Pursuits
A Fashion Revival Made in England
A new generation of designers is doing what many thought impossible: Selling British men on fashion. Can they resuscitate the country’s clothes-making tradition in the process?
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Fashion designers generally fit one of two stereotypes. There’s the monosyllabic minimalist, inhaling unfiltered cigarettes and indie rock; or the couturier, resplendent in fuschia-pink, fond of crêpe de Chine and comically small dogs.
At first glance, the founders of Albam, a British men’s fashion line, fit the part of fashionista-as-Kraftwerk-understudy. Austere side-partings? Check. Artisanal shirts that murmur discreetly of vast expense? Of course. The reverie ends there, however. When I ask to meet them in a setting relevant to the clothing they produce, the pair suggest a rock-climbing wall in a particularly grotty part of East London.