Questioning our identity through our personal value systems cannot be undervalued, and this isn’t just for young people — everyone needs to take stock of who they think they are in a world that’s changing so rapidly. We don’t know what the answers are, but we know that there are questions, and I think we have to ask these questions of ourselves.
I think my own personal journey moving through this world has governed everything that’s gone into my work and aesthetic. My overarching research is about identity and the self, and I think I’ve always been on a search for the self. I’m filled with memories of being in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands and thinking how happy I was to leave and to ‘find’ myself in London. After years of searching, what I’ve discovered is that the self is not found, but created; that you are everything and nothing all at once and that this search only illuminates not a concrete self, but an ever-changing one.”
A graduate of Central Saint Martins, Fletcher launched his label in 2016 and recently returned to the LFW digital schedule with his first genderless collection.
“I was a late bloomer, it took me a long time to accept my sexuality. I didn’t feel like I was hiding or pretending, but I had just convinced myself that it wasn’t a thing until I was 20 and I moved to London to study. I met people like me and realised it was time to confront this and be who I was.
I was never afraid to try out a trend when I was growing up: you should have seen some of my emo and nu rave looks in my teens. I can’t imagine the damage that my hairspray consumption has done to our ozone layer! I always went for it when I tried something. As I have grown up, though, and become more comfortable with who I am and discovered my own identity, my style choices have mellowed as I have become comfortable with who I am. I’ve found the older I get the more comfortable I am with sexuality and gender, and in turn I’ve tried to educate myself in queer history. This has undoubtedly fed into my work as a designer. The queer community has had a very definite influence in my design and aesthetic, and the blurring of gender boundaries within dressing has been a recurring theme within my Daniel W Fletcher collections over the past few years. Clothes don’t have gender, a shirt is a shirt, a jacket is a jacket, I don’t see the need to put labels on them.
People should be free to live their own lives, and be who they are without fear of judgement or persecution, the queer community needs to lead the way with this and educate our allies so we can all live in a more peaceful, caring world, where anyone is free to live the life they choose. Don’t worry about what any one else thinks, all it will do is hold you back and stop you discovering your true self. There’s no rush, every person’s journey is different, you have your whole life ahead of you to figure this stuff out, so just concentrate on enjoying your youth, you’ll miss it once it’s gone!”
Reed is a new graduate of Central Saint Martins. Originally from California, they now call London home.
