A rising design star says he believes fashion is too exclusive — so he is staging a huge show at the London Palladium to allow as many fans as possible to see his new collection.
Joshua Kane is hosting the show during London Fashion Week and aims to attract the largest ever audience during the style event.
The tailor, 32, said: “Fashion is becoming more and more exclusive and the doors are becoming more closed, so fans can only really end up voyeuring through social media platforms.
“What I want to do with my art and my creativity is attempt to celebrate it as much as possible and have people be able to gain access to it — even if it is just to see it. It’s not just about selling products. I think there is definitely a stigma attached around the exclusivity of fashion. I think it’s something I’ve seen and experienced.
“My personal take on fashion is that it is more than just garments and clothes, it should be about characters and experiences.” Kane, whose celebrity fans include Tinie Tempah, Douglas Booth and Jack Guinness, will recreate an Edwardian London train platform on the stage for his off-schedule show tomorrow night.
He added: “The whole experience is something we’re calling our immersive runway experience. We combine elements of taking the show off the stage and combining it with the audience.
“The runway collection is titled Journey. My previous collections have always been inspired by historical stories. With this story, it is set in a 1910 London train platform and all the models play characters who could have come through it.”
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London Fashion Week draws about 5,000 attendees in total. One of the largest shows is by Topshop, which attracts about 800 people.
The capacity of the Palladium is 2,286. Tickets for Kane’s show start at £10. He said: “Anyone can buy tickets. We’ve worked with a lot of people who haven’t been able to come to previous shows because our capacity is usually taken up by clients, press, VIPs and what have you. The idea of opening up the audiences means that anyone can come and see it.”
Tickets for Joshua Kane’s Journey show at rutlive.co.uk
