Machine‑A pays tribute to London’s queer community

This week saw plenty of new campaigns to stop you right in your tracks, starting with C.P. Company, who enlisted a roll-call of personalities for its SS24 collection. Here, you’ll meet football player Marco Reus, James Harris and Lawrence Schlossman AKA the boys behind podcast Throwing Fits, and fashion stylist Eve Carol Kelly, among others, who share their personal love letters to the Italian brand. ​“C.P. Company was the main reason I started working in fashion,” says Kelly.

And speaking of, er, love, DSquared2 are celebrating legendary porn star Rocco Siffredi in its latest capsule collection, after the Italian stallion walked for the brand’s SS24 show last June. While we’re on reprisals, Jason Statham is back, this time for Stone Island’s SS24 Ghost capsule, fresh from his recent campaign appearance alongside Dave and Tricky. This time round, we’ve got director Ken-Tonio Yamamoto and architect Heidulf Gerngross in the mix, all shot by David Sims.

Latest on the Western tip is Guess USA, releasing its cowboy-adjacent lookbook for AW24. Now, unless you’ve been snoozing over the past few weeks, you’ll have noticed things are going all giddy-up this year. So get involved with the denim brand’s Americana jackets, plaid shirts and faux fur shearling. Cowboy hats mandatory.

Oh, and there’s also Courrèges, who takes us to church with its latest killer accessory, the Holy Bag. Can we get an amen? (Amen.)

An adidas Originals collab has been a long time coming for feelgood skatewear brand Always Do What You Should Do. Over the last few years, the brand has made it from founder Nick Mason’s bedroom in New Zealand all the way to London, with product drops getting snapped up by kids quicker than you can say ​“always”. Working with adidas has been on Mason’s moodboard for a while, and what better way to celebrate his dream finally coming to fruition than by releasing a fresh take on the sportswear giant’s legendary Superstar trainer? Made from sustainable synthetic leather, the shoe features a puffed-out tongue, a high-vis reflective heel-tab and interchangeable laces. Nab yourself a pair via the CONFIRMED app from today.

It’s been a big week for CAMPERLAB, who not only released its first campaign by the Mallorcan shoe brand’s creative director Achilles Ion Gabriel (who has been at the helm since 2019), but also the big reveal of CAMPERLAB’s first ever ready-to-wear collection, fronted by boundary-pushing musician Yves Tumor. Never one to come quietly, the brand’s unisex debut pulls no punches, with lime green two-pieces, casual-cool slouchy hoodies and smokey prints on distressed denim. And, of course, the shoes: the high and hardcore Venga boot, the brilliantly odd Tormenta sneaker, the smart Vamonos lace-ups and, for a breather, the Pelotas Flota sandals.

Meanwhile, there’s been all sorts of buzz from C.P. Company fans with the news of the group’s latest brand, Massimo Osti Studio. Inspired by the man himself, who founded both C.P Company and Stone Island in the ​’70s and ​’80s respectively, the studio is, unsurprisingly, putting craft and innovation first. So make way for the brand’s first chapter named after its core, suede-like material, Alcantara, featuring a long parka, jacket, trousers, bag and cap. A new chapter will be released every six weeks from now. Plenty of time to restock the piggy bank.

Stepping up and out this week is Martine Rose’s first collab with Clarks, which she teased at her SS24 show last year. As the beloved British shoe brand’s first-ever guest creative director, Rose’s collection, ​“Coming Up Roses”, takes four styles from the Clarks archive – the Oxford, Loafer, Sandal and Torhill Hi – on a mad-hatter Martine Rose spin. Classic silhouettes subverted by way of python leather, squidgy mattress-like padding and oddly-shaped heels. True to naughty form, the accompanying campaign has her uber-cool gang doing the unthinkable: shoes on the bed. ​“The collection was about comfort and this overblown feeling of softness and squidginess, so it felt easy and natural to create that feeling around bedding,” Rose says. ​“There’s something so completely unique about personal space. It’s all about engaging with people, using memory and familiarity as a way of connecting.”

DSquared2 have opened the doors to its brand-new flagship store in London, just in time for the fash pack taking over the city this weekend. Slotting into the well-heeled Bond Street neighbourhood, the store has been designed by swanky architects StorageMilano, who have transformed the space into what looks like an office straight out of 1950s Milan. If all offices looked like this, there’d be no more WFH.

Visit Dsquared2’s brand-spanking new flagship at 67 New Bond Street, London

This week saw the launch of contemporary fashion shop Machine‑A’s collaboration with Reebok – a love letter to London’s queer community in all its beautiful, storied glory. ​“I remember in our first meeting, we said, ​‘if we are to do this, I want to make sure we are doing it for something that is beautiful, and has a very important message to deliver,’” Stavros, Machine‑A’s founder, tells us. And so it is, with the collab fronted by model and activist Kai Isaiah Jamal, and featuring a dancefloor-ready collection inspired by the club – a place of pure joy, safety and expression for queer people. Get in line for sexy bodysuits, tube socks, loose boxer-style shorts, a shiny bomber and cropped tee. But not before you read our Q&A with Mr Karelis, who we managed to catch for a few minutes before the LFW festivities kicked off.

Hey, Stavros! How’s it going?
I’m good! Just in the middle of the madness before [London Fashion Week]. But in a good way.

So, how did the project get started?
After the first meeting, we sat down [with Reebok] and started discussing the LGBTQIA+ community and how important it is for Machine‑A, in these specific times, to make a statement about it. We started planning around it, working out how we could create something that is powerful and respectful in so many ways, and that was the starting point. Reebok was very excited about it – it was an extremely positive surprise how a giant sneaker company was so open to support the whole concept of what we wanted to build. You don’t see that often!

You focused much of the concept on queer clubs. Tell us more about that!
For me, clubs are about belonging and about a free space where you can express yourself and be with the people you like or people you don’t know, and dance and have such a great time. [In this project] ​“club” is about belonging, basically. In terms of culture, clubs have played such a significant part of the queer community. It had a lot of different meanings and metaphors as a keyword. At the same time, we started designing the Club C for the collection, which is the most iconic shoe of Reebok. So in many ways, the word club was coming up quite a lot of times.

What’s the first club you remember going to?
Well, I was 13 years old, back when I was living in Crete. Some of my friends were a bit older, and I was so into rave culture. We went to a rave, and I had lied to my parents. I didn’t realise we had to take buses to get us to the middle of nowhere. It turned out the next bus to take me home would be at 7am. Back then, we didn’t have phones to let my parents know that I’m actually in the middle of nowhere and I won’t be coming home until seven o’clock in the morning. I was panicking! And then I remember walking around, going into this space, listening to the music and seeing all the people around me, the way that they were dressed, and how happy they were.

Last question, Stavros: what song gets you on the dancefloor?
Drexciya – Deep Sea Dweller and The 7^th Plain – Astra-Naut‑E.

Thanks, Stavros!