When I travel, I take on the role of an observer. It is something I learnt from my father, he is an expert at looking at people...
“When I travel, I take on the role of an observer. It is something I learnt from my father, he is an expert at looking at people. As a kid we would leave the studio and go for dinner, he would have a full-blown conversation with me, but be able to give you every detail about the couple on the next table, what they were wearing and what they were saying. I constantly look at what people are wearing on the street; not just fashion people, but also your average guy. I have become fascinated by the different ways in which people will wear the same thing – the manner in which a banker in Hong Kong will wear a suit in comparison to a businessman in London. I observe the small details, whether it is a notch or a pleat lapel, and examine why those decisions were made and what they signify. It really excites me. I think those observances give a greater authenticity to what we do as a brand. From the very beginning, every collection has had an anglo-centric core. We use the term international English. We have an international outlook but we are focused on English heritage and English subcultures. It is exciting to design for the modern traveling man. London will always be at the core of the brand. I have lived in east London my entire life and somehow it is just part of who I am. It is something that won't ever leave me. London will constantly excite me for as long as I am designing. It will forever be an inspiration.
"I observe the small details, and examine why those decisions were made and what they signify. It really excites me. I think those observances give a greater authenticity to what we do as a brand."
This is my first time in Hong Kong. I think I came with preconceptions of what it would be like, but as soon as I landed I changed my mind. It has an amazing international feeling. I felt at home straight away, it is an odd feeling, slightly claustrophobic but very vivacious. Somehow you don’t quite have that in London. The men in Hong Kong think very much in a seasonal manner, far more than in Europe. They buy things for the season and that creates a real excitement about fashion and the changeover, especially as a process. In a sense, they buy things for the changeover – for that moment. I have spent a lot of time people watching. I really want to understand the social aspects of design, how people adapt to their environment. Even on a practical level, Hong Kong is very humid, it is raining and there has just been a typhoon – I like the idea of trying to understand how to design for that environment. When my father and I design together we always think about this international guy; someone who is traveling around a lot and needs his garments that reflect his lifestyle. What is really nice about menswear in Hong Kong, especially being a designer, is that men here by real fashion, the real statement pieces. I think a lot of the time in Europe, because of the recession a lot of stores have to play it safe. They will predominantly buy the commercial pieces from the international brands, whereas you look here in the stores and they really buy the incredible runway pieces. It is really exciting as a designer to know that people are wearing them.“
Charlie Casely-Hayford has always been an observer. As he sits in the lobby of a hotel room in Hong Kong, thousands of miles away from his London roots, he is constantly watching and aware of his surroundings. It is a trait inextricably linked to his upbringing in east London, the influence of his father’s curiosity in anthropology and something that has fed into the brand that the duo shares together. Over the years, Casely-Hayford has translated English sartorialism and British anarchy into modern menswear. The brand is built on their observant nature and subsequent interest into the social aspects of wearing a garment. They use their awareness of cultural history to craft collections that explore English subcultures, like that of London’s Kingsland Road where their studio is based, and merge it with their devotion to English heritage. Hong Kong and its modernity seems somewhat removed for the brand's roots, but as Charlie Casely-Hayford discusses his love of travel and his observations of the Hong Kong man with AnOther, we can see how the brand is constantly evolving.
Charlie features in the JOYCE by Romeo Gigli A/W12 campaign, photographed by Chen Man.
Text by Isabella Burley
