Exclusive | ‘Staycation’ – a Topman Design editorial starring Harald Lummis
By Umar Sarwar
Rewind back to June 2016… the country was heading into bleak times, as the looming clouds of Brexit hovered over us all. Symbolically, these metaphorical clouds manifested into literal clouds, as I distinctly remember seeking drastic shelter from the torrential rain as my editor and official fashion mother Nick Byam screamed “it’s f****** June!”
But it did not matter as, in the words of Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables, “life was high and worth living”. I had just been appointed the new Fashion Assistant here at Attitude HQ and I was about to attend my first ever London Fashion Week Men’s show. *Gasp followed by a hairflip*
In usual tradition, Topman Design would be opening the season of shows, and they opened with a bang. A force of colour and sparkle stormed down the runway, as British seaside resorts from Margate to Blackpool were celebrated with a heavy dose of tongue and cheek. I remember seeing the cropped puffer jackets, embellished satin shirts and short shorts and thinking ‘I need to be a model!’ But upon an unfortunate series of events (mainly me realising that I was 5’5 and too bootylicious for the job) saw those dreams dashed and divided like a millions stars in the night sky…
Yet in all seriousness, if you had told me that fast forward a couple months that these clothes that had sparked such excitement and imagination would eventually become a tangible reality, that I would be able to play and remix the collection in my own way and to build an editorial narrative around these garments, I wouldn’t have believed you.
So throughout this editorial, titled ‘Staycation’ I hope the message is clear: life can have a habit of raining on you; glamour may be at a shortage; you might not immediately get that party in France that Britney keeps harping on about; it might be Blackpool for now and Bora Bora later, but ultimately with a dose of colour and light it’s never impossible to chase those grey clouds away…
All Clothing from Topman Design, shop pieces now at topman.com.
Photography: Craig Benson
Fashion: Umar Sarwar
Grooming: Eliot McQueen
Model: Harald Lummis at Select Models
Fashion Assistant: Michael Henderson