In the dilapidated Georgian grandeur of a disused wing of Somerset House, Charles Jeffrey was orchestrating a lot of multi-media noise over the weekend. In one corner was a set with vivid splashy paintings and recording equipment faked up from cardboard, made by Rory Mullins. In another, a balaclava’d Talia Beale, a fashion communications student from Central Saint Martins, was being filmed rapping self-authored poetry as models cavorted in giant spiky boots. In a room down the corridor, music blared from another video being made behind blackout curtains.
It might almost have been a throwback to the alternative artist squat-occupations that took over derelict buildings in London and New York in the 1970s and 1980s. No coincidence that, because Jeffrey’s organized chaos was loosely based on the spontaneous amateurism of the New York No Wave band scene of the late ’70s. Plus there’s his current identification with Arthur Russell, the American experimental artist-cellist who passed away from AIDS-related illness in 1992.
Big difference: this wasn’t a one-off physical fashion show, but a methodical simultaneous recording of the digital material that will serve, 2022-style, to provide long drawn-out omni-channel assets for the Charles Jeffrey Loverboy fall collection up until its retail and online arrival in June. It also manifests in a zine, named Noise, which profiles his design team and collaborators, and the TBC release of a vinyl record souvenir, dropping in sync with the collection, which features his friend Tom Furse of The Horrors and video and spoken-word artist Robert Fox.
Jeffrey said his decision to shift from real-time runway performance came about in the aftermath of his last London show in September—part of the whole industry questioning the value of one-off events staged for professionals in the face of the commercial drive to grab the attention of Gen Z global customers who continually consume and relate to brand community values minute-by-minute. “I was like: that was so much to do—and I can’t do that every six months,” said Jeffrey. “It just takes so much out of me, and I want to focus on building the business out a bit more. On product development, and on making Loverboy a good place to work. ”
An equal part of the growing-up of Charles Jeffrey and his Loverboy brand is the fact that he has recently joined the burgeoning stable of young designers who’ve signed up to the Italian sales and distribution outfit Tomorrow. While maintaining the impression of splashy, fun, freewheelingly inclusive D-I-Y creativity through his communication, the forward motion is now equally about drilling down into Loverboy items to buy. His Scottish Loverboy tartans this season have turned up bristling with 3-D ‘Goosebumps’ peaks—a materialized reference to the sensation of listening to music. There’s a reiteration of his signature best-selling “Ears” beanies. His reputation for vivid hand painting turns up all over in printed denim, cartoony Loverboy beer-can illustrations by Rory Mullins, and is translated into knitted socks.
So London Fashion Week, starting tomorrow, begins with both Charles Jeffrey Loverboy and all his jollity. And in a way, without him.
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