Versions and visions of living in 21st century London keep coming from young designers. Luke Derrick’s runway debut of his menswear label was based on “the 12-minute walk between my studio in Bethnal Green and my flat in Spitalfields,” he said. “I’ve been doing it at 2AM all the time l’ve been working on this collection, so I called it Nightwalking.”
The quality of his sophisticated personal spin on the idea of ‘streetwear’—an intersection of traditional British tailoring and sportswear—became startlingly apparent at close proximity. “I wanted it as if you were seeing someone passing on the street, under street lighting,” he said. An authentic slice of atmospherics—his phone recording of his daily commute past the gentrified bars of Shoreditch down to the street market of Bethnal Green—played on the soundtrack.
Derrick is a detail designer who’s set himself the goal of defining “contemporary London elegance.” Paragraphs of technical explanation could go into how he has kept the recognizable form of blazers and coats, eliminated the linings, interfacings, padding and revers, and used minimal piping to edge collars. It’s a feat to arrive at that un-fancy simplicity. “I just always think, ‘What can you throw on when you’ve got five minutes to get ready in the morning? And what can you get away with when you go out at night?’” he said.
His solution: “To make tailoring just feel like a cardigan.” The reason these garments beautifully keep their shape—even when they’re been chucked about—is that they’re made from Hainsworth cloth, a top quality made-in-England material from a Yorkshire mill founded in 1783.
Balanced with tailoring to create a holistic, realistic wardrobe proposition, Derrick also wanted to elevate technical outerwear and tracksuits. “The idea isn’t to go into sporty-sportswear,” he said. “It’s trying to just find this same level of elegance in these kind of silhouettes.”
Again, that was a matter of aesthetics and functionality—and a Japanese upcycled nylon taffeta, which has a subtly luxurious drape and sheen. A mossy toweling used on a tracksuit, Derrick pointed out “could look like velvet, in a certain light.”
He relates to the resistance many men feel to having to get trussed up in a tuxedo on formal occasions. Derrick, the label, adds to the widening of event, red carpet, wedding and party alternatives—maybe a coolly relaxed white suit, or a cross-over front jersey T-shirt with regular black trousers.
The designer’s aim is to make a pragmatic wardrobe that all men can wear, not only himself and his peers. The reason it looked so resolved is that Derrick has taken his time to learn to get it right. His other journey to this place—besides night-walking to his studio—is experience at Norton Sons on Savile Row, Brioni in Italy, at Alexander McQueen, and his MA at Central Saint Martins. “I graduated during Covid in 2021. We couldn’t even have a show that year,” he remembered. “So this is actually the first time I’ve ever shown my work.” It was all the more impressive because of that.
