Daniel W Fletcher’s first womenswear collection spotlights his favourite lockdown hobby 

There comes in the life of a designer one career-defining moment that shapes their legacy in the industry—that one marquee moment that will forevermore be used in conjunction with their name. At the age of 30, London-based designer Daniel W Fletcher has a host to choose from. Among other laurels, he serves as a nominee of the highly-coveted LVMH Prize 2017 as well as the recipient of GQ's Peroni Breakthrough Designer of the Year 2020. And then there was the time pop icon Harry Styles ordered all the shirts from his graduate collection—the outpouring of love from the singer’s cult-like following promptly caused his phone to die while out on a shopping trip. Elsewhere, the menswear designer’s first female client is billed as none other than pop sensation Dua Lipa. 

“It all happened when her stylist Lorenzo (Posocco) spotted me after I graduated from Central Saint Martins. The first time we worked together, he pulled some pieces for an editorial and when I presented my next collection, he asked to try some things on a young singer he had just started working with... that turned out to be Dua,” he reminisces. In the years since, the designer’s gender fluid creations have found a fan across both ends of the spectrum, notably fetching him a spot in the finale of Netflix’s Next In Fashion, hosted by Tan France and Alexa Chung. After years of fielding requests from female patrons, he credits them both for offering the final push to release his first womenswear collection, debuting at the latest London Fashion Week as a virtual showcase. 

Inside Daniel W Fletcher’s first womenswear collection

“Without Next in Fashion, I don’t think I’d be launching this collection now. The positive response I received on the show is what gave me the confidence to push my brand to the next level,” he tells Vogue India. The jumping-off point for the 18-piece lineup serves as his menswear repertoire over the past five years—the designer’s signature tailoring was lifted from the archive, undone and then redone to adapt to slim-fit silhouettes. Expect split-hem trousers punctuated with utilitarian belts and tailored jackets featuring top-stitch denim, while pleated kilts continue his crusade to blur the lines on gendered dressing.

However, the pièce de résistance takes cues from the designer’s newfound lockdown hobby—patchworking quilts as a therapeutic means to reduce scraps and offer a fresh lease of life to fashion waste. He elaborates, “With suppliers being closed and travel off the cards, I was forced to look even closer at what I already have. The scraps of fabric that may have once destined for a landfill now serve as an integral part of my collections.” The result is a classic checkered dress constructed from fabric scraps rescued from the cutting room floor of his studio. “Fashion is always such a rush and produces so much waste, but the industry needs to think more about how the schedule works, give themselves more time and produce less. If we concentrate on producing considered, sustainable and smaller collections, we can at least stand a chance at battling climate change,” he believes. 

His vision for the future of fashion

That Fletcher chose trans models Margo and Maddie Whitley to front his debut womenswear collection comes as little surprise—the designer’s legacy in the industry has been steadily underscored with a thread of activism. “I first spotted them on TikTok and knew they would be perfect as the first DWF women. I’ve always believed that anyone with a platform has the responsibility to use it to do something positive. I want to encourage conversation and spread love and hope—my way to do that is through my collections,” he asserts. 

And not even the onset of an unprecedented global crisis could come in the way of the latter; Fletcher’s newest virtual showcase at London Fashion Week serves as his third collection during the pandemic. “I’ve always believed that it is important for brands to show collections in their own way, but that doesn’t always mean a show. Doing runway shows with hundreds of looks every few months is really unsustainable, so I think there is some positive to be taken from virtual events. In the past, I have shown my collections in multiple different formats, including videos, look books, presentations and even a protest one season,” he recounts. 

The latter, of course, refers to his anti-Brexit presentation outside the venue of London Collections Men circa 2016. The impromptu installation featured models dressed in Fletcher’s spring/summer '17 lineup emblazoned with one unifying message: ‘Stay’. Looking back, his quest for innovation has enabled him to express himself in different ways. And while there is work yet to be done in the future, having just concluded his virtual showcase at LFW, his needs are simple. “I could really do with an afterparty, this is my third collection without one now,” he quips. 

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