As a slurry of curious characters stormed the runway, Charles Jeffrey Loverboy’s SS24 offering imagined a queer utopia. Porcelain pirates, steamy mediaeval knights and a jasperware dragon marched upon Milan, the rhythmic thudding of their Loverboy x Roker lion claw loafers and platform pumps – however imposing – the amassing footsteps of These New Caroleans.
Rooted in the word Carolus, the Latin form of the name Charles, Caroleans is a term used to describe soldiers of the Swedish army during the reigns of Kings Charles XI and Charles XII of Sweden, and specifically from 1680. In 2022, us UK residents awoke under the reign of King Charles III, becoming new Caroleans ourselves.
Resulting from the Scotsman’s musings over Britain’s imperial past in a bid to reimagine what the King’s coronation might have looked like in a more Elysian parallel, the collection unfurls as a kind of manifesto or “sartorial statement of intent” as the show notes describe. Merging 17th-century accents with contemporary fabrics and silhouettes, the designer plays with fresh perspectives on activewear, combining Day-Glo hose with matching track jackets and extraterrestrial torso-graphic knits with bulky shoulder bags. Acid colourways are integrated into classic tartans and unhinged AI florals twist and twirl into hypnotic new shapes. As the modern militia prepare for their brave new future, decorative suits of armour are sculpted from upcycled Wedgwood jasperware, hinting toward upcoming Wedgwood collabs.
Jeffrey is on the brink of a new era in more ways than one. By combining traditional garb worn by Caroleans during the Restoration of 1660 with high-tech sportswear and warped graphics, this was also his first foray into AI-assisted design.
Embracing British rebellion, innovation and an innate belief in the radical power of queer futurity, Loverboy embodies all the best bits of a crumbling country, fearlessly bearing its mythic, multicultural soul. Here, Jeffrey – and his off-beat army – offered a riotous pledge of hope: “We swear that we will pay true allegiance to each other, and to our limitless potential, according to law. So help us all.” At Loverboy’s coronation, anyone can wear the crown, and everybody will.
Photography courtesy of Charles Jeffrey Loverboy.
