CUTTING IT FINE

Four labels crafting a new future for fashion aided by material exploration, movie scores and magic tricks

- ORLA BRENNAN

It is not an easy time to be a young fashion designer: graduate debt is rising, as are rents, and the retailers that once bought into new talent are shutting their doors or scaling down spend. In response, designers have had to become more crafty - producing less but with more intention, making pieces directly for their customers, holding runway shows in their back gardens or studios. Some have decided to eschew the runway entirely in favour of zines or lookbooks, or simply hosting parties and dressing up their friends. It's why these new voices feel as urgent as ever, with ideas just as inventive - whether rooted in personal identity, materiality or process. Others are reviving old-world archetypes in contemporary style, or paring things back, keeping things slow and small. Here, we profile four designers making their mark: hailing from across the world, from Chongqing to Antwerp, they have arrived at their labels via a variety of routes – some from tenures at fashion's best-known houses, others straight from college. What unites them is a focus on creation and craft, a clear-eyed awareness of a shifting world, and a determination to find beauty and connection. As such, they are making clothes for the future, however that may look.

Oscar Ouyang