Newsletter
Newsletter: Where Past Meets Punkature with an Anglomania Throw-Back
Hello everyone,
We’re back with a burst of creativity – and while there’s a stack of new work on our table, we’ll be sharing it slowly over the coming months as each idea, sample, and story takes shape.
This month, we’re weaving together East End history, the raw and grubby edges of our Post No Bills project, and our familiar punk-meets-elegance mischief.
The Light House Collaboration — Slightly Delayed, Never Cancelled
We were recently offered space at The Light House in Soho via a collaborative partner, where we planned to debut our new experiments in fancy knitting, crooked tailoring, and premium textiles. Production delays due to our collab partner, however, meant we wouldn’t hit the deadline — so the launch is postponed, not abandoned.
The plan remains the same: to re-channel those Penny Dreadful, old East End vibes, drawing from Charles Booth’s poverty maps and the slum classifications of the 18th and 19th centuries. We’re flipping those labels on their head to create a kind of “Slum Gentry” aesthetic.
The branding is rooted in Squalere — Latin for “squalor,” and the language Booth used when assessing poverty. We’re keeping Squalere alive, but now pairing it with “167” — the grim historical average of 167 deaths per day in those neighbourhoods from preventable diseases.
What once signified degradation now becomes a marker of premium craft and imaginative rebellion. We’ve kept Booth’s original colour-coding too: dark blue and pale blue. But we’re reclaiming them as Premium and Premium Premium, instead of “poor” and “very
Crooked Luxury: Wools, Linens & Embroidered Oddities
Speaking of premium: our upcoming clothing range dives headfirst into the delightfully wonky — beautifully off-kilter silhouettes, luxurious wools and linens, and tailoring with a kink.
The premium range is where we indulge in intricate embroidery:
– philosophical 18th-century musings
– snippets of poetry
– historical graphic elements
– small floral embellishments tucked into pockets
For the Premium Premium suiting, we’ll be working with tailors to give pieces the gravitas they deserve. But all soft tailoring remains in-house — to preserve that hand-touched, rule-breaking feel. This also lets us control the bespoke elements: deeper crotches, hand-shaped buttons, off-kilter buttonholes, and freestyle embroidered seams.
Post No Bills — Beginning Its Roll-Out
Our Post No Bills project is picking up momentum. You’ll soon see its rebellious poster-art ethos colliding directly with the new clothing — and we’ll also be re-presenting the work of our collaborating artists in fresh, unexpected ways.
Think of it as a graffiti ghost slipping into couture.
The Road Ahead
So bear with us — the path is meandering and twisted, just the way we like it. Over the coming months we’ll dive deeper into the stories, the side-projects, the artists, the history, and the long dead who haunt our branding.
Samples, art, garments, and tales are all on their way.