I support you, working-class designers
For this series, we turn our attention to London’s working-class designers shaping fashion from the ground up. For all their talk of openness, fashion is still defined by barriers that decide who gets access, and who doesn’t.
William Palmer launched his namesake label in 2025 after graduating from Central Saint Martins, where he was awarded the L’Oréal Prize.
Rooted in a distinctly British sensibility, the brand combines clean silhouettes with playful humour. Drawing on everyday suburban life, 90s and early-2000s menswear, and mischief, Palmer reimagines familiar forms with subtle exaggeration and unexpected twists.
Sharp cuts, strong fabrics, and metal logo hardware ground the humour in serious menswear construction. William Palmer celebrates vulnerability, chaos, and joy, offering a distinctly British wardrobe that knows when to behave and when to misbehave.
In terms of support, what did winning the L’Oreal Prize mean to you, did it boost confidence and also getting money when design// fashion is so difficult to break into. What did your collection include? What was your inspiration or piece you were most proud of?
Winning the L’Oréal Prize must have been a huge moment at a time when breaking into fashion can feel quite precarious. How did that support shape what felt possible for you, both creatively and financially? And from that collection, is there a look or piece you still feel proud of?
WIJNRUIT –
Winruit was founded in 2021 by multidisciplinary creative Jewel Kaye. The Boys Don't Cry member predominantly works across painting, collage, creative direction, styling and garment making. Kaye has used creativity as an outlet to keep him sane since an early age. Kaye added designing to his repertoire in early 2015 when he started designing clothes in New York under a mentor who helped him learn and develop in a non-traditional way. After returning to the UK; he moved to London, refining his techniques, simply by experimenting.
Although Wijnruit may be considered a menswear brand, each piece is designed without gender in mind. Wijnruit is an exploration of archetypes found in past and present subcultures and the mythology surrounding them. Experimenting with a broad array of silhouettes with an onus on freedom of expression. Rugged industrial garment construction alongside hyper jubilant swipes of colour, find harmony in juxtaposition with a softer sumptuous side. Each unique one-of-one garment is handmade in London.
Your bio mentions the non-traditional techniques you experimented with under a mentor in New York. What did that look like in practical terms, and what did it mean to have that kind of guidance at that stage?
Founded by 21 year old Izadora Hodges in 2023, ARODAZI is still just a baby.
Essex born and London raised Izadora had gone on a solo mission around Asia, predominantly India, somewhere that has a great space in her heart. Ironically, throughout her journey and as it was nearing its end, she was lost, and had always dreamt of starting a brand. Stumbling across a man called Vinay, a manufacturer - she started designing...
ARODAZI clothes are manufactured in India in a small independent factory just outside the main city of Pushkar, Rajasthan.
Working closely with the team is something ARODAZI believes is imperative, to understand the initial idea and collaborate together to create the perfect silhouettes, fits and materials.
You’ve described feeling lost at the end of your journey through Asia. Meeting Vinay, a manufacturer, seemed to spark your interest in designing and in collaborating with a team and manufacturers. What did you learn through that relationship that acted as a catalyst for your new journey into design?
A happy florist passionate about upcycling fashion, styling and art direction
Working as a florist alongside your fashion practice feels like a different kind of creative support system, bringing a different relationship to colour, structure and composition. Has that experience influenced the way you think about clothing and image-making?
No bio thus far but I love this Instagram post showing hand-drawing the designs
The hand-drawn designs in your work are stunning, they feel almost mythological, somewhere between a nightmare and a dream. How do you come up with these designs, and what is the practical experience of working on each individual piece?
Follow up: Do you have a design that has particularly stayed with you, or has an interesting back story you’d like to share?
You’ve spoken about the power in shaping your identity from the cultural layers that resonate with you, from your Igbo heritage to reconnecting with your Italian side through materials sourced in Florence. What does it mean to you to bring those together in your designs, and how do you hope the wearer experiences that?
No bio but some good Reels for info: here, here,
Owen Edward Snaith started his eponymous label in 2022. Snaith's work started off as an expression of his experience growing up queer in a small rural fishing community on the East Coast of Scotland. A poetic queer thread weaves throughout the work, which is grounded in craftsmanship, collaboration, and community. These threads informed Snaith’s research and making processes, throughout which he referred back to archival objects, imagery and poetry which was then collaged together in a manner akin to a family album to inform draping, cut, silhouette and embellishments. The work has since then evolved and shape-shifted into a wider exploration of identity and the environment Snaith now finds himself navigating.
Collections are designed with a menswear sensibility but retain a sense of fluidity in their construction. These intentional design features are intended to guarantee that garments can adapt to the shape or gender of the vessel wearing them. Traditional menswear elements seen across Snaith’s work contrast with flamboyant colours and obscure cutting heavily influenced by the androgynous uniforms of 1980s club culture. There is a strong emphasis throughout the brand of experimental surface design, including through print, appliqué and traditional textile techniques to create and convey a combination of tales and histories.
No matter how much Snaith's work evolves, at the core is a love for Scotland and the ancient skills that are so intrinsic to Scottishness. The opportunity to work with and build a community of craftspeople whose unique skill sets are nearing extinction is a highlight of Snaith's process. These collaborations have seen and continue to see him work with kiltmakers, jewellery designers, handknitters and weavers. Such collaborations notably led to the birth of Snaith’s own tartan named ‘Incentive’. Now fully registered on the Scottish tartan register, the cloth is dedicated to all the fisherfolk & queer youth of the Scottish east coast.
Owen Edward Snaith has featured in a number of notable publications such as Bricks, The Greatest, The Guardian, Elle Italia, WWD, The New York Times, Vogue, ShowStudio and The Scotsman. Snaith was also featured in the blockbuster V&A Dundee Tartan exhibition which seen him continue to work with V&A Dundee in the form of a commission with drag icon Cheddar Gorgeous, museum ‘takeover’ with illustrator Katie Braid and a panel discussion discussing queerness in relation to cloth at the exhibition’s closing symposium. The featured look has since been bought by the Westminster Menswear Archive.
Further recent successes include the launch of Snaith's second collection “The Eye in the Cave”, from which a key piece appeared on the singer Anne Marie’s album cover, and his first RTW collection “Night at The Glebe”. These collections were featured in publications including Vogue Scandinavia, British Vogue and 10 Magazine. 10 Men Magazine additionally published an edition in their “10 Meets” series on the namesake brand.
You place a strong emphasis on working with Scottish craftspeople whose skills are at risk of disappearing, from kiltmakers to weavers. What does it mean to build a contemporary queer fashion practice through traditions that are often associated with heritage and preservation?
Follow up: Could you talk about the process behind creating your tartan ‘Incentive’, and what it meant to dedicate it to the fisherfolk and queer youth of Scotland’s east coast?
BRICKS 24 DAYS OF MAKERS BIO: Layal, the London-based Arab fashion designer behind the brand, is someone who takes unseriousness very seriously. Inspired by nostalgia and the absurdities of human experience, her work highlights the female body through odd yet intentional silhouettes, always tucking cultural references behind the humour.
You’ve described fashion as being less about perfection and more about presence grounded in touch, memory and everyday human interactions. How do those small, intimate moments translate into the way you design a garment?