UNDERLINED

It wouldn't be a stretch to say that 2025 was a huge year for denim wars.

Whilst seemingly encouraging a culture of experimentation and creativity, in reality, the rapid churn of aesthetics has become entangled with fast fashion. Clothes are now purchased and produced less for longevity and more for their ability to keep pace with the algorithm.

Today’s Hollywood premieres are no longer just premieres. They are full-scale fashion moments, cultural flashpoints where narrative, style and celebrities collide. Behind this new era lies a single phenomenon reshaping the red carpet: method dressing.

This is a love letter to the people we were before we learned who we are.

Appreciation or Appropriation?

The resurgence of thinness can be seen throughout the fashion space, especially in the past couple of years. Especially when scrolling through social media, it seems like everyone around us is consumed by what others eat in their day, each other’s workout routines, and ‘fit checks’ that increasingly seem more like 'body checking'. The 2020 era of inclusivity has been drowned out by the obsession with body types which are more socially desirable.

Black fashion creatives continue to shape the story of modern fashion; their influence in the industry is both powerful and enduring. Through the fusion of heritage and modernity, they challenge outdated ideas of what fashion and luxury have long represented, bringing fresh perspectives that celebrate identity and creativity.

When the HMT Empire Windrush docked the shore at Tilbury, Essex in 1948, the hundreds of passengers it brought from the Caribbean expected a new start in what they believed to be the “motherland”. What they were met with was far from a sense of belonging, and the British propaganda extended to the colonies was far from the Britain that they had arrived in.