Behind Matches' Shoppable Celebration Of Fashion's New Avant-Garde

Over recent years, the frenetic speed of the fashion industry – and the pressure that such a pace puts on designers’ creativity and production processes alike – has been a hot topic, to say the least.

Less discussed, however, is the impact that such a grueling regime has on young designers: the emerging talent who struggle financially to put one collection together – let alone four, or eight, per year – and who aren’t practically equipped to engage with the logistics of the industry (that is, if they want to engage with them at all).

Now, with the launch of their latest initiative, The Innovators, MatchesFashion.com is offering a new generation of creatives an opportunity that sits outside of the traditional fashion system. A retail hub dedicated to championing the non-conformist designers who they believe deserve their own arena, it is simultaneously subversive and remarkably helpful – both to the designers themselves, and the people who want to invest in their pieces.

“The Innovators came about because we kept seeing very talented designers coming through Fashion East and other channels that we loved, but were quite disruptive and didn’t work to the regular calendar,” explains buying director Natalie Kingham. “It struck me that there is a young, cool audience, and an older, pioneering fashion customer, who are both looking for something unique and who understand that these designers have a strong fashion point of view.”

Launching with limited-edition collections from Claire Barrow, Art School, Matty Bovan, Wanda Nylon and Paula Knorr, which distill the codes of their respective brands into new, exclusive pieces, The Innovators is essentially a who’s-who of the new guard: those whose radical approach to fashion is pushing the industry forward.Edward Meadham Launches Behind-The-Scenes Videos For Blue Roses

“We are a fashion company and there is something different happening in fashion so we wanted to speak to that,” Kingham continued. “Fashion and the way designers are showing is already changing and these designers don’t all want to do things in the normal way. Each one has their own point of view and a strong voice.”

They most certainly do: so here they each tell us a little about the pieces that will go on sale today...

Art School

“Art School defines itself through its queer identity – which means that our aesthetic is quite organic as we evolve and work with new people – but we always say that our work comes from the idea of decadent minimalism. The Innovators has enabled us to create something away from a show or seasonal collection, and has given us the opportunity to create a really pure representation of our world right now. We are in an age of post post post modernism and the whole world is on the brink of mass hysteria. In response, fashion will either harbour these anxieties or completely set itself free from any constraints. There is a wave of strong minded and pure designers in this moment and to be working amongst and around them is truly exciting.”

Wanda Nylon

“I think that beauty is found in the story of a personality, so I like a direct design, and strong women who totally possess the clothes that they wear; determined women who dress for themselves, and not to please the boys. This project has given me the freedom to sculpt this character in my work, reinterpreting masculine and bourgeois codes at the same time. It is rare to hear someone tell you, ‘do as you like, make yourself happy’ – and it was a total pleasure.”

Paula Knorr

“My brand aesthetic is influenced by the idea to create an intense and powerful picture of femininity; I design clothes that don't overpower the wearer, but instead work with her unique body shape and movement. I like my designs to reveal a personal and realistic ideas of sexiness, and this collection captures the essence of my brand: I combined my way of pattern cutting with a strong colour palette as well as sensual fabrics like metallic lamé and silk velvet. I am now in my third season showcasing at London Fashion Week, and there are new responsibilities and tasks that I have to fulfil everyday. It felt freeing and nurturing to sit down and re-focus on the essentials of my design aesthetic again.”

Claire Barrow

“I think my aesthetic is quite instant, but it comes from a mixture of fun and ugliness, sometimes good and bad taste, bringing opposites together – and everything has a drawing on it, usually faces, figures of animals. It was freeing to do everything in pink, and for the team at Matches to support that; we used silhouettes and fabrics from previous seasons, but in pink, and all of the drawings are brand new. It’s the first mini collection that I’ve done in a while – ever since exiting the official schedule”

Matty Bovan

"My work is generally textured, fluid and energetic – and I’m super excited to be able to showcase some of my key autumn/winter 2017 pieces in new colourways and patterns. Right now, I really love that designers are crossing the boundaries and pushing what it means to be a fashion designer. In 2017, the role of designer has become more diverse than ever before.”