Get the latest gossip

‘We’re showing the next generation there’s a place to exist’: the documentary celebrating Black British fashion

Inspired by their heritage, Black designers have come a long way, from having to forge their own creative paths to dressing Usher at the Super Bowl

Photograph: Michal Augustini/Rex/ShutterstockSaunders, who grew up in Catford, south-east London, and is of Jamaican descent, cites her heritage as a big influence on her unique style of tailoring, which involves technical, asymmetric cuts, avant garde twists and ruched fabrics. “Witnessing the fusion of these two distinct sartorial traditions has instilled in me a deep appreciation for the power of fashion as a form of self-expression and cultural identity.” In Garms, Dumbuya shows off his range of T-shirts, speaking of his pride and enthusiasm to “celebrate the work that immigrants do”. In the documentary, the author Jason Jules speaks about the curation of the exhibition being beyond the constraints of linearity: “This was a timeline between the 70s and the early 00s but it wasn’t chronological or necessarily sequential – time collapsed into itself.” The timelessness of Casely-Hayford’s designs has much in common with the referential nature of contemporary collections that fuse the past and present – Black British garms aren’t only about specific moments of innovation, but about the thread that runs through all of us.

Get the Android app