The past year has come with challenges for Charles Jeffrey. His Loverboy brand was caught up in the turmoil surrounding the sale of the Italian fashion incubator Tomorrow Ltd., which bought a stake in Jeffrey’s business back in 2021. Finally, though, it seems the dust has settled—and Jeffrey was quick to point out that publishing a lookbook and short film this season wasn’t merely about mitigating the expense of putting on a runway show. It also allowed him to spend more time developing and refining the clothes and taking stock of where his brand, now something of a London institution, is at.
“It’s been 12 years, and a lot of experimentation has happened along the way, but sometimes you need to have a review. I’m coming back to this idea of the Loverboy look, and really reaffirming what the brand is about,” said Jeffrey. With the time saved from prepping a show, he was able to be across every detail of the collection, from each stitch to every product shot—a rare luxury, he noted, and one that allowed him to do a proper audit of all the nuts and bolts that make up his business. “It’s been a lot more neurotic, for lack of a better word,” said the designer.
His starting point was a series of 10 couture looks he designed as a self-imposed creative challenge—both to serve as a kind of primary research for the ready-to-wear collection, and to create a body of work he could offer as looks to celebrities and VIPs. Jeffrey is planning to lean further into celebrity dressing as a business pillar, and it already seems to be gaining momentum: Harry Styles wore a shirt and shorts (and a polka-dot tie) by Jeffrey to play Wembley Stadium earlier this week.
The couture outfits, which aren’t being shared publicly, are highly accomplished: among them there is Vionnet-inspired draping, Vivienne Westwood-worthy punk-inflected tailoring, Chanel-inspired jackets cut from denim, and some clever, gender-agnostic subversions of traditionally masculine elements like military frogging recreated in knit and softer riffs on sailor hats. (Jeffrey aptly titled the mini collection No Wave Couture, gesturing towards the ’70s New York avant-garde music movement that rejected the traditional rock sound in favor of noise and atonality.)
“The couture is a little bit of a wink,” said Jeffrey. “It’s me saying, ‘Hey, look, I’m not just known for a club night and a beanie hat. I can do other things, too. But of course, there’s still stuff that feels approachable and buyable.” Hence his cat-ear beanie hats, which are a cult item in East Asia, were here in new colorways, and his knitted animal and fruit bags have expanded to include eggplants.
Jeffrey showcased the collection via a short film titled Aeolian Afternoon, a parody of a British daytime TV show that is “part Lynchian, part Mighty Boosh, with a dash of Loose Women to boot,” set in a post-apocalyptic future where humans are beholden to a device called the OGB, or “ominous glowing brick.” Said Jeffery: “I am a dry sponge as a creative person; I’m trying to regurgitate what I see in front of me. So the concept is a propaganda-style daytime TV show, making you feel as if you are hypnotized and everything’s going to be OK when actually, it’s a soft apocalypse outside.”
The lookbook and film’s outré styling was also something of a statement: the gonzo layering of garments, the bricolage of button-downs tied to the waist with DIY hosiery belts, a shredded knit-top paired with an enormous diagonal ruffle across the chest, plus a skirt crafted from layers of pleated tulle with bows and pearls. Or, at least, it was a metaphor for the turbulence Jeffrey has endured over the past year, and his ability to push through to the other side. “It’s a little bit of a protest as well,” he said. “Some of the garments are not really meant to be worn. I’m not trying to make them worn in the way that they’re meant to be. It’s a bit of a fuck you, returning to that anarchic spirit that Loverboy was originally based on.”
Seeing Jeffrey flex his muscles creatively and lose none of his ambition through the couture looks was cheering—and possibly an unspoken statement that, should a bigger fashion house be looking for an injection of punky energy, he would be plenty capable of handling that pressure. Though there’s also something cheering about seeing his business emerge from a rocky patch without compromising its renegade spirit. “For weirdos, by weirdos,” Jeffrey wrote in the accompanying notes. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
