Stefan Cooke’s Lean, London Look
The first thoughts that spring to mind when viewing the Stefan Cooke collection F/W 2022-2023 is lean, approachable with distinguished youthful vibe.
Stefan Cooke and his partner Jake Burt presented a polished forthcoming fall/winter season for a client with an affinity for slender tailored pieces, whimsical tutu cummerbunds, highly innovative knitwear and textiles. Sexy styling with a certain level of bare is part of the brand’s identity. They are also brand hallmarks connected to the use of non-conformist materials such as industriously crafted metal, plastic, channel beading and new for this season rope embroidery.
The silhouettes have a familiarity. Trousers and jeans were slim fitting with a full break at the ankle. Jackets varied form trucker jackets shapes to fully tailored with cardigans plackets. Cooke’s take on skin baring eyelet geometry was also seen in the brand’s innovative knitwear. The open weave knits for fall were shown layered in vivid colors was well as gray, navy, white and striped. Basic functional and even proudly boring clothing has always been a fascination for Stefan Cooke who completed his MA collection at Central Saint Martins as a celebration of ‘boring’ clothing an exploration of the possibilities for expressions of peculiar and unpretentious.
Textile manipulation and technique exploration were fully present this season. Trompe l’oeil embroideries on denim were inspired by research done in a theatrical costume archive. The embroidery is achieved by arranging cord on fabric in this case rope and covered in fabric in this collection denim. The technique has been around for centuries and has a number of names from gimped to bullion often seen in military and formal court fashions during the early nineteenth century. The effect in the Stefan Cooke collection was quite striking on pockets and all over denim jacket styles. The cuts of knee grazing outerwear are also worth taking note of. The collar-less line and the simplicity of the covered button, front placket line shows that Cooke’s tailoring is also truly modern and breaking into new territory and visions of menswear.
Technique and skill was also a highlight in a white pleated shirt where a pattern had been hand-cut into the pleats, The theater archive also inspired the floral mail tops seen in the collection
Stefan Cooke’s Fall/ Winter 2022/2023 collection was a lovely gathering of approachable, sharp and modern looks. There is a reality to the youthful, Stefan Cooke’s lean, London look is a developing brand to note .
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Patrick Michael Hughes is a fashion and decorative arts historian. He writes about fashion culture past and present making connections to New York, London and Copenhagen's fashion weeks with an eye toward men's fashion. He joined IRK Magazine as a fashion men's editor during winter of 2017.
He is often cited as a historical source for numerous pieces appearing in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CNN, LVMH, Conde Nast, Highsnobiety and others. His fashion career includes years as a fashion reporter/producer of branded content for the New York local news in the hyper digital sector. Patrick's love of travel and terrain enabled him to becoming an experienced cross-country equestrian intensively riding in a number of locations in South America Scandinavia,The United Kingdom and Germany. However, he is not currently riding, but rather speaking internationally to designers, product development teams, marketing teams and ascending designers in the US, Europe and China.
Following his BA in the History of Art from Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York he later completed graduate studios in exhibition design in New York. it was with the nudge and a conversation in regard to a design assignment interviewing Richard Martin curator of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art he was encouraged to consider shifting his focus to the decorative arts with a concentration in fashion history and curation.
Patrick completed graduate studies 17th and 18th century French Royal interiors and decoration and 18th century French fashion culture at Musée Les Arts Decoratifs-Musée de Louvre in Paris. Upon his return to New York along with other classes and independent studies in American fashion he earned his MA in the History of Decorative Arts and Design from the Parsons/Cooper Hewitt Design Museum program in New York. His final specialist focus was in 19th century English fashion and interiors with distinction in 20th century American fashion history and design.
Currently, he is an Associate Teaching Professor at Parsons School of Design leading fashion history lecture-studios within the School of Art and Design History and Theory,
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