After almost a decade at the helm of his own eponymous label, Craig Green is ready to do things his way. “We’re always rushing about,” he tells me. “So this season we’re doing it our own way, in our own time.”
Green is speaking to me from his London studio one week out from the grand reveal of his double collection, a two-part release that marks ten years since the brand’s inception.
Throughout its existence, Craig Green (both the brand and the designer) has become renowned for treading the lines between sculpture, contemporary art, and clothing. Ironic for a man who himself dresses fairly ordinary. From his futuristic interpretations on all forms of clothing (including his famous quilted jackets) to his often mind-boggling collaborations with adidas Originals, Green has carved his own unique path within the industry.
And it hasn’t gone without its plaudits. After he won Emerging Menswear Designer at the British Fashion Awards 2014, Green went on to be crowned British Menswear Designer Of the Year at the Fashion Awards in 2016, 2017, and 2018, before being named as guest-designer at Pitti Uomo 94.
But now, after nearly a decade, Green is ready to take a step back and do things a little differently.
“The way we work is so reactionary, and sometimes having a strict cut-off point of a show date isn’t always ideal,” he says. “I like to show things when they’re ready, so this year we’re showing everything all at once. After our last show we were thinking about how to celebrate our ten year anniversary differently and how we could do it with as little stress as possible. I suppose this is how.”
On July 28, Green revealed both his Fall/Winter 2023 and Spring/Summer 2024 collections with one cohesive lookbook. The former is available in stores now, while the latter is set to land early next year.
Both collections are, as he puts it “totally bizarre” yet also inherently Green, with almost every look pushing the boundaries of fashion and art as we’ve come to expect. Not only does the collection arrive as two seasons in one (an almost unheard of format these days), it also features the latest installment of the designer’s on-going experimental adidas Originals partnership in the form of some extremely deconstructed sandals.
This season, Green also wanted to thank those who helped him to become the designer he is today. For example, he commissioned an upholsterer (who is also his godfather) with whom he worked on his graduate collection, to create the clingy human-shaped figures featured in the lookbook Green that referred to as “padded friends.”
“Back then we had nothing,” recalls Green of the early days. “Everything was built on favors, good energy, people, family, and friends. I wanted to show my appreciation this season. Even now things are different, we’ve always stayed true to how we believe creativity should be and at the same time continued to try and push forward. Which is super important.”
Talking to Green, the reveal of this season’s double-collection feels like the beginning of a new era for the brand. While he’s speaking positively of his experiences in fashion thus far, he's ready for change. Though, he didn’t rule out future runway shows completely, he certainly suggested it.
“The nature of Craig Green is not to rebel, but perhaps push against the existing narrative and do something new,” says Green.
“We’ve been doing the same things for so long and playing to deadlines. Now we want to do something different. Something out of the ordinary and in our own time.”
