Samuel Ross appears to be experiencing a very English societal transition that is inflecting his work in new ways. Having cashed out of A-Cold-Wall, the brand with which he made his initial mark, he directed some of the fruits of his labor to moving into a big house in the country. The 1837 pile, situated in Northamptonshire, has grounds that run to three acres. On a chat this week Ross said: “It’s the ideal scenario in which to think, and contemplate, and have psychedelic outlashes of thought. And to make art, and to have that atelier component. As you know I’ve kind of had this vision since 2019 to build a future British Atelier based on modernity and craft, and in this collection it is moving beyond concept and into being.”
Where A-C-W grew very much from the crowded horizon and tension of the metropolis, SR_A, after its elevated-nomad intro, seemed suddenly here to have been touched by the stillness and calm of the new surroundings that he and his family are now relishing. Or as he put it: “it’s this idea of dreaming about what social mobility can look like from a craft and from a class and clothing standpoint.”
That new field of dreams prompted Ross to recruit a veteran tailor and his assistant to SR_A’s Islington-based studio space. The result was some very handsome half silk-lined linen suiting. Outerwear, a Ross forte, was delivered in pre-petrochemical luxury materials: velvets, silks, linens. There was quite a lotus-eatery decadence to velvet trousers and coats edged with ostrich feathers. All of the pieces are made in the UK, following Ross’s localist rubric, with the exception of the handmade-in-Morocco loafers. Tote bags were crafted in deer hide, or napa, with sections of cowhide.
Said Ross: “Most of my stories thus far have been about social restraint, dissonance, alienation, and grieving, almost. At this point, that's not where my mind is at. I'm far more interested in illuminating stories that offer social mobility to my generation and to my people. I think that's way more interesting.” This was a fascinating fashion expression of cultured artistic bohemianism made possible by Ross’s streetwear-catalyzed, 21st century journey through England’s most established cycle of social uplift.
Source link
