How Skepta’s teenage embarrassment inspired his new Mains collection

The sophomore collection of Skepta’s Mains label was a big moment for the brand, but it was the kids that ran their London Fashion Week show on Saturday night (September 14). As guests slowly took their places in the school assembly hall-styled venue, the children of Skepta, his brother JME and other grime legends in attendance had free reign: cartwheeling up and down the runway and mischievously stealing people’s seats.

Speaking to Dazed at the show’s casting in the Groucho Club earlier that week, it became apparent that this was a vindication for the deeply personal vision at the heart of Skepta’s collection. “Non-school uniform day was my first embarrassment,” he explains. “In the morning, my anxiety was going through the roof! Everyone was going to see what my home was really like. I’ve always been trying to understand why I felt that way. It took me to music, it took me to art, and now it’s taken me to fashion. This collection is just me answering the questions of my 16-year-old self.”

These early formative experiences were woven throughout the Mains show. From the school lockers and Mains crest adorning the central London venue, to their colourful shirt-and-tie set pieces and freshly unveiled collaboration with Kickers – reinterpreting the brand once known for school shoes with faux fur rims and contrast stitching – this dialogue with Skepta’s younger self was writ large across the collection.

I want it to be aspirational. I remember the feeling I had when I was getting turned away from clubs and I’m looking back at people in Versace, Moschino, and I’m thinking, ‘Just wait ‘till I get my money up!’ – Skepta

“They’re a staple part of the UK, everyone can relate a feeling to those shoes,” Skepta says of the Kickers partnership. “That’s how I want to be with my collaborations, init? It’s not just monetary gain, I want it to be culturally significant, I want it to be aspirational. I remember the feeling I had when I was getting turned away from clubs and I’m looking back at people in Versace, Moschino, and I’m thinking, ‘Just wait ‘till I get my money up!’”

And these personal motivations go beyond the latest collection, too. When Skepta spoke to Dazed about his collaboration with Puma earlier this year, he described how he pictured “that young G” trying to sneak trainers into school. “That hasn’t changed! Everything I’ll ever do will always be for that,” he responds now. “I’m blessed to be in this position and I know that there’s others who aren’t as blessed to figure out how they’re feeling so I want to be that example. When I saw Tupac in the Dave LaChapelle picture lying in a bathtub naked with all that gold, I was like ‘Yo! How much of a G do you have to be to know that the whole mandem in the hood will be laughing at you and still do it’. I want to be that guy to break the mould, too.”

The conversation is interrupted as the latest model steps into the casting room, a young Nigerian man named Ayo. “Chairman!” Skepta shouts over So Solid Crew’s “21 Seconds” blaring in the background. “Let’s see a walk!” Ayo glides the length of the room, stands in front of Skepta, looks him square in the eyes, and walks back. The normally straight-faced grime star bursts into a wide grin. “What caught your eye with Ayo?” I ask. “He’s Nigerian!” Skepta laughs, before adding: “Nah, I don’t have a criteria, I just remember how I looked in my eyes when I was a teenager, I was brazen and fearless. If they walk up to me and look down or to the left, it’s not it. I need that person to have real greaze.”

“I walked one time with Nasir Mazhar and, ah mate, I was fucking terrified!” he continues, mimicking a hurried walk. “I’m lucky that I had the hood on my Mazhar jacket that could hide my face. I heard ‘Bup bup bup! Big SK!’ from the crowd but I just kept walking. You can think you’re ready until you get on that runway, that’s why I’m looking at [the model’s] eyes.”

In the midst of all the celebrity hubbub, and even the unreleased track with Kanye West that debuted during the show, it is this personal story behind Skepta’s Mains collection that shone through, providing validation for his younger self that was, in one sense, present that night, too. After all was said and done, and the models had filed back into the backstage area, Skepta appeared at the head of the runway. His daughter stood up, followed by the other kids who had informally opened the show to begin with, grabbing the star by his sleeves and leading him in an excitable run down the catwalk. Far from the brazen fearlessness he felt as a teenager, and the terror he described at his debut show with Nasir Mazhar, in that moment, there seemed to be genuine happiness in his eyes.

Check the gallery above for a full spread of looks from the collection.