Bianca Saunders: fresh eyes on what men want to wear

She has only been designing for a few years but is already being mooted as one of British menswear’s most exciting prospects. That she only decided to focus on men’s clothing six months before graduating from Kingston University is a source of amusement. “I didn’t know how to build a suit jacket, so I bought one and took it apart there and then,” Saunders laughs. “I just think menswear has more identity.”

One of six children of British-West Indian parents, Saunders was the only black student in her year at both Kingston and design university Ravensbourne. That led to her AW18 collection focusing on black male identity, and challenging notions of hyper-masculinity. “For a long time, it felt like fashion started with the idea that ‘Kanye West is wearing it, so now we can all wear it’,” she says. “In fashion, there are so many stereotypes of black men. With long hair, all feminised and bathed in a pink filter is a big thing – but my friends don’t look like that.” She wanted to put “subtle elements of femininity into otherwise bold masculine silhouettes” and create “clothes my friends would actually wear”. See nylon and jersey pieces, worn loose and often open. “Being a woman who designs for men, I’ve realised it’s about fabrics that fit the conversation about gender.”

(Above image: Styling: Melanie Wilkinson. Photography: David Newby. Hair Shukeel Murtaza using Bumble and bumble. Grooming: Alexis Day using Skyn Iceland. Stylist’s assistant: Penny Chan. Model: Stanley at Wilhelmina)

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Models wearing Bianca Saunders’ designs. Photograph: RCA

Marine Serre: upbeat, radical and a star on the rise

Marine Serre is 26 and a digital native, so it makes sense that she requests to conduct our interview on FaceTime rather than the phone, even if her reasoning is pretty analogue. “I like to see the person I am speaking to,” she says.

The prioritising of a human connection has been there throughout Serre’s short but stratospheric rise. The designer only launched her label in 2016, but has since scored cult Paris store The Broken Arm as a stockist, won the prestigious LVMH prize and been dubbed “the young dynamo designer lighting up Paris” by Vogue. She has the perspective to stay grounded, even when starry things happen – such as Rihanna presenting her with the prize. “People always ask me about this but it was quite normal,” Serre says. “She’s just a person.”

Her first collection, Radical Call for Love, was designed in response to the Paris terror attacks, some of which happened close to the Maison Margiela studio where she was working at the time. “What can you do as a designer?” she says. “You can’t do the same work you were going to do yesterday.” Instead, Serre researched Arabic culture for a collection influenced by traditional clothing from Morocco and Iran, fused with sportswear shapes. “It’s about trying to understand that the world is a hybrid place and that is what makes it interesting,” she says.

Serre’s first catwalk collection, for AW18, cemented her reputation for what her press materials call “upbeat radicalism”. It was a vision of colour, print and layering that looked new, clever, a bit geeky and very desirable. It also took on another issue, sustainability: 30% of the clothes are upcycled from garments found in warehouses across the world. “Each piece is slightly different,” Serre says. “It’s interesting because it’s questioning fashion but also it is what fashion needs today.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Dress and earring, from a selection at Marine Serre.

Styling: Melanie Wilkinson. Photography: David Newby. Hair: Shukeel Murtaza using Bumble and bumble. Makeup: Alexis Day using DHC skincare and Fenty Beauty. Model: Mickey at Storm.

Symonds Pearmain: a stylish disconnect

Designer Anthony Symonds and stylist Max Pearmain are collaborators, but their new label, Symonds Pearmain, “is not my work, and it’s not Max’s work, it’s Symonds Pearmain’s work. It creates this sort of third taste, a Venn diagram between the two of us,” Symonds says. Such high-minded thinking is standard at a brand that sells its clothes through art galleries and whose press releases might best be described as surreal. (Sample line: “Slogans, gracious ribcage, opened, glance, help.”) The duo are, however, in a more commercial space for AW18; showing on the catwalk for the first time as part of Fashion East, their clothes were straight-up covetable – patterned skirts, wide-legged trousers and jackets with tie detailing. The thought process behind them explains the disconnect. “Anthony is incredibly accomplished technically,” Pearmain says. “It comes back to the idea that once you know what something is, you can start to have problems with it.” Expect more positive problems from this fashion Venn diagram from now on.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A model wearing Symonds Pearmain’s clothes at London fashion week, autumn/winter 2018. Photograph: Chris Yates/InDigital

Sara Lanzi: the slow burn designer

Sara Lanzi’s eponymous label has been running successfully for more than 13 years and is stocked in at least 15 countries. She is one of the few designers whose clothes hang in the wardrobe of Commes des Garçons’ founder Rei Kawakubo. But it is entirely plausible that you haven’t heard of her. In fact, that’s sort of her shtick. Rather than court the limelight with flashy catwalk shows in a fashion capital, Lanzi works from a studio in the countryside of Perugia with a team of six, developing collections that are, she says, dictated by fabrics rather than trends. Mixing cotton lace with Lurex and fluid viscose with heavy knits – “fabrics that correspond to a function” as she puts it – has become her signature.

Her label’s growth has been slow burn – and sustainable. The self-taught designer initially based her studio within a stone’s throw of her Italian manufacturers, so she could “understand the entire process” and have eyes on her production chain from start to finish. That model has also given her artistic independence. “This job is very quick,” she says, “so it’s nice to be in a place where you can handle it with a good state of mind.”