A wave of radically self-reliant entrepreneurialism is on the rise across the city, reinventing multiple methods for recharging the near-extinct pleasures of in-person retail. It runs from Mayfair to market stalls, private salons to galleries and garages. At one end of the spectrum, there’s Erdem, about to celebrate his 20th year as an independent, who’s opening a second London store on Sloane Street next month (to add to two under licence in Korea), and has his eyes set on New York next. At the other, there’s newcomer Yaku Stapleton, who has built his Yaku landscape around his Afrofuturist role-playing game world, and a fanatical fanbase with it. At his presentation on Saturday, the audience will be able to buy Yaku merch, served at a booth by one of his characters.
On a practical level, it keeps cashflow going — a continuation of the occasional shopping open days that are part of the inspirational success of the Paul Smith Residency, the free studio space at Smithfield Market where Yaku, Paolo Carzana and Pauline Dujancourt (all LFW on-schedule designers) are current incumbents. “People say hello, we get to chat. Find out what they’re into. Form those connections, speak to them later,” Yaku says. “We made a goal: let’s really push our direct-to-consumer, because that’s what we’ve always wanted to do more than anything else,” he adds. “I think we’ve met that goal and exceeded it in three months,” says his co-director and life partner Nas Kuzmich. She baulks at the idea that ‘building community’ has become an inauthentic fashion marketing buzzword. “Yeah, I think a lot of the time when people say community, they mean ‘customer base’. We don’t want a customer base, per se. The whole reason for us doing pop-ups and workshops is to promote access to our brand that’s non-commercial. It almost feels like a third space of sorts — not a commercial space, necessarily, but people come and hang out and they meet each other, without buying into us necessarily.”
Cutting out the risks of relying on middle people — stores or e-commerce platforms, which don’t always pay, demand watered-down product and ask for discounts — has come naturally to the young generation of London designers. It’s creating — rather, has recreated — a private culture of British custom-made couture. Steve O Smith, who just won the Karl Lagerfeld Award in the LVMH Prize ceremony, has never had a show for his drawings-as-dresses, sells only to personal customers and is supported by the BFC’s Newgen scheme (and participates on LFW’s digital schedule). Michael Stewart of Standing Ground (the 2024 winner of the LVMH Craft Prize) is operating the same way.