A-COLD-WALL

Born into a blue-collar family in the south London district of Brixton, Samuel Ross is no stranger to working-class culture. After attending design school, he spent his first years in the fashion industry honing his craft under streetwear star Virgil Abloh (now Louis Vuitton’s artistic director for menswear) before establishing his hot and buzzy new label, A-cold-wall. When it came time to designing his own collection, Ross decided to go back to his roots, combining his upbringing with what he learned under Abloh—turning industrial uniforms into art. His debut collection, for autumn/winter 2018, features utilitarian workwear like fisherman boots and safety belts (no doubt borrowed from Abloh’s Off-white signature) created in luxurious fabrics or unexpected colours. There are crinkled blousons in shiny metallic hues and slouchy smocks, leather harem pants and hand-spun wool knitwear with construction satchels. For his spring/summer 2019 show, guests were even encouraged to put on safety goggles and earplugs to participate in an immersive performance set amid turbines and metal beams, an event contrived to highlight the designer’s desire to see greater democratisation in fashion. A-cold-wall is available at Dover Street Market Singapore.