One of the great joys of Britain’s famously ‘fierce mild’ weather has to be all of the spring/summer gear English brands release around this time of year that remain surprisingly salient for an Australian audience. Front-of-mind in this arena is Drake’s: Michael Hill’s irreverent, perennially elegant London sportswear brand – and a frequent collaborator of Aimé Leon Dore.
For Spring 2023, the label has just revealed another of its signature unisex campaigns: modelled eruditely by designer Louie Isaaman-Jones and textile artist Alena Dower.
Across a range of some 30+ styles, the duo – hats off to Drake’s, incidentally, for tapping interesting everyday creatives as models – show off a variety of garments which can be worn by men and their better halves. In Australia? For around three quarters of the year, we might add.
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Consisting of numerous legitimately new releases, plus a handful of year-round staples from Drake’s aptly named ‘Perennials’ range; Spring 2023 is populated by Japanese denim, textural tailoring, quilted vests, Rugby-esque knit jerseys; ‘fun’ socks you’ll actually enjoy wearing; and an interesting new boat shoe that is being made in conjunction with Italian footwear specialists Sebago.
In a nutshell? Drake’s Spring 2023 collection is par for the course for the brand: good news indeed if what you’re interested in is beautiful and functional apparel, made with an eye to increasing your comfort on the daily.
A relatively conventional effort next to the thematic designing that Drake’s does when working with third-party collaborators (e.g. St. John’s) much of the styling that has gone into this latest Spring lookbook will hold practical merit for men who aren’t averse to a bit of fussiness when they’re getting dressed in the morning.
In practice, that means a lot of shirting that has been intentionally folded over outerwear, or handkerchiefs giddily redeployed as neckwear. My personal favourite? Swapping out the predictable sportcoat for some splash-proof outerwear: because ‘dressed like Moss from The IT Crowd‘ is, unironically, a rather entertaining aesthetic to embrace when you’re back in the office.
