White men may, or may not, jump, but tailors definitely don’t skateboard. It’s not normal to do a fashion interview in a skate park, but then 31-year-old designer Joshua Kane, is not normal. He is to British tailoring what Jimi Hendrix was to the guitar. He gives this precise form of craftsmanship a skate punk attitude, mastering, and then free-styling over, techniques and traditions. Creators of bespoke tailoring are traditionally a high priesthood whose names are only known to a small group of cognoscenti. They create their art in small rooms off Savile Row that smell of tweed and chalk.
I just watched Kane do an Ollie on a customized skateboard in a cashmere suit and a fedora: that alone revolutionizes British tailoring, cutting through any preconceived ideas that a modern chap might have about bespoke suits being just for posh dads.
Since Kane set up shop in Spitalfields Market three years ago, he has channeled his hero Beau Brummell and has taken the bespoke tailoring world by storm. His collections are high tailoring with flourishes of decadent steam punk Victoriana. Kane’s sensibility is redefining London’s resurgent male fashion scene. His successful circle of friends are drawn from across the creative industries: actors, models, social media heroes, musicians, photographers. They are photographed in his suits, are part of the shows, have healthy social media followings, and together they help define the new energy in British menswear.
But its not all showmanship; it is a point of honor for him that he designs and creates every part of his collections. He tells JustLuxe, “My concept for each collection is complete, so I have to design everything. From fabric and trimmings, to my new shoes and iconic hats, the luggage, a drum skin, everything! I wouldn’t feel like it was mine if I didn’t. I want the creative control.”
So, who is the Joshua Kane man? “That’s hard to say because it changes every day,” he says. “We don’t have one type of customer, it’s about a specific mindset. The guys who we work with have chosen that they want to dress a certain way, to be creative, and to explore that self-expression within tailoring.”
Kane’s shows open London Men’s Fashion Week, running off schedule (of course), and the show for his latest collection, Houndsditch, took place in the iconic Hawksmore Church in uber-cool Spitalfields in Hoxton. The collection took the fur-collared great coat worn by Winston Churchill at the Siege of Sidney Street in 1911 as its sartorial reference. The results are striking: great chunky gold zips on maroon leather bomber jackets, joined this season’s perfectly re-imagined tailored suits. “I need to create the whole world for each show,” he says. “My friends in the front row and on the stage, what they look like, the music playing—it all tells a story. They paint the perfect world.” This show featured Taboo from Black Eyed Peas, Dougie Poynter from McBusted and rapper Machine Gun Kelly.
So what next? Joshua Kane says he wants to be bigger than Burberry. And with the twin gods of Beau Brummell and Instagram on his side, he just might make it.
