June 15, 2025 |
On Saturday, Graduate Fashion Week slipped into its second day with a tailored focus on menswear. Across a handful of standout shows, students reimagined the category with subversion – and at times, outright rebellion. For the uninitiated, GFW isn’t just a student showcase; it’s a 34-year-old proving ground where the likes of Christopher Bailey and Stella McCartney once cut their teeth – and where you might find the next big thing nervously pinning a hem backstage.
Leading today’s pack was De Montfort, boasting oversized silhouettes blown out to cartoonish proportions and drop-waisted skirts swinging wild and loose. Streams of sportswear and swathes of faux fur followed suit – but the scene-stealer was a pub-chair upholstery crop top paired with a chainmail-style mini-skirt made entirely from bubble-gum pink, leopard-print dart flights. And yes, thanks to grad Georgie Chenery, there was a slinky matching bag too.
And just when the looks couldn’t get wilder – or the materials weirder – along came Kaitlyn Joy’s 100 per cent recycled focus on water safety menswear. Donated Hypalon boat scraps, decommissioned Royal National Lifeboat Institution kits and marine offcuts were reworked into sculptural cuts, softening the otherwise boxy male torso. Yellow panelling bore water-jet-cut warnings – ‘Float to Live’ – while life-vest vests were trimmed with woven red-and-black harnesses. The collection earned Joy a highly commended nod from the GFW judges – and high praise from her brother too, who’s already laid claim to the sporty ‘Sail’ cargo trousers.
After all, a look is only as strong as its accessories, and De Montfort met the brief head to toe. Footwear designers Zac Lawrence’s slick orange kicks and GFW Accessories Winner, Heidi Walmsley’s sculptural calf-high standouts affirmed this.
Then came Northumbria’s Liv Ashton, who was hard to miss. Dressed in a two-toned black-and-white Newcastle United jersey, she watched gleefully as her debut collection took to the runway – like a home team finally stepping onto familiar turf. Titled Giz a Fiver, her repurposed footie fantasia transformed upcycled counterfeit football gear into something unexpectedly authentic.
Her first look materialised as a patchwork jersey dress-poncho hybrid, exaggerated with a neon tangerine quarter-zip – the kind of garment that recalled long, rainy afternoons beneath British clouds and stadium stands. She followed it with a pastel parka, which, when spun around revealed a fringe-laden cape made entirely from club scarves – all business in front, football fan in the back. “It weighed about the same as a toddler and you just couldn’t put it through a sewing machine!” she said backstage.
Post-runway was spent exploring the Truman Brewery’s buzzing hubs festooned with material galore – next stop, Lefty’s The Business of Influence talk, held amid the show-day buzz. Renzo Angeloni (Strategic Growth & Partnerships Manager) and Alexia Kramble (Account Manager) of the Paris-based tech consultancy unpacked how Lefty blends data, instinct and strategy to help brands navigate influencer marketing – from campaign activations to trend rankings.
“Momentum is the hardest thing to quantify,” Angeloni noted. “You can track growth, but few people explode overnight – and when that happens, it’s the holy grail of influencer marketing.” The cheat code? Spot talent early. Understand who’s building real communities (not just followers) and move swift on cultural moments. With the space growing 10 per cent year-on-year, Lefty’s advice stands: work cross-industry, track what resonates and don’t just chase numbers, chase influence.
Manchester Metropolitan University served up pattern cut precision with a side of curated chaos. Clean lines and concept-led creations defined the lineup but of course, while turquoise latex trenches, suspended circus-tent skirts and multiple balaclava-loving face wear made for some unruly exceptions. Emzy Read for one, danced between delicacy and utility, re-engineering the classic dance wrap-cardigan into a cropped bomber style jacket with an oversized hood.
Kanishka Rathod’s dominatrix silhouette stalked the runway like a shadow made manifest in a matte-black, skin-tight material. Below, a sculpted skirt jutted out in the shape of an illusory side-profile outline, rendered with near-architectural precision and hyper-femme ferocity.
Sure, the runways turned heads – but day two was just as much about the brains behind the scenes. Casey Henshaw (De Montfort) snagged the Terry Mansfield Award for her glossy editorial eye; Jasmine Kelly (Manchester Met) scooped the Digital Fashion Award; and Keira Brown (Manchester Met), part of a cohort the judges deemed “legacy-worthy”, received the Fashion Styling & Creative Direction award.
Behind a sea of brightly coloured onlookers scurrying to their seat, the heavyweight panel made up of Way Perry, Heidi Quill, Rahemur Rahman and recent 2025 Pratt Award winner Nicholas Daley, made their much-anticipated entrance to the FROW of the Mens Collective show – safe to say they were in for a treat!
Cue the lights, music and clothes and the brewery’s catwalk lit up with molten rouge pointed beanies, oversized silhouettes (once again) and a punky playfulness that felt both sci-fi rave and alpine après ski – you have none other than Amaani Chowdhary of Arts University Bournemouth to thank that for the eye-catching entry.
But Ying Zhong’s garms soon transported us back to the realm of ornamental maximalism (yes please!). Circular pattern cutting and ruched red sheer chiffon formed a halo-like bib, draped in pearls and sculpted into a saintly silhouette. Billowing sleeves in imperial-style floral brocade peeked out from beneath the voluminous layers, while bulbous yellow taffeta bloomers – cinched like overstuffed pouches – completed their ceremonial reverie.
As Graduate Fashion Foundation (GFF) director Nicola Hitchens noted, “This marks the first time Graduate Fashion Week has presented a dedicated menswear show… Our goal is to shine a light on new voices and give them the visibility they deserve as they take their first steps into the professional world.” So, if today taught us anything, it’s this: London loves menswear (and so do we).
Stay tuned, winners will be announced during Best of GFW25, the official closing showcase of GFW, taking place on Monday evening and marking the culmination of a week that’s proved fashion’s future rests in a cohort of capable hands.
Top image: look by Ying Zhong, photography courtesy of Graduate Fashion Week.
