Moving from East to North London, Casely-Hayford drew influence from every culture around them.

Sports Suits

Casely-Hayford seem to have the right recipe: with each garment treading perfectly between urban sportswear and meticulous tailoring, the father son duo achieve a harmonious mixture of two very separate worlds. Take the long-line razor sharp cotton shirts, which add a classic turn to a basketball shape; wide leg crop trousers, in simple blacks and greys, are constructed in a track-and-field jersey fabric, while bonded mesh in pomegranate red and night-sky blue finally instilled the overcoat with some futurism.

Navigating New Waters

From East to North – this house’s big move across London this season was incredibly apparent throughout the collection. Unmissable biker jackets, welded from nylon, jersey and neoprene, dropped to the knee or the hip in blues, whites and reds – apparently an idea which came from the cloying revs of North London’s infamous bikers. Prints were eclectic, with strong Colombian influences – drawing from aspects of their surrounding community; bold florals in blues and blacks adorned draw-string streetwear kimonos, while checks and stars were weaved through blazers, shirts and trousers. The show was a real demonstration of how design can marry a myriad of cultural signifiers positively and sensitively, without the need for claiming, representation and reappropriation: clothes as influence, not as costume.

Against the Grain

In the face of the new, glossy, gentrified London it is so exciting to see a brand infusing the fabric of their garments with such diverse influences  – influences which are so crucial in weaving the fabric of our indefinable city. Casely-Hayford achieve a balance – between sport and tailoring, between sprawlingly different cultures, and between past and future – all with intelligence, style, and, most importantly, wearability.

Words: Tom Rasmussen.