Unofficially, Daniel W. Fletcher’s off-schedule see-now-buy-now show in the gilded Fine Rooms of the Royal Academy of Arts marked the start of a sparse London Men’s Fashion Week. The designer presented a collaboration with Huntsman, the 174-year-old Savile Row tailor, a creative partnership that resulted in nine suits and 12 ready-to-wear looks. “I ve always looked to Savile Row and traditional British heritage as inspiration in my collections, so it’s a huge honor to work with Huntsman,” he said in a preview.
But how did Fletcher’s collaboration with Huntsman come to be? “Last season, I invited creative director Campbell Carey and his team to my spring show, and we discussed working on something together; it felt like such a natural brand alignment,” he shared. “However, bespoke Savile Row tailoring, especially on such a big scale with models for the runway, is such a lengthy process—it involves multiple fittings, way more than I’d normally do on my own.”
As the starting point for the collection, Fletcher examined the ways his brand and Huntsman aligned—both revere British heritage and history, and place value on precise cuts and construction. From there, Fletcher and Carey looked at a number of pieces from the vast, nearly 200-year-old Huntsman archive. The finished results combined Fletcher’s gender-neutral, contemporary aesthetic with the finesse and polish of a Savile Row tailor. “There are certain nuances that are Savile Row and specifically Huntsman only, so Daniel and I really pushed the team to the limits,” said Carey. “But our tailors relished the challenge and it’s been exciting for all involved.”
The tailoring featured broad shouldered coats, blousons with shearling lapels, and sharp suiting that felt formal yet could be easily dressed down for a more casual outing. Elsewhere, there were tactile rugby shirts, corsets in suit fabrics, and louche oversized shirting with distinctive collars. Standout moments included a cropped jacket and a coat, both in navy and adorned with basting stitching—an idea that Fletcher has explored in previous seasons, but felt clever as a tribute to the refinement of Savile Row.
After launching womenswear last season, Fletcher delved further into dress making for fall. A pair of structured column gowns in black and white felt strong as they elegantly glided across the lavish show venue. With his existing gender-neutral design sensibility, the designer could experiment with even more languid, feminine silhouettes.
