Charles Jeffrey Loverboy: from a Dalston club night to the catwalk
Some labels start with a business plan. Charles Jeffrey Loverboy started with a party. Before there was a collection, there was a club night, and the people on its dance floor, their outfits and their attitude, became the blueprint for the label.
From Bellshill to Central Saint Martins
Charles Jeffrey was born in 1990 in Bellshill, near Glasgow. His father served in the British Army, so the family moved often, between Germany, England and Wales, before settling in Cumbernauld in Scotland. At eighteen he moved to London, where he completed a foundation course, a BA and an MA in Fashion at Central Saint Martins. His tutor there was Louise Wilson, the famously demanding teacher whose students also included Alexander McQueen and Christopher Kane. Along the way he spent four months interning at Dior's haute couture ateliers in Paris.
A club night called Loverboy
In 2014, while still on the MA, Jeffrey started LOVERBOY: a monthly queer club night at Vogue Fabrics in Dalston, set up partly to help pay for his studies. It quickly became a meeting point for his friends from fashion school and the wider London scene, a place to dress up, perform and try things out. The energy of those nights fed straight into his work, and when he launched his own label in 2015, it took the same name.
In February 2015 his graduation collection caught the eye of Lulu Kennedy, director of the talent platform Fashion East. From June 2015 he showed with Fashion East's MAN platform for three seasons, before staging his first solo Loverboy show in June 2017.
Recognition
The awards followed quickly. Jeffrey was named Fashion Graduate of the Year at the Scottish Fashion Awards in 2015 and Young Designer of the Year in 2016, the year he also appeared on the Business of Fashion's BoF 500. In December 2017 he won Emerging Talent: Menswear at the British Fashion Awards, and in 2018 GQ named him Breakthrough Designer of the Year. The label's story was later told in a retrospective at Somerset House, The Lore of Loverboy.
Beyond the runway
The label has never stayed in one lane. In 2018 Jeffrey launched Awrite Hen?, his first womenswear capsule, and in 2021 he redesigned the Red Coat uniforms for the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London. During the first digital London Fashion Week in June 2020, he hosted a livestreamed fundraiser for UK Black Pride.
Tartan, punk and theatre
Three things run through every collection. The first is Scotland: kilts, tartan and references to Scottish traditions, including a signature Loverboy tartan the label designed in 2017. The second is London club culture, from the dressing-up spirit of the 1980s clubs Blitz and Taboo to the Dalston nights where it all started. The third is theatre. Loverboy shows are staged like performances, often with dancers and theatre makers, and the clothes play openly with gender norms.
What we have
Our Charles Jeffrey Loverboy edit is a good place to start. The Star Hoody in purple and the Ruffle Patch Tee in black show the label's playful side, while the Long Sleeve 2-in-1 Tee with knit patch in grey shows its love of layering. The Logo Cap comes in yellow and in purple, and the Sneakers in multicolour are the boldest way into the brand.
At ANSH46
Shop Charles Jeffrey Loverboy online, browse more menswear, or come and see the collection at our store on the Van Oldenbarneveltstraat in Rotterdam.