The New Fashion Vanguard

Four labels presenting a new way to dress, driven by their backgrounds, biofabricated materials and biker jackets

- By Jack Moss

BIANCA SAUNDERS

The 2021 winner of the Andam award, one of fashion's most prestigious prizes, Bianca Saunders was selected for her subtly subversive designs, which play with the traditional textures and proportions of menswear garments. Her upbringing, in the London suburb of Lewisham, inspires much of her work, which she describes as making the 'familiar unfamiliar', and her S/S23 collection looked towards Jamaican 'hard food', such as plantains and yams, and how they are boiled for long periods until soft. 'I liked the idea of conceptualising that into how I worked with materials,' she says. 'So pieces were either hard in the front or soft in the back, or had the fluidity of water. It was a different way of bringing my culture into fashion.' A boundary-pushing approach has been part of her label since its inception, following her MA graduation from London's Royal College of Art in 2017. 'I like that menswear has rules to it,' she says. 'So then I start thinking: how do you push those boundaries?' biancasaunders.com

CONNER IVES