J.L-A.L Is Turning Traditional Gear Techy
J.L-A.L is one of London’s most exciting designers right now. Fact.
The designer (full name: Jean-Luc Ambridge Lavelle) has garnered a reputation for exploring traditional menswear aesthetics within his work, and then reworking them through a modern lens.
Going from standalone IG page to label in under three years, J.L-A.L has drawn inspiration from nature’s ability to create protection, comfort, and functionality from simple structures, an ethos that also guides the label in both its materials and silhouettes.
For Spring/Summer 2024, J.L-A.L is continuing in much the same vein by playing around the exploration of purposeful design over form, all the while introducing a new perspective on traditional menswear silhouettes.
Typically for J.L-A.L, an emphasis is placed on utilitarian cuts and the transformation of details into multiplied forms, such as triple-collared shirts.
A sniper’s cape has been reimagined in cotton seersucker, while the pockets of a hooded tri-layer can be detached and fastened to a seasonal crossbody. Translucent shell jackets with raised hems are cinched into frilled silhouettes, as lace accents embellish wool suiting.
J.L-A.L kicked off 2023 with undoubtedly his biggest collaboration to-date: a two-piece collection with HOKA.
While a HOKA link-up certainly put J.L-A.L on the map on a much larger scale, across the UK (London specifically), the designer, which merely started out as an IG page, has been on the lips of fashion-savvy locals for a number of years now.
Sure, J.L-A.L is one of the most exciting designers coming out of the UK right now, but one question does still remain: how TF do you say J.L-A.L? But then again, with clothes this good, does it even matter?
