By Luke Raymond

Nestled amongst an abundance of innovative menswear at Graduate Fashion Week, Ravensbourne alumni and Textile Prize winner Calum Harvey's elaborate play with menswear stole the show. Calum's exaggerated and explosive pieces - harking back to the grandeur of Louis XIV yet anchored by traditional menswear shapes - illustrate a deftness of touch and position him as another name to add to the hotbed of emerging British menswear designers. Recycled from and inspired by the humble seatbelt, Calum's collection also continues the evolution of environmentally conscientious fashion as he proves that salvageable does not have to equate to safe.
So, inspired menswear, check. Enviromentally considerate, check. I caught up with all-round maestro Calum over an Americano to discuss inspiration, recycling and the future.


f156: Congratulations on your Textile Prize win at GFW. How did it feel to - as a menswear designer rather than a dedicated Textile designer - to take the crown?

CH: I felt really bad. Before it was happening, we were sat in rows and behind me were all of the textiles students and a girl in particular who had exhibited at the textiles stand rather than on the runway. I just felt a bit like I'd stolen it from them as I had the chance to show my work on the catwalk,  But once I had collected the prize it was pretty incredible; embarrassing but good.

f156: Your work is quite textiles based though?

CH: It was important for me to work some textiles into the collection. I worked with a range of disciplines; screenprinting, hand-knitting, machine-knitting and my mum is a dedicated knitter so she taught me how to knit and helped out on a few things.

f156: Reading your website, I noticed that you started with womenswear, was menswear a natural progression or a conscious decision?

CH: Back in college on the Isle of Man we were encouraged to be as creative as possible so there were no real boundaries. But I was making mostly wedding and prom dresses for my sister and her mates, so I suppose I just fell into it. I went to Ravensbourne with the idea of doing womenswear, but I didn't really understand it and everything either became a ball gown or a wedding dress. Menswear was an option and because I wear it all the time and understand it, I took the chance and..here I am.

f156: Graduate Fashion Week showcased some excellent menswear collections and London Fashion Week last year began to dedicate a whole day to menswear, how does it feel to be part of the British menswear explosion?

CH: It feels incredible. A lot of menswear designers such as Christopher Shannon and JW Anderson are really getting recognised in a way that I don't think menswear designers have before and even the big houses like Dior are taking chances and being a bit more radical. And to blow the Ravensbourne trumpet; Hannah Taylor and Faj Chuvurskej are ones to watch in the menswear department.

f156: I'm from a small town and I know that people can be quite narrow-minded, how did people from the Isle of Man react to the local boy heading to London to study fashion?

CH: They like to nurture their talent and it's a great place to grow up. There's a network of artists and other creatives and a great department at the college which is one of the best in the country. They really promoted being hands on with materials and collaborating with different areas in the college so that was always on my mind from an early age, crossing photography with ceramics, graphics with fashion.

f156: Menswear is often confined by certain codes, did you ever feel restricted?

CH: At college we were always encouraged to push the boundaries as far as we could. Our work never had to be commercial so I've never really felt confined. Being from a small town, people can be quite abusive, verbal even about the way you dress. But living in South-East London and even out in the wider world, with what men wear on a day-to-day basis becoming more experimental, there are no problems.

f156: Can you explain the inspiration behind your collection?

CH: It started with the process, taking the material that I had which was seatbelts. I started to look into Polenisian ceremony dress and wood carvings which progressed onto high camp Louis XV court dress. I decided to rein it in and make the collection slightly more realistic so I took military elements from cavalry uniforms and some touches from my Polinesian and Louis XV research which I brought together with traditional elements - a basic trouser, a basic shirt; classic mens shapes -  to which I could apply a textile process.

f156: You mentioned your seatbelts which I read were recycled from your own Fiat, how important is recycling and the environmental issue to your work?

CH: It was something that we were having lectures about at college and it was something that I had never really considered before. I then felt inspired to do something about it in my dissertation as I felt that there was so much to talk about, to research and reference. Producing a final collection can be quite unethical and I wanted to remedy that and combine recycling and fashion in my collection and create something new and interesting.

f156: Will you continue to use sustainable fabrics in the future? How will you source them?

CH: I keep on going to scrap yards and I really want to keep on recycling. I've been doing a lot of work draping second hand shirts, and classic men's garments and I'm interested to see how design wise, something can be created from something second hand.

f156: You're starting an MA in menswear at RCA in September, are you going to continue in the same direction? Have you got any ideas for your next project?

CH: In my interview I was saying that I wanted to carry on recycling and working with old materials. When I went home I was doing a lot of research into workwear and looked into some archive pieces. When they're young they get given clothes and because they didn't have high street clothing shops they had to adjust them to how they grew. In each piece there's bands of fabric from when they grew in height and holes and tears  that have been patched up with paper. Also, their clothes are what they leave as their inheritance, so they're passed on to the next generation. I really want to do something based around that.

f156: And finally, what are your hopes for your post-MA future?

CH: I'd love to have a Calum Harvey label which incorporates accessories. With accessories it's easier to communicate your ideas to a wider audience, they're unisex, everyone can understand them and they're that little bit cheaper. I'd like to carry on with my Love Life label and also secure some placements with design houses. I love what Fabrics Interseason are doing and I'd love to put a twist on Burberry's classic menswear. And stay in London of course.