SS24 "THESE NEW CAROLEANS"

Hark! Do you hear it? A sound in the distance, an echo from the future. The rhythmic thudding of a forward march, the amassed footsteps of These New Caroleans.

We swear that we will pay true allegiance to each other, and to our limitless potential, according to law. So help us all.

With new eras come new questions.
(And some old ones, too, still unanswered.) Waking up as New Caroleans––individuals alive during the reign of King Charles III––many of us wonder how this new chapter in British history will be remembered and what, if anything, will change. Embracing LOVERBOY’s core belief in the radical power of queer futurity, These New Caroleans is a manifesto, a sartorial statement of intent. It is a coronation turned on its head, in which everyone gets to wear the crown. This season, Charles Jeffrey wipes the slate clean before scrawling it anew with a message of hope.

Establishing a home away from home in Milan at the beginning of this year has offered a fresh perspective on the brand’s sense of place and identity. As a British fashion house, LOVERBOY wants to represent the best of the country, fearlessly bearing its mythic, multicultural soul. Moreover, LOVERBOY believes that the genius of British fashion lies in its rebellious innovation and refusal to defer to authority or temper individual expression.

Having long approached history’s rich palette with a magpie’s eye, plucking and pasting contrasting accents and ornaments with impunity, this season sees LOVERBOY’s first foray into AI assisted design. After all, we are on the brink of another new era. The next few years will be crucial in determining the role that artificial intelligence will play in all of our futures. Combining the traditional garb worn by the original Caroleans during the Restoration of 1660 with high tech sportswear using image generation technology, the collection displays characteristically outlandish results. Day-Glo hose with matching track jackets features alongside a delightfully unhinged floral print created courtesy of AI, offering unexpected, hypnotic shapes when viewed up close.

Elsewhere, These New Caroleans presents a merry merging of 17th-century accents with contemporary silhouettes and fabrications. Acid colourways jostle with new takes on tartan, and LOVERBOY’s ongoing interest in wellness presents fresh perspectives on activewear. Finally, rounding out the collection are decorative suits of armour, intricately constructed from pre-loved Wedgwood jasperware that offer a layer of symbolic protection for New Caroleans as we venture bravely into the future.
These showpieces tap into Josiah Wedgwood’s legacy as a politically active patron of the arts, a prelude to future LOVERBOY x Wedgwood capsule collections.