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Charlie Casely-Hayford has always been a fashion designer for the everyman – understanding what real people want to wear.
In a 2017 interview with Square Mile, he explained his outlook on the industry: “I work in an industry that’s based on movement. Fashion by definition has to change every season, otherwise it wouldn’t be fashion anymore: it would be style. But I like permanence,” he told us.
“I spend a lot more time with normal guys who don’t know about fashion and think what I do is ridiculous. It normalises you, because otherwise it can be quite easy to get taken away by the somewhat seductive nature of the fashion world.”
So when it came to designing his latest collaboration with British brand Sunspel, Casely-Hayford knew he wanted to make clothes of permanence, of perpetual style.
Combining the London designer’s renowned tailoring style with Sunspel’s fabric expertise, the new collection consists of five interchangeable and comfortable pieces which allow the seamless integration of the suit into the contemporary wardrobe.
The capsule draws on Sunspel’s heritage in jersey and is crafted from a luxuriously soft Italian boiled-wool jersey fabric. The pieces have a deconstructed aesthetic with raw-edge hems and the unstructured tailoring makes each comfortable, versatile and easy to wear.
The collaboration is centred around a three-piece suit. The trousers have a relaxed wide leg, the two-button blazer is unstructured and relaxed and can be worn over or replaced by the refined wool jersey vest. These upper layers are interchangeable with the jacket which is a more relaxed, shorter-cropped jacket with raw detailing. The coat is a chunky, neat-fitting outer layer with an oversized yet lightweight feel.
“This collaboration builds on the previous one,” Casely-Hayford says. “We wanted to get to a place where it doesn’t feel at all like suiting. It’s designed to be part of your everyday wardrobe, to work in harmony with your T-shirts and knits, though it can move seamlessly into a more formal world too.”
Sunspel’s creative director David Telfer says, “Sunspel has always used the highest quality fabrics to make understated, comfortable and contemporary pieces. Charlie’s take on tailoring fits perfectly with our ethos and our collaboration represents the versatility of what modern tailoring should be.”
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The Sunspel x Charlie Casely-Hayford is available in stores now and on sunspel.com
