’s latest collection – shown this past Sunday in the basement of a Marylebone restaurant – called on her friends to join her at “a presentation of attempts at sustainability solutions”. It was a polite understatement: for the past three seasons, English has steadfastly been rebuilding her entire eponymous label from the ground up, reassessing each and every process that it takes to get her collections from idea to shop floor. This presentation was the spoils.
“Those problems are within our systems. So any systems that we have control over – whether that’s just what we have in our kitchen or what we use in our business, if we have any systems that we have direct control over, we need to alter them quickly, drastically, and right now.
“But we did have to stop; so we didn’t do February men’s fashion week, or June. We’re showing mens- and womenswear together so we have a longer time to develop and research – if we are making clothes, we’re making them to the best of our abilities with the best materials and in the least impactful way. That’s the idea and that’s what I think luxury should be. We are a luxury fashion label, it’s not a product that everyone can afford.