Joshua Kane: Designer, Director and Rule Breaker

Joshua Kane, founder of the eponymous tailoring label, talks about how it all began, his latest collection and what the club means to him.

When did you first become a Member and what does Home House mean to you?

I first became a member about nearly two years ago in September 2020. It was just after the lockdown ended and I was super excited to be going out and socialising again, and I started meeting with clients, other designers and graphic designers. It seemed like a really good location (near my office in Marylebone) to meet people and begin to work with people again. I also hosted a collection shoot at Home House which was really special, where we hosted an immersive dinner event for 12 ambassadors in the Asylum private dining room and on the balcony overlooking the Garden.

Tell us about some of your favourite memories at Home House?

That’s a really easy one. My absolute favourite memory from Home House would have to be the end of January this year when I hosted my engagement party for 100 guests. Myself and my fiancé took one of the private rooms and we had all of our friends and family there to celebrate our engagement, which was really special. It was such a magical experience and we made many memories that night. Without a doubt, that is absolutely my favourite memory of Home House so far.

We hear a huge congratulations are in order for recently making your US debut with your latest collection. Why did you choose Atlanta?

Thank you, that was a really easy one. I chose Atlanta because I’m currently designing and developing a video game and the technology

team I wanted to use are based there, so it made perfect sense for me to travel over there so that I could meet new people in the film and TV industry we could create with something really special. It was a real coming together of artists, designers and creatives to put on my first ever show in the US.

How did you get into designing and developing a video game?

I started designing video games about three years ago, but it’s been a childhood dream of mine for as long as I can remember. All of my runway shows are very much about world building, character building and concept building, and within that there’s always limitations. I can’t do certain things I would love to do for runway shows that I’ve always wanted to do. But stepping into the digital realm, I can do all of that and more at the click of a few buttons. We’ve been creating an 1850s scale of London within the game as the map, and that creates the most amazing setting for the video game.

Tell us about the Dandy Rebels collection?

The Dandy Rebels collection is probably one of the most personal collections I’ve ever created. I’ve always felt like a dandy rebel character, so it was a self-reflective design where I was finding all of these different representations of dandy rebels within tailoring – tailcoats, tuxedo suits, day suits and really pushing the boundaries of what the dandy rebels could be – both in my menswear and women’s collections. I’m tying it back into this idea of these dandy tailors in the 1850s – it kind of transcends time as well. There’s a lot of different references to old world dandies, from the original dandies like Beau Brummell to my personal brand story around the ‘Painted 3 Tailors’ which is about three dandy tailors circa 1890 located on a British dock awaiting a ship to begin a tailoring adventure.

When did you know you wanted to become a designer?

I would say it was probably when I was in sixth form, so I would have been around 17 years old. In art class we had a fashion design module where we spent two weeks becoming a fashion designer, which is of course quite a brief introduction, but I’d always loved designing outfits and characters from a young boy when I was designing superheroes’ costumes. So it became a natural transition to design and create characters within that early impression of what fashion could be for me. I fell in love with it right away.

What made you decide to strike out on your own?

That was quite an easy transition for me. I’d worked for Jaeger, Burberry Prorsum and did a runway collection for Sir Paul Smith for a number of years. I spent about 12 to 15 years working in the industry, harnessing my skills and experience – all the while creating my own bespoke suits at home. It became a natural transition where I felt like, at some stage, I had to take a big risk. I was already designing my clothes and it was just calculating that risk to a point where I thought that people would want to order them. I definitely took the risk and took the shot, and I’ve never looked back.

Where do you get your creative inspiration?

My creative inspiration mainly comes from people... from my family and friends to people I work with and meet along the way. I always say I love to be a sponge when meeting people. It’s characters that inspire me more than anything. I love hearing what people are doing and when people tell me stories about their lives. Even looking back at old stories of Beau Brummell, the original dandy, and what his narrative was – that’s the most inspiring thing. It’s very much about storytelling and character-building.

How does your approach merge traditional tailoring and design with your own unique style and innovation?

All of the above. I’m definitely a big amalgamater of things. I love taking bits of technology within the video game format, mixing it with the oldest bespoke hand-sewn design techniques and fusing all of those things together to personally express myself. I like to break rules. I don’t like to conform to boundaries that other people have set. I was always taught: once you know what the rules are, you always have the ability to break them where you see fit.

What do you love most about working in fashion?

I love meeting people. I love all the different characters from all different walks of life that I’m lucky enough to work with and create designs for. So whether it’s someone’s wedding suit and they’ve saved up their entire life to come and get something beautifully made by me, it’s a red carpet outfit for someone’s that’s never walked a red carpet, or it’s for someone that’s performing on stage for the 12 hundredth time, I love all the inspirational characters I get to meet. That’s what I love most about the fashion industry. It brings really interesting people together.

Tell us about some of your career highlights so far?

My career highlight is always the thing that I last did, so it would be putting on my first ever show in the USA - I really don’t think that has sunk in yet. It was a massive achievement to do an entire runway collection halfway across the world, with loads of people working on the collection internationally, flying the collection back, taking the entire team with us and setting up shop temporarily to pull it off. Yeah…that hasn’t really set in yet! But that’s definitely a big achievement.

Tell us about your last ‘pinch yourself’ moment?

I pretty much get one of those a day at the moment! But it was probably the morning after the Dandy Rebels show – waking up and then searching the images on Google and seeing pictures of the show that I hadn’t seen. Obviously being backstage, I didn’t see what was happening, so then you see a professional photo of the models in all the looks and the staging in the setting with the video game projected 360 degrees all the way around the show. That was a crazy moment. I’m still pinching myself about it every morning. What’s next for you in 2022 and beyond?

I really love the idea of a travelling tailor; I think that’s what’s next for me – the idea of taking the collection to more places. I love the idea of doing pop up, immersive engagements where people can witness the collection that wouldn’t normally be able to in the regular space. I love the idea of going back to America this year with the existing collection and some additional designs for something smaller than a full runway show. I’m harnessing some ideas at the moment. Watch this space!

What advice would you give to young designers trying to make it in the fashion industry today?

The industry now is a very different industry to when I started in 2008, which is when I graduated. There’s so many more ways to get into it now than there used to be. It used to be very linear: you go to art school, you go to fashion school, you graduate, you try and get a job. There’s a million different ways to access the industry now, and technology has a big part to play in that. One thing still stands true though, if you want to be successful and if you want to make it, it’s literally about working harder than anyone else around you in that room and being more dedicated than anyone else. I was definitely never the best drawer or designer in my year of graduation, but I was very determined to succeed and to keep learning new skill sets to try and differentiate myself from everyone else as a designer. Determination and dedication would be my best advice.

www.joshuakanestore.com