On day two of London Fashion Week, the designer welcomed the city’s creative fringe and his loyal scene-stealers to Camden for a technicolour Spring/Summer 27.
East London born and bred designer Aaron Esh had one of those years that makes you question your own productivity standards. He’s rolled out his first collection as chief creative officer for All Saints, following a complete reimagining of the brand’s identity and cultural footprint, and is back on the runway at London Fashion Week with the Spring/Summer 2027 collection for his widely adored eponymous brand. Yet what’s been on his mind is the power of attraction. “Not romance particularly, but that strange pull towards something before you have decided whether you like it,” he says in his show notes.
The double take, the first impression. In a world of overstimulation, what catches one’s eye? What makes you feel electric, tingling, in a haze? What cuts through the noise and lingers for a little longer? For someone like Esh, who’s surrounded by pretty things – beautiful designs, beautiful ideas, beautiful campaigns – the answer, as it turns out, isn’t so straightforward. “The thing that makes you look twice. It is rarely about perfection. Usually, there is something else going on.” It’s about the little weirdnesses of it all.
That instinct comes through off the bat, in bright, though slightly awkward, colours. It’s a solid departure from his traditionally muted palette, though the new hues are pressed onto silhouettes that feel entirely Esh. “Familiar clothes are pushed into unfamiliar combinations. The pleasure is in finding the balance,” it reads. At the crux of the collection is the idea of how a small detail can change the path, the perception or the feeling a certain piece evokes. “Things don’t need to match. They need to attract,” the notes explain.
And that, they do. As the designer gathered friends of the brand and his faithful crowd of cool kids – some armed with camcorders to capture their own lo-fi POV – in Camden’s Electric Ballroom, a bright, swooshy pink gown opened the runway, its hem layered with an equally electric red that merged with the model’s tights and leather shoes, as if her whole legs had been dipped in paint. The same saturation appeared on a feathered mini skirt, and across leather jackets, Oxford shirts and tees. When the disruptive element isn’t so on the nose – some lips were blue, belts were blood red, and one tone of sickly orange-y beige leather is perhaps one of the least flattering colours to ever exist – Esh brought us back to his bread and butter. Even then, there was a twist.
Great outerwear, but with dislocated waists, and breathing room for fabric and pattern experimentation. Distressed denim, with panels of leather between the legs and zips at the back for extra calf cinch. Tailoring in soft, malleable fabrics that moved with the body. It was also our first look at his upcoming collaboration with On, which so far sees a nylon tote and a reinterpreted Cloud 6 sneaker in black and beige invite his club kids to a sweat session.
Through his SS27 collection, Esh is speaking broadly about how much his own life has changed in the past year, and how time gives us the opportunity to change, grow, perceive and be perceived, without being fully conscious of such shifts as they happen. “A look across a room can stay with you for years. You are constantly becoming someone slightly different without quite noticing it,” he writes. The kindness of hindsight, the power of following one’s instinct. Aaron Esh is by no means a newcomer, but somehow, the feeling post-show is that he’s only just getting started.
Words — Sofia Ferreira
