Christopher Kane - Fashion Forward

Christopher Kane won’t tell me what he’s sending down the catwalk at London Fashion Week this month.  This is not because he wants to keep me waiting or maintain an element of surprise - though, he’d like that too.  He won’t tell me what he’s sending down because he’s not exactly sure himself.

It’s always been this way for the 27-year-old Glaswegian who has taken the nation – neigh, the global fashion industry – by storm since launching his own-name label four years ago.  “Everything’s always up in the air until the day of the show.  You just don’t know what’s going to happen, things change before your eyes.  So you’re always prepared for the worst,” he laughs.

It’s a creative rather than organised thing.  At Versace, where he acts as a consultant and produced accessories collection for their younger ‘Versus’ line last year, he works rigidly to their schedule, designing whole months in advance.  But it’s different when it comes to his own label. 

 “Everything’s always up in the air until the day of the show. You just don’t know what’s going to happen, things change before your eyes.”

"Personally, I like to anticipate what happens.  I like it to be something I really love and if it changes, then it needs to change.  And if I don’t like it, I don’t like it.  It’s just really personal.  I don’t like sending stuff down the catwalk that’s half-hearted.  I need it to be beautiful.  So it’s a bit of a nightmare,” he concedes.

Though chaotic, this approach has served him well to date.  Along with the rave reviews he’s consistently won from fashion critics and his growing legion of fans (including Kylie, Rihanna and Chloe Sevigny), it’s also helped him overcome some very difficult situations. 

In September 2007, just days before his third-ever show, 23 pieces of his collection and a laptop were stolen from his Dalston workshop in east London.  Kane reacted by creating an entirely new one in seven days – and the rave reviews continued.

Acclaim has followed him since.  There’s the collaborations with industry-leading names like Manolo Blahnik, Swarovski, Topshop and Lancôme, not to mention his growing list of awards.  These include the Harrods Design Award for his MA graduate collection, Young Designer of the Year 2006 at the Scottish Fashion Awards, New Designer of the Year 2007 at the British Fashion Awards and British Collection of the Year from British Fashion Council (BFC) last year. 

He’s also been nominated for the first-ever BFC/Vogue Fashion Fund 2010 which sees one British designer scoop a £200K prize and receive high-level mentoring to help them achieve global brand status.

In fact, Christopher Kane has not sewn a stitch wrong to date, constantly surprising fashion audiences and inspiring new trends.  It was he, for example, who brought about the revival of the bandage dress and fluorescent colours after his debut collection in 2006.

But there’s a flip side to this kind of success – the expectation and pressure that mounts with each passing season.  He tries not to let it affect him, admitting: “I’m always thinking about what people think.  But at the end of the day, it’s what I like that matters.  And the people that matter to me, who I really respect.”

Which is why TV shows like Project Runway, where young designers compete to launch their own label, really irk him.  “It’s so weird how people put themselves through all that and then often don’t even like the judges.  They have to take advice off someone they don’t really respect,” he says, incredulously.  “I get really annoyed watching it because I’m like ‘How can they say that’s bad when it looks really good?’  They’re being told what to do when actually being a designer is believing in what you’re doing.”

He’s determined to stick to this belief and has even been a little easier on himself recently.  “I used to give myself such a hard time for making mistakes but actually it’s part of learning.  There’s not a right or wrong for a fashion designer, you’re just left to do it.  So, making a mistake isn’t a bad thing.”

Down-to-earth and self-effacing, fashion was always the one thing Christopher Kane was confident about.  Born the youngest of five children to an engineer father and housewife mother, he spent most of his teens sitting at home watching The Clothes Show, reading Vogue and following the work of his heroes Gianni and Donatella Versace.  So when he went to London to study fashion at Central St Martin’s College of Art & Design, no one was particularly surprised.

In his final year, he won the 2005 Lancôme Colour Award which brought him to the attention of Donatella.  On seeing some of his sketches, and with an introduction from American Vogue editor Anna Wintour, she commissioned him to work on some Versace pieces following his graduation. 

“I get really annoyed watching Project Runway because the designers are being told what to do when actually being a designer is believing in what you’re doing.”

They have continued to collaborate ever since, with Donatella even comparing him to her late brother.  The Versace/Kane similarities don’t end there though.  Like Gianni, Kane works closely with his sister Tammy, a graduate from Scotland College of Textile Designs, who is both his business and fashion partner, overseeing the financials and collaborating on the fabric creation and design. 

The Versace empire continues to inspire him.  “There are whole teams of people there just researching buttons and zippers!  In my business, me and Tammy to do it all.  But Donatella and Gianni worked extremely hard, contributed to fashion history and now Donatella doesn’t need to do all the hard work.  She can guide her team and still have a life as well,” he laughs. “It’s something to aspire to.”

Having a life outside fashion is some way off for Kane.  With just 12 staff and as many collaborations and projects in the pipeline, it’s a 24/7 existence.  “There’s never a moment when I’m not talking about clothes or doing something with them.” Not that there’s any alternative either.  “I don’t know what I could do or where I’d go!”

With the success and acclaim he’s already achieved, he’s a lot closer to achieving this dream than most of his contemporaries.  It may be buttons and zippers right now, but few will be surprised when it’s the House of Kane inspiring budding new designers in years to come. 

Coutts & Co is a sponsor of London Fashion Week and sponsors Fashion Forward. Christopher Kane is a former Fashion Forward award winner.

By Barbara Walshe