It won’t be too presumptuous of us to refer to James Long, the British designer, as a true 21st Century fashion designer. Following his debut at London Fashion Week in 2007, this menswear designer has been quick to adapt to changing technologies in textile manufacturing, and in turn giving us fresh and crazy perspectives on the catwalk.
With a focus on knitwear, denim and leather, but not like how we know them, Long has managed to stand out from the UK’s growing menswear scene and is now determined to spread his wings. He was recently in Dubai to check out his clothes at concept store Mahani at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers Boulevard, which is where The Directory caught up with him to talk fashion, the death of seasonal collections and what the future looks like for his eponymous label.
You made your debut at London Fashion Week’s Man show, which is now London Collections: Men. What are your thoughts on the event?
It’s amazing now with a lot of big names coming in to support the new names. We now have international editors and buyers supporting it. It feels exiting. A lot of fashion weeks sometimes you feel like people don’t really want to be there, but London Collections has a genuine buzz about it. It’s new and fun.
A few designers have expressed concern about the big brands coming back to the show, because they fear they will overshadow the new and up-and-coming designers. Where do you stand on that?
I think it’s good that the big brands are there because it means that a lot of independent designers have to live up to that. I think it’s kind of made people step it up a bit more. It will be awful if the big brands take up everything but I think there is space for everyone.
From your perspective, how has the fashion industry evolved?
I think what’s happened now is that seasons are almost redundant. That has made the collections a lot more worldwide. People travel everywhere now — from a cold climate to a warmer one. It’s one big circle so you become a curator of your own look rather than wearing a particular look for one season.
But isn’t it scary though to constantly think of how to stand out among all the other fashion labels around the world?
I think in a way it’s better and if you’re confident about what your space is, which I am, then it’s fine. I’m not doing suits, I’m not doing glamour, I have my space so I don’t feel there is competition. I want to design clothes that I want to wear. It’s just from a real place.
So what about this spring-summer collection you’ve brought to Dubai?
These are all the key pieces in the collection. There’s a lot of prints, very light-weight leather, which I specialise in, and then knitwear. I wanted this collection to be light and airy, with a lot of detail and embroidery. I want people to wear one piece, love it and want to wear it all the time. I think we are all bored of seeing everyone wearing the same thing. It’s all about individuality.
Is it difficult to have both a men’s and women’s collection?
This season especially, the vision was a lot clearer. And once that’s done, it becomes east. Design is about growing and sticking with things that work. Also things are merging, and there are pieces in men’s collections that women want to wear and vice versa. So it’s interesting.
Where does a collection begin for James Long?
I think it’s a bit of a dream and a bit of the world. The more you travel, the more you see how everyone lives, the more inspired you are. It’s just about having the ideas and constantly looking for them, from films, pictures and experimentation with textures. A lot of it happens in the last few months before you start building the story and the collection. It doesn’t really stop and start. It evolves.
Would you say you are a good businessman?
I think I have become a good businessman. You just have to look at it differently when you run your own label. You just make it part of your work. My sister runs the day-to-day business but there is very little I don’t know about the business. You want to see how many you’ve sold, how much you’ve sold for and be interested in the goings-on. So you have to learn. And it’s interesting too.
James Long is stocked at Mahani at Jumeirah Emirates Towers Boulevard. Go to mahanifashion.com.
