A Take on Fashion: Luke Leitch
Anyone who eagerly follows collection reviews will agree that those penned by Luke Leitch for Vogue Runway deliver a highly satisfying, never predictable summation of the experience – whether his incisive sense of how designers tick, or a laugh-out-loud comment on the crowd. As a contributing editor to the site, based between London and Milan, he is among the most prolific and readable voices in fashion journalism. And just as Leitch captures the unspoken in his words, he seemingly does the same with a camera, zeroing in on an expression or exchange during the shows that most others might miss.
In what ways is exploration a natural part of the design process?
Any successful piece of design works because it answers a question. Exploration is crucial in the formation of a question that leads to an answer via design. In order to see, you first have to look.
What are some of the themes and ideas that you would like to see designers exploring through the next few seasons?
There’s a lot to explore in the answer to that question! I’m interested in the fragmentation of consensus: big trends – and identity-driven dressing defined by gender, sexuality, ethnicity, or demographic status (old school) – into a much more myriad and hard-to-read eclecticism.
How have the past few years shaped your exploration across social media and the virtual world?
Like everyone, I became even more screen-facing during the pandemic, and through work I’ve been spending more time covering virtual fashion. But having hung out in VR facilities like Otherworld, I think we are well overdue for a hardware upgrade from the hand-held screen to something else – maybe Luxottica’s Meta-specs that integrate a screen like Google Glass (but better) – that radically deepens digital experience.
How do you, personally, explore what’s new and exciting in fashion?
It’s very tricky during the fashion weeks to see what’s new while attending to established brands and houses. So you just have to be as elastic as possible with your scheduling.