February is not only the first fashion month of the year, where the world’s top designers showcase their autumn/winter collections, but it is also LGBT+ History Month.
“The community and fashion have always been closely linked,” says designer Patrick McDowell.
“A childhood [consisting of] observing yourself and relationship to others more closely than our heterosexual friends opens a door to exploring image much more naturally.”
For McDowell, who founded their namesake label in 2018 upon graduating from Central Saint Martins, fashion requires a gender-fluid lens in order to break creative norms.
“Even those designers who we feel are heterosexual are very queer-coded in how they approach dressing,” says McDowell.
“For example, Chanel wore men’s clothes, played with gender norms and shocked the world in the early 1900s by wearing men’s underwear (a T-shirt) as regular clothing.
“Fast forward to Dior who reintroduced femininity and volume at a time when women were craving extravagance and wanting to shake off the Second World War.
“In terms of influence and inspiration, Schiaparelli, again extremely queer-coded, created really daring pieces that offered a different perspective on what fashion could be at the time.”
“I love the work of my fellow London designers,” says McDowell. “S.S. Daley, Harris Reed, Conner Ives and Paolo Carzana are all pushing the boundaries of fashion in their own unique way.”
In honour of this significant month, we look at 5 LGBT+ designers you should know about.
Harris Reed
Harris Reed is a British-American fashion designer and creative director for French fashion house Nina Ricci.
Only 28, Reed leapt onto the scene only five years ago, when in 2020 his graduate collection from Central Saint Martins debuted in British Vogue.
When the British singer Harry Styles became the first man to be featured on the cover of Vogue magazine in 2020, Reed was asked by Anna Wintour to design the outfit for the feature: a tailored suit with a hoop skirt dress.
Styles’ appearance in Reed’s dress on the cover of Vogue sparked both controversy and celebration for the ways that the garment challenges gender norms in clothing.
Reed has since dressed the likes of Beyoncé, Adele, Sam Smith and Selena Gomez and many more.
Reed has become known for his romantic demi-couture designs that play with traditional concepts of masculinity and femininity.
Steven Stokey-Daley
Steven Stokey-Daley is a 28 year-old British designer who nabbed a place on fashion’s one-to-watch list because of his unique take on menswear, winning the esteemed LVMH Prize in 2022 and the British Fashion Council’s Queen Elizabeth II prize in 2024.
The London-based designer behind S.S. Daley, a label inspired by the traditional looks of the British upper crust, has become the go-to for stars such as Emma Corrin.
Championing the new cosily-cool, trad-modern stamp on British dressing, Stokey-Daley worked on the menswear teams at Alexander McQueen and Tom Ford before graduating with a BA in Fashion Design from the University of Westminster in 2020.
Ever since stylist Harry Lambert put Stokey-Daley’s graduation looks on Harry Styles for his “Golden” music video, the singer is regularly in S.S. Daley looks.
Defined by dramatic silhouettes and British nostalgia, the designer now shows at the most prestigious of the fashion weeks in Paris, and is stocked in Harrods, Ssense, Dover Street Market and more.
Jonathan W Anderson
The Northern Irish fashion designer known for his eponymous label and for being the creative director of Spanish luxury label Loewe, Jonathan Anderson burst onto the scene in 2008 receiving critical acclaim for his first collection as a designer.
After receiving sponsorship from the British Fashion Council’s Newton committee, Anderson subsequently produced his first catwalk collection at London Fashion Week in 2010.
“JW Anderson is now considered one of the coolest brands,” says Paulo Ribeiro, co-founder of PRM model agency.
In 2016, JW Anderson gave exclusive live-streaming rights to the queer dating app Grindr for their autumn/winter fashion show. Users of the app were given a link to the livestream in their inboxes, and the show was played on a loop for 24 hours after it ended.
Most recently in February 2023, Anderson designed the singer Rihanna’s ‘red outfit’, which she wore when announcing her second pregnancy during her half-time Super Bowl performance.
Matthieu Blazy
After recently taking over as creative director at Chanel, Matthieu Blazy is a French-Belgian designer who has been hailed as the next John Galliano.
When he graduated La Cambre fashion school in Brussels, Prada’s Raf Simons was a member of the jury of Blazy’s graduate collection and hired him on the spot to work for his namesake label.
Blazy, 40, moved to Chanel from the Italian fashion house, Bottega Veneta, where he was creative director from 2021-24.
Blazy’s style is pared-back yet modern. His introduction of the ‘Andiamo’ bag – the intrecciato-woven handbag – to Bottega Veneta and the knitted sock-slippers became cult classics worn by celebrities from Cardi B to Katy Perry.
His success of reinventing Bottega’s accessories into timeless classics meant Bottega Veneta was the only house in the Kering roster to make a profit in the conglomerate’s 2023 third quarter.
This lead to Blazy being dubbed the “Magician of Milan” by fashion journalist Vanessa Friedman.
Blazy’s knack for creating viral trending pieces has fashion enthusiasts on tenterhooks for his debut Chanel collection.
“After a few years at Bottega, the whole industry is waiting to see Blazy’s ‘new Chanel’,” says Ribeiro.
Conner Ives
Conner Ives is an American fashion designer and one of the fastest rising stars in the industry.
As a graduate of Central Saint Martins, Ives dressed model Adwoa Aboah for the 2021 Met Gala while still studying, and he subsequently gained the notice of Rihanna who hired him to help create her first Fenty collection.
Like McDowell, Ives has been praised for his sustainable initiatives, using deadstock fabric and recycled vintage clothing to create offbeat collections that draw on streetwear and American youth culture.
“We need to have supportive governments who understand the need to support and nurture all people and allow them to live authentically as themselves,” says McDowell.
“The trans community is especially at risk at the moment and it is imperative that all institutions do their part to protect and uplift this community.
“When we are all cared for we can truly explore our creative expression and in turn develop game changing businesses of the future.”
