BEAUTY: Clothing--Stefan Cooke

The Fashion East-supported talent incubator MAN has seen some amazing talent come through its ranks: Craig Green, Bobby Abley, JW Anderson, Wales Bonner, Charles Jeffrey, and Agi & Sam are a few who spring to mind. And among this current crop of designers is Central St. Martin's graduate Stefan Cooke. For his second collection for MAN (you get three and then you're pushed out of the nest to fly--or fall--on your own), he presented a SS '19 parade of argyle...some made of a sort of chain mail of buttons, and some fabric versions inset with acrylic discs.

Cooke said that the collection evoked for him the idea of childhood summer holidays that always somehow ended in a sense of ennui, which could be alleviated by digging out old clothes (a feather boa, a grandfather's suit, etc.) to wear and play dress-up. There does seem to be a kind of retro vibe to his argyle as well as the frilly, half-hidden Pierrot collars poking out form under jackets...and the maribou-trimmed belts which are a nod to that dress-up feather boa. The more I look at this collection, the more it grows on me. It is interesting, unique...and sweet.

http://www.stefancooke.co.uk/