elegant fools

MA Collection | University of Westminster, MFA Menswear with Professional Experience | 2025

My graduate collection is inspired by my longtime hobby of juggling and my experiences within the worlds of circus arts and performance. Looking beyond the superficial inspirations of over-the-top splendor and spectacle, I aimed to convey the attitude and energy of circus and visualizations of boldness and exaggeration in a more streamlined, sophisticated manner, as an expression of my more everyday perspective of this realm often perceived as extravagant and fantastical. This collection takes influences from serene depictions of circus artists and clowns; elemental qualities of performers’ costumes and their underlying connections to more conventional styles, particularly tailoring and men’s casual and professional wear; and further provocative instances of performance and theatricality and related fashions.

“Elegant Fools” is an encapsulation of the dualities within myself and my dichotomous affinities: my gravitation towards classic formal styles and minimalistic tailored garments; and my passion for unique artistry and understated eccentricity. The arena of juggling and circus is but one well through which I direct my larger practice in menswear design, in which I challenge norms of systematic identity and gendered expression and representations of masculine power through quiet, graceful infusions of peculiarity and queerness. Through this collection, I wish to bring viewers on a journey of discovering the foolish in the refined, the fluid within the rigid, and a true, believable sense of freedom within men’s fashion.