Steven Stokey-Daley’s second runway collection offered a wider range of products that went beyond his wide-legged trousers and embroidered shirts made famous by the likes of Harry Styles and Josh O’Connor.
The fall 2022 collection, based on the class divide depicted on British period dramas like “Downton Abbey,” built narratives around different characters, and through them, showcased looks inspired by formal dressing as well as workwear.
“I looked at the dissolution of the stately home and the upstairs and downstairs dynamics, merging with my ideas of theater and movement, to build my own modern-day period drama,” said Stokey-Daley, recently named a semifinalist for the 2022 LVMH Prize for Young Designers.
The knitwear pieces were the stars of this collection, revealed in a format between a catwalk show and a theater production, that saw lords and servants break the class barrier and unite in the name of love.
Other standouts include a leather waistcoat cut from diamonds of leather, a green trenchcoat with various waterbird motifs, a checked blazer with matching pants, an undergarment-like long shirt, and a striped silk pajamas.
Stokey-Daley showed great promise not just as a designer, but as an artistic director. His talent in creating an emotional experience around a collection could bring a legacy brand back to life one day.