Harry Styles has taken a minority stake in emerging queer British label S.S. Daley for an undisclosed amount.
On Thursday 11 Jan, the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence was transformed into the location of the Pitti Uomo trade show. The ascending label featured on the line-up alongside Italian brand Magliano.
After the catwalk, the brand announced the minority stake from the ‘Sign of the Times’ singer, who is an avid wearer of the brand. His introduction to S.S Daley is credited to his stylist and S.S. Daley collaborator Harry Lambert.
Notably, Lambert commissioned and styled the pop star in S.S. Daley for his ‘Golden’ music video and accompanying single artwork. This helped to establish S.S Daley as one to watch after graduating from University of Westminster in 2020.
View this post on Instagram
“Harry and I have a shared vision for the future of S.S. Daley and we look forward to this new chapter together as we focus on brand longevity and scaling the business into a modern, British heritage house,” said founder of the brand Steven Stokey-Daley in a statment.
The label accepted the invitation to show in Italy as part of their strategy to align with the menswear buying cycle.
In an interview with Vogue Business, the designer said: “We wanted to try something new where there’s a bigger [men’s] buyer turnout. We’re not sure what’s next yet, we’re just seeing how it goes.”
Styles is no stranger to growing a brand, having launched Pleasing in 2021. It launched initially as a beauty brand with a curated line of nail products and skincare. Since then, the brand has evolved its product offering to include fragrances and apparel.
View this post on Instagram
At the time of release Styles spoke to Dazed and explained how, at its core, the “essence of Pleasing is finding those little moments of joy and showing them to people”.
Stokey-Daley is from Liverpool and launched S.S. Daley in 2020 and has been a regular on the London Fashion Week calendar ever since.
He won the LVMH Prize for young designers in 2022 and was awarded the British Fashion Council Foundation Award for Best Emerging Designer, cumulatively these wins raised £400,000 to reinvest into the brand.
The designer is credited for his playful, flourished re-imagination of old English decadent traditionalism, and romanticisation of British public schools clothing, into wearable, quirky knits, button-up printed shirts and staple Alexander wide leg trousers. This is an aesthetic that is a stark contrast from the designer’s own working class roots.
“There is something inherently feminine about that hyper-masculine culture,” the designer explains on his website about his own design aesthetic.
Latest
