denzilpatrick spring/summer 2024
Hi-Fashion | Paris Fashion Week
SS24- Come Home Darling!
We all travel for love, for sanctuary, for trade, for leisure. Across skies and oceans, streets and parks to find the “centre of our world”. What will we need to take on the journey? When will we know we have arrived? When can you put your suitcases away, because you need travel no more? When are you home?
We see images of Windrush-era arrivals at Waterloo station, smartly dressed with luggage piled high as they burst into London from Jamaica. Daniel was reminded of the voyage of his own grandparents. At the end of their great journey and anticipating many more to come, he imagined dressing for that journey and how that style could evolve, taking your wardrobe from epic migrations over land and sea to the small passages we take in our city, and the places we visit in our hopes and dreams .
Dressed for the Journey. Daniel was inspired by the portrayal of newly arrived men-about-town in Samuel Selvon’s poignant novel, The Lonely Londoners, with their bold, summertime swagger, at times concealing a heartache for the comfort of home. We tell this story in summer tailoring; double breasted jackets and matching vests, created in rich, sentimental tones of putty and sienna. Also including unexpected detailing such as cascading ruffles, knitwear trims and printed linings.
Small passages. Familial conversations returned to the reverie of “going home”. The feeling of many immigrants, that they will one day return, though perhaps, knowing that they have already found the place where their heart belongs. Here, the journey is brought up to date with a wardrobe inspired by days out, park visits & beach-trips all prepped for the unpredictable British weather: a hood for the rain, hankie-tied hats for bursts of sun, sleeves rolled up and jackets rolled down. Tailoring shapes are repeated in softer structures with matching loosened trousers.
There is also a real sense of celebration and pageantry, influenced by the unadulterated colour of Carribean-British designer Althea McNish, a woman who moved to London (for art!) in the 1950’s and whose reverie for home was communicated in expressive work that helped to change the look and feel of Britain. Classic outerwear is strewn with carnival embroideries created with reclaimed wood. Thermal underwear, (essential for any British summer) has tropical tones, anoraks are animated in parrot hues, wind-breaker stripes are painted with beaming colour.
The outfits evolve further into pieces inspired by sleepwear, as we journey to places that exists perhaps more in dreams. Here, night-time pieces mix with day and fabrics are imprinted with vibrating colour as the journey continues with heightened emotion.
Collection graphics act as souvenirs to these voyages passed and those to come, with ocean liner crests and local taxi-cab business cards, all proclaiming the Denzilpatrick slogan that “London belongs to me”.
Thank you to Gola for their continued support. And to the wonderful team at Walkley Clogs, the last clog makers in the UK! Thank you to Robbie, Barbara, Chris, Thom, Giorgio, Daniel, Patrick and all of the fantastic collaborators that made this possible. And thank you to my team, the best I know.
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