up wearing. It's all black with no
visible seams, but with striking,
angular details wrapping high up his
neck. Patches of deeper textured
black, and fastenings just unusual
enough to invite attention, subtly
make it clear that this is no ordinary
Joe.
CSB London is the culmination of
many years of planning, dating back
as far as Brogden's days as an
award-winning student at London
College of Fashion. Two or three
years of promising go-it-alone
ventures in the early noughties
preceded the successful industry
career, but returning from
Amsterdam in late 2012 Brogden
was set to start his own label. The
branding was done. Everything was
ready. Then Crombie asked him to
head their design team and launch
them at London Fashion Week. So
another year or more went by.
"But the feeling wouldn't go away,"
he tells me, though not at all in a
'dream-the-impossible-dream' way,
but matter-of-factly. Totally
straightforward.
It's there in the crisp
lines of his collections;
the 'look-again' balance
of classic design and
modern technology.
"It was starting to become a
burning ambition to start my own
line. I'd kind of had enough of
corporate fashion. I felt I'd learned
enough in that time [working with
other brands] to start seriously
considering doing my own thing
again." And what a thing it is!
Pairing traditional tailoring and
silhouettes with modern
technological manufacturing
methods, CSB has created a
timeless feel without being
sentimental or unambitious. And
isn't that exactly what a great artist
does - repurpose influences and
utilise innovations to create
exciting new work? It's there in the
crisp lines of his collections; the
'look-again' balance of classic
design and modern technology.
For example, rather than stitching,
Brogden uses glues and tapes to
bind his garments, so there's
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Sleeves Magazine