During LFW, Hi-Fi presented an immersive show of talent in an evening at an east London warehouse. Following Maximillian Raynor’s runway show, presentations came from two recent Central Saint Martins graduates, Ella Douglas and Timisola Shasanya. We sent Dazed Club photographer Klara Åhman down to capture the party.
Timisola Shasanya presented Runners, a dark, seductive menswear collection that fuses intricate textiles and precise tailoring with explorations of gesture, race, memory, and heritage. Runners embodies tension and duality between softness and rigidity, tradition and innovation, memory and reinvention. As a nod to her upbringing, Timisola uses unconventional pieces such as tarpaulin bags from her dad's farm, leather sourced from Kano and brooms plucked straight from her family home, while fabrics such as waxed cottons, silks, wools, nylons and coated fabrics were generously sponsored by Barbour and JW Anderson.
Guests then stepped through PVC curtains into a grease-stained office in the corner of a lesbian-owned garage tucked away within an industrial estate for Ella Douglas’s show. Her collection explored the unlikely fusion of stained couture in an office full of lesbians. It was a celebration of duality – femme and functionality, smooth mixed with the rough.
The goal is to level the creative playing field for emerging designers
Hi-Fi is a London-based non-profit programme designed to nurture emerging creative talent by bridging fashion, film, music, events, and innovation. It’s a vital initiative, as designers in London without financial backing often struggle to keep going: between juggling production costs to securing affordable, central London studio space, the barriers to entry are higher than ever.
“The goal is to level the creative playing field for emerging designers against bigger brands with creative and marketing budgets, enabling them to move forwards at the time when they need support the most but can also at the times they can least afford it,” says Liam Gleeson, founder of Hi-Fi and Hidden agency.
The afterparty was described by Maximillian Raynor as “pink striped candlesticks melted into leopard icing birthday cakes as London’s emerging fashion crowd sipped [their drinks]”. Princess Julia soundtracked the opening, followed on the decks by duo Big Squeeze Soul and closing with Airy.
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