Harris Reed: "London has to move the power to move the conversation around fashion"

Each season, we break down everything you need to know about the new collections in The Fashion Week Cheat Sheet. After speaking to the designers about their inspiration, their hero pieces, the faces on the catwalk and the names on the front row, we present your complete guide to autumn/winter 2024.

Now well into his groove, February 2024 marked Harris Reed’s seventh fashion show, which he hosted at the Tate Britain on Thursday night, presenting a Victoriana-inspired collection that played with colour and print for the first time.

Entitled ‘Shadow Dance’, the collection was Reed’s reflection on shadow puppets from the Victorian era, which he had become intrigued with when researching the collection, drawing parallels with his own design process.

“Now that I’ve had the brand for a little over four years, my approach to my collections has definitely changed,” Reed told us in a pre-show interview about his aims for the new season. “Now, I have this amazing client base and these VIP projects, I do go into the shows thinking about what will actually be an easy-to-wear demi-couture piece. I want to look at it in how it can actually work for the real world, whether it’s for a red carpet or a 50th birthday party.”

harris reed february 2024

Theme and inspiration

“The inspiration for this season came about when I was looking into the Victorian era and this idea of puppets,” he explained. “I loved that idea of almost cutting up old paper dolls and piecing the clothes together; you have these silhouettes on top of these dolls that are sometimes too large, sometimes too small.” He noticed how similar the art form was to his own process, where the silhouettes always appear first, before the job of placing fabrics and details begins.

And, when it came to adding the detail this season, Reed decided to work with colour and print for the first time, moving away from his usual monochromatic palette. For this, he teamed up with luxury wallcovering experts Fromental to repurpose archive silk wallpapers as fabrics.

harris reed february 2024

“Paper backings were sponged away from precious single remaining vintage panels of hand painted and embroidered wallpaper, some of which had over four hundred hours of embroidery work, showing a couture level of craftsmanship,” the house said of the process. “This tactile process of working with limited existing panels, pattern cutting and piecing back together to create something entirely new made the concept of paper dolls literal – like a child cutting up leftover wallpaper to make their doll a new dress.”

harris reed february 2024

The setting

For such a regal collection, a dramatic setting was required, which Reed found in the Tate Britain. The show took place on the opening night of London Fashion Week, and guests sipped on whiskey cocktails and listened to a string quartet as they took in the show.

Harris Reed

Hero pieces

“One of my favourite pieces is the blue opera coat we made, which has this incredible lining – it took over 400 hours of hand embroidery to create these incredible nature escapes. We were able to beautifully piece it apart and make it into these panels that makes up the internal lining, and it’s for me probably one of my favourite pieces in the collection.”

Harris Reed

Who was there?

Charithra Chandran, Golda Rosheuvel, Kaya Scodelario, Zawe Ashton, Maya Jama and Tsunaina were among those to sit on the front row.

Harris Reed show

The takeaway

“For me, this is all about highlighting craftsmanship and the power that London has to move the conversation around fashion. London is one of the few places that actually has a voice in fashion from an artistic perspective – I really think we have the best take on fashion because it’s always from an artistic background and it is less about making money in a commercial space. It really is about the pioneering of creativity. Demi-couture is here to stay in London!”

harris reed february 2024