With London Fashion Week celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, Harris Reed felt like the perfect designer to kick off the festivities. The buzzy London designer staged his first-ever on-calendar show last night at the Tate Modern, dazzling guests with his “fluid, demi-couture” using “precious, found fabrics” on designs.
Models swanned around the stage wearing dramatic crinoline hooped skirts, and corsets all wrapped in vintage lace tablecloths, Victorian bedspreads, and antique curtains. His signature camp-couture was on full display.
“I felt a lot of pressure to put on a big performance and really be proud and loud and British,” Harris tells me when we chatted a few weeks ago.
The young designer has been one of the most exciting British talents to watch since his days studying at Central Saint Martins, where he first caught the attention of Hollywood stars like Harry Styles and Solange Knowles. In fact, he soon went on to create designs for Styles’s world tour stage costumes between 2017-2018, transforming him into the next name-to-know. Then, when Harry Styles wore custom Harris Reed as the first male cover star of Vogue US in December 2020, Harris’ transformation into a globally renowned designer was complete.
“I’ve always been this theatrical dark horse, and I felt a responsibility, especially coming up to 40 years of LFW, to come together, make some noise and show the world what we have here in London,” he said.
When we spoke ahead of London Fashion Week this season, Harris was in a particularly reflective mood, opening up about the struggles of maintaining a thriving brand in a challenging economic landscape when so many are scaling down or shuttering. Having to prioritise sales has also meant designers have been churning out more commercially viable or sellable designs, as evidenced by pared-down designs on the runways of the last few seasons. Harris, however, decided to double-down on his desire to create fantastical fashion. “When I interned with fashion designers like Jeremy Scott or Pierpaolo Piccioli, they always told me that I have to create my own universe and be unapologetic about it, and everything else will follow,” he said. “And every time I lean into the theatricality and showmanship, things have arrived.”
It’s a fine balance, however, between managing the business and creative aspects of the brand. Harris cites strategic partnerships as one of the ways he’s been able to grow his universe and reach new audiences without having to dilute the integrity of his own label. After a successful, ongoing collaboration with jewellery brand Missoma, last night he unveiled his latest partnership with Royal Salute, the scotch whiskey brand launched in 1953 in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II on the day of her Coronation. “The way to make business work in these times, besides having incredible clients, is also about partnering with people that want to grow into that world,” Harris said. “I think alcohol for me felt like an amazing next step (and I think in the next five to 10 years maybe I’ll go into skin, beauty and fragrance—my mother was a perfumer for 25 years and a candlemaker), but it’s these collaborations that also allow you to earn revenue to then be able to push boundaries and create the shows you want.”