Anna Ryon, 21 Why do you love Meadham Kirchhoff? Their clothes remind me of my childhood dreams! How does Meadham Kirchhoff capture the spirit of future fashion? It’s feminine, non-fussy and FUN! :)
In a world that wants to stick everything in a box, fashion has become
do it. I feel like it’s my job to design clothes and that’s what I’ll do.”
a theatre of good guys and bad guys, who can’t easily escape their
Since he and Ben started their first label after graduating from Central
ascribed characters once they’ve been defined. As rumour has it,
Saint Martins in 2002, and particularly over the past three years, he’s
Karl Lagerfeld is snappy but nice, Jean Paul Gaultier is mad but fun,
been doing that job with flying colours, channelling his tangled, often
and Meadham Kirchhoff are difficult and mean. “I think people find it
depressed emotions into ceremonious shows of breathtaking, intricate
difficult, a) if you have an opinion; and b) if you care about what you
garments of the demi-couture variety. For a label that hasn’t even made
do. This apparently makes you a dreadful, hideous person,” explains
it to its teens yet, Meadham Kirchhoff’s universe is remarkably defined,
Edward Meadham. “Maybe our contemporaries are happy to say yes to
even if their aesthetic is ever-evolving. The womenswear, which Ed
everything, but personally I find it much easier when people are direct.
designs, lies somewhere between an Elizabethan-era kinderwhore and
People think we’re difficult all the time, people think we’re terrifying
a goth in a girlie show, while Ben’s menswear, which has sadly been on
all the time, but I don’t think we are. If I really know I hate somebody I
hiatus following the spring/summer 14 collection, morphs the surreal
won’t let them close enough to terrify them.” Paradoxically, it’s this kind
with a sick and murky take on old-world elegance.
of soundbite that has contributed to the British/French designer duo’s
Above all it’s Meadham Kirchhoff’s compelling sense of creative
formidable reputation.
identity, which has earned them accolades and opportunities normally
Edward Meadham and Benjamin Kirchhoff are the genius madmen,
associated with much older brands. In late 2013 they launched their
whose fantastical universe of equal parts glee and gloom has created a
second collection for Topshop, which became the fastest-selling
reputedly impenetrable bubble around them. As London fashion myth
collaboration in the history of the highstreet giant, and just weeks later
foretells, they spend their lives isolated in their Haggerston studio, all
they presented a one-off retrospective show at the V&A. “I think it was
angsty with only one another to keep them company, like some pair of
very lovely to show it to an audience, who are not the normally invited
Vincent Prices in that scientist’s lab on the hill in Edward Scissorhands.
fashion show audience. It was really the public,” Ed says. Second only
As a public image it hasn’t been entirely detrimental to their careers.
to the mythology surrounding Ben and Ed themselves is that of their
After all, it’s fascinating that clothes as rich and magical as theirs
die-hard fan base of teen girls, who’ll write Ed excruciatingly personal
could spring from the minds of such apparently troubled people. But
letters and chronicle their love for Meadham Kirchhoff on various
while Edward Meadham and Benjamin Kirchhoff are hardly a parade
internet outlets. (They recently had to ask a particularly keen fan to
of family friendly sing-along fun, they are neither difficult nor mean.
add the word ‘unofficial’ to her somewhat overzealous Meadham
Ed wears pointy ghillies and loves to bake, and today he’s gushing
Kirchhoff Twitter account.) While they’re the first people to question
about the sparkly Christmas decorations being erected in the studio.
the true extent of “this massive army of fans”, it’s perhaps this idea that
Ben, in his signature sailor’s beanie, is presenting a measuring cloth
has bred the designers’ fervent inclusiveness and anti-elitism when it
with which his mum used to chart his height growing up, and which he
comes to their audience.
just rediscovered. Everyone in the studio is terribly polite and lovely
They’re as happy, Ben says, to read a show review by a teen blogger
in a way that doesn’t exactly suggest daily terror at the hands of the
as they are to read the thoughts of an established fashion critic. “It’s
designers in charge.
important because that 15-year-old will have a natural impact on
“I think you have a culture of designers at the moment that is about
other 15-year-olds.” At a fashion week hardly known for its production
pleasing the journalists and the buyers and saying yes to everything.
grandeur, Ben and Ed’s London shows are splendid pieces of theatre
Saying yes to turning their entire collection into something else to fit
with old-school runway sets, movie soundtracks and an audience worthy
the aesthetic of a particular store,” Ben argues. “And fly to that store
of a rock concert, not least for the presence of said Meadham Kirchhoff-
so they’re physically present there,” Ed weighs in. “I’m not gonna
clad fan base. “I think shows are still important. The audience that
“People think we’re difficult all the time, people think we’re terrifying all the time, but I don’t think we are... If I really hate somebody I won’t let them close enough to terrify them.” EDWARD MEADHAM
222 i-D MAGAZINE
i-D MAGAZINE 223