Partying on a school night with Chaos in the CBD

In London, among the home-shy set, a consensus has been reached: Thursday has dethroned Friday as the perfect party opp. (Well, sort of.) Maybe it’s the thrill of being out on a school night, or the fact that hangovers never hit the same the next morning, but this autumn, there’s no end of late-week jaunts – a sentiment that the revellers who packed out East End concept store, LN-CC, on 9^th October can attest to.

Those throwing themselves into a full workout on the dancefloor, giggling in confidence to a friend in the loo queue or simply nursing a vape outside on Shacklewell Lane were all united in their rejection of doom bound to the following day’s last leg of work. It was a mirage of responsibility, if you will. Drinks were flowing and rattling basslines snaked their way through the Flinstones-esque, Gary Card-designed caverns of the store and accompanying, iridescent club space, L8TE.

Since opening the legendary brick-and-mortar space in the heart of Dalston in 2010 – which has, sequentially closed and re-opened – LN-CC (AKA the Late Night Chameleon Cafe) has played host to a sizeable array of brands, as well as homegrown music talents, including OK Williams and James Massiah.

This celebration of Sorel’s slick AW25 collection, entitled ​“Horizon”, followed suit with a soundtrack devised by Chaos in the CBD, the Peckham-based, Auckland-raised connoisseurs of deep house and woozy grooves, Ben and Louis Helliker-Hales. Yam Records co-founder and Rhythm Section star Tom Esselle also played.

Arriving fashionably late (as per), we dove straight into the action, slipping past congregations camped in front of the venue’s large (and extremely snappable) mirrors. The kiwi boys were already on, and the likes of alt-model Debbie Dickson and hostess extraordinaire Miss Jason, took to the floor, joining a crowd lost in the throb of choice cuts – Sharon Redd’s Beat The Street was playing – and strobe lights. Meandering through signature sounds – sax-laden melodies and 80s synths – the Chaos brothers had the crowd in their palms, not lapsing besides a quick slipout to the bar.

“What I love about L8TE, is that we’re able to bring something different with every iteration. We have different faces at each of our events,” said Reece Crisp, LN-CC’s buying and creative director. ​“We wanted to bring an off-piste, après-ski vibe to the [event], and I knew Ben and Louis would deliver. Their sets always take you on a journey, perfect for this launch.

Lining the walls was a selection of Sorel’s new designs: the chunky Callsign Horizon GTZ and the Daystorm Horizon GTX – both available in mid and low variations – each specced with waterproof Gore-Tex. With a tough Arctic-ready construction typical of the reference design (the Caribou boot), these new sneaker-hiker hybrids were also on show in a dynamic story shot by Tom C Kean plastered across the space.

The night crept on in a B3B rotation. Tom Esselle eventually went solo, taking the music down a darker, techno-heavy avenue with jolts of pumping house. Pushing on till last lights, we and an army of double-parked divas attempted some track IDs, but this proved impossible. After countless failed Shazams, we resigned ourselves to the great mass of bodies, safe in the knowledge that London has still got its groove.