Antony Morato x Charlie Casely-Hayford

To celebrate Antony Morato’s AW13 collection, Dazed commissioned two menswear designers and stylists to project their own spin on the Italian brand. The results were captured on film by Harrison Boyce, and here we present part two: Antony Morato as styled by Charlie Casely-Hayford. Of the many personalities in Antony Morato AW13, Charlie Casely-Hayford aligned with the ‘traveller’. An Antony Morato gentleman no less, but one that combines nomadic references with clean tailoring, and multiple rugged layers.

The traveller of Charlie’s film is one who wanders London, lost in the inner-world created when we put on headphones. From the shadowy corners of an estate, to the anonymous white noise of the city, and the final discovery of peaceful expanse, we drift along inside the character’s private headspace. The soundtrack interspersed by traffic, but deadened and hushed by the enclosed world, like being underwater.

In Charlie’s own AW13 collection, for Casely-Hayford the label he designs with his father Joe Casely-Hayford, the disparate transcultural references of east London are drawn together in an urban tribe, cinched by British heritage tailoring and subculture edge. For Antony Morato, Charlie took the brand’s Italian gentleman traveller, and transposed upon it subtle punk undertones, framed by tailoring: a checked shirt peeks beneath a wool overcoat. Italian refinement, blurred around the edges by British anarchy.

We caught up with Charlie Casely-Hayford ahead of the film’s release on Dazed Digital, to talk zoning-out, London’s wanderers, and disappearing models.

Dazed Digital: What inspired the story of an isolated character wandering the city with headphones on?

Charlie Casely-Hayford: I guess it’s something most people can relate to every morning on their way to work, that feeling of being surrounded by other commuters but putting on your headphones and immediately entering your own personal world of isolation. I love the idea of all these isolated wanderers walking around London every morning on the same journey, but to different places. I always think of Mastroianni Marcello in all the Fellini films as this character of solitude bowling through life at his own pace.

DD: Why did you choose the particular locations in the film?

Charlie Casely-Hayford: Harrison and I wanted to create a feeling of journey. Whenever I'm walking through London and I put my headphones in, my sense of place definitely shifts quite drastically. Without my headphones I just feel like another part of the whole, and with them on I suddenly feel like I'm at the centre of something. We tried to emulate that feeling through our location choices.

DD: How did you convey this wandering isolated character through the styling?

Charlie Casely-Hayford: The layering was loosely based on a traveller, a nomad. There was a slight punk undertone but we didn't want to overplay it.

DD: Who is the Antony character you have depicted in this film?

Charlie Casely-Hayford: The film was meant to reflect a mental journey of exploration. It was about capturing that moment and feeling you often see in those people drifting in and out of daydreams as they gaze out of the passenger window in a car, or look out into the world from the top deck of a bus. Alone but not lonely; just content with your thoughts. I imagine him to be listening to something like King Krule, something quite abrasive.

DD: Do you ever wander the city in this way?

Charlie Casely-Hayford: The film is very much based on my personal interaction with London. I'm a wanderer and a slow one at that. Because I'm 6ft 6 I don't naturally make eye contact with a lot of people when I'm on a crowded street, more often with the top of their heads, so I find it quite easy to zone out while I'm listening to some Pusha T.

DD: The mood of the film is very thoughtful, cinematic and almost melancholic – any dark tales from the shoot?

Charlie Casely-Hayford: We shot the final scene in Lea Valley, it's pretty isolated and basically looks like the countryside. We asked the model to walk through the high grass so it looked like he was disappearing out of shot. We haven't seen him since.

CREDITS

All clothes: Antony Morato

Film: Harrison Boyce 

Stylist: Charlie Casely-Hayford

Grooming: Teiji using Bumble and Bumble

Model: Tommy Fitzer at Elite

Film Assistant: Camilla Mathis

Clickable technology: WireWAX