanted the technique to live on through another generation.”
Emotion, handcraft and storytelling — these are the qualities that evoke feeling, as they did in the work of McQueen, John Galliano and so many who have come before. London’s emerging designers have long understood this. Long may they continue to flourish.
