Stefan Cooke’s artistic take on menswear draws on the deep emotional connection we have with our clothes. Showing at London Collections: Men this January, his career is about to skyrocket, and for good reason.
Stefan started thinking seriously about designing fashion after leaving school and moved to London to study a Fashion Print BA at CSM, finally graduating from an MA at St Martins this February. His clothing feels wonderfully romantic for menswear, blending textures and fabrics like elastic and acrylic to create tactile and unique pieces. Clothes were always, he explains, “a way of expressing myself when I was younger.” “I love the way that items of clothing can make you feel, everyone finds a sense of familiarity and friendliness in clothes. I was always the kid nicking my dad and my sister’s things - more because it was attached to them not because the pieces were necessarily so great.”
Scoped out by John Galliano to create work in Paris, Stefan’s already racking up his fair share of fans in high places. It’s really clear why, his ability to both intensely analyse clothing while still allowing it to maintain a sense of fun and spontaneity means his work is infused with meaning. He describes his style as “super nostalgia with hyper modernity”, laughing after he says it - “does that make sense?” “I want people to feel like their accessing something from the past but very much wearing it in the future.”
Heading in to 2018 with a collection to present in January and a lot of expectation resting on his shoulders, it wouldn’t be surprising if Stefan was a bit too busy to enjoy the small things - but that doesn’t seem to be the case. He pinpoints the most exciting point of his career so far as being “maybe about two weeks ago when I moved into my studio properly. That’s when it became real, I was sat with my boyfriend like… This is it!” Now settled and gearing up to show in spring, Stefan will head off to the showrooms in Paris for sales and is hoping to grow his label “one step at a time”. “I don’t want to plan too far ahead because you never know what’s around the corner” he adds. Well, from over here it’s pretty clear what’s around the corner and it’s very, very exciting.
