Daniel Fletcher Goes Highbrow With Huntsman's Campbell Carey
The cross-pollination comes with nine bespoke looks and a 12-piece ready-to-wear capsule inspired by archives of both brands.
LONDON — Daniel Fletcher is looking to take his brand Daniel W. Fletcher in a more luxury direction with a collaboration with Huntsman, the 174-year-old British tailor on Savile Row best known for dressing all the characters in the “Kingsman” movie franchise.
Revealing off-schedule at the Royal Academy of Arts on the first day of the London Fashion Week June edition as part of Fletcher's fall 2023 collection, nine bespoke looks Fletcher codesigned with Campbell Carey, creative director at Huntsman, will be revealed.
These pieces, which include five formal tailoring looks adapted with Fletcher's signature slightly-more-elongated and narrow waistline with broader shoulders, as well as four women's evening options, will be immediately available for fitting and orders at Huntsman, with prices starting from 6,300 pounds.
A more ready-to-wear-focused 12-piece capsule, inspired by archives of both brands, will be available later across Fletcher's own distribution network in the fall together with the arrival of his main line. It features oversized shirts, wide-leg trousers and A-line jackets.
“My brand is all about reimagining British heritage, so this partnership with Huntsman made total sense. Taking what we know as traditional ‘menswear' and offering a contemporary take on it, one that is not bound by rules of dressing, gender or the expected,” said Fletcher, who also serves as creative director of Fiorucci.
While it's not uncommon for Huntsman to cross-pollinate — it worked with
Balenciaga on men's tailoring for its first couture collection in recent decades, Jo Malone on limited-edition men's colognes and a women-focused capsule with
Susan Bender Whitfield — this marks the first time Huntsman is working with an emerging fashion designer.
“We worked with Balenciaga in lockdown, which was a bit tricky because travel restrictions meant that we couldn't actually fit anything on the models for the catwalk,” Carey said. “This collection is different because Fletcher himself approached us, and we went to see his spring 2023 collection to get a feeling of the brand. I think there is a great synergy between the two brands, especially with the whole not wanting to waste any fabric ideal.”
To achieve the desired silhouettes, the two worked closely and came up with certain cuts with special constructions on the inside.
“Fletcher has a real eye for cuts.
When you talk to others about shape construction on the inside, they just glaze over because they don't know anything about it. Whereas he studied at Central Saint Martins and has a great hands-on technical approach. In my role as creative director, to be able to speak to him in the same language with no time wasted and go straight to the important stuff has been a great experience,” Carey added.
Fletcher added that it's been “a real honor” to work with and learn from the cutters and tailors of Huntsman and Savile Row during this six-month process.
“I wanted to show the best of what we do here in the U.K. and the craft behind creating these collections, while also giving my spin on it and breathing something of a new life into this traditional process and heritage of British fashion. Undoubtedly, this experience will inform my future designs for the rest of my career,” he said.
Given Fletcher's Netflix fame for being a runner-up in the reality show “Next in Fashion,” Carey is also confident that this collaboration can open doors to a much younger and different demographic for Huntsman.
“Today's guys and girls wouldn't necessarily walk up Savile Row and look for us, but he can put us on the map, just like the Kingsman trilogy,” Carey said.