York designer Matty Bovan plays with reality and fantasy at London Fashion Week 2020

York-based designer Matty Bovan attracted an elite front row including British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enniful and recent Next In Fashion star Daniel Fletcher to his show at the BFC Show Space Show in London.

Bovan, who is a senior lecturer at the School or Art, Architecture & Design at Leeds Beckett University is a graduate of Central Saint Martins in London with an MA specialising in Fashion Knitwear. He famously left London to base himself in his home town of York using his parents’ garage as his studio, where he experimented with collaging, layering, draping, and knitting of a variety of shapes.

A collection entitled Off World Aesthetic Exit saw 29-year-old Bovan explore spaces around the body. His dynamic, vivacious energy draws crowds to his shows, and this one saw many people packed into the back of the room. The runway took on a life of its own, and showcased a side of Bovan we have not seen before. The Englishness we are so fond of in Bovan’s sartorial style was there but underlying it all was his nonchalant extremity. In the collection were up-cycled Fiorucci denims, Swarovski crystals, Liberty prints, and baby doll dresses.

A lamé jacquard extreme coat hybrid with salvaged plastic fringing, featured symbolic numbers, personal to the designer. Bright tulle floated a silhouette with Liberty fabric cushions underneath at the hip. The collection also featured custom prints including floral plate designs, swan tableaux graphics, and an old man looking through a telescope, all of which were excavated from the British Library’s archive.

MAC Cosmetics’ PRO team brought a burst of neon to the catwalk, in a clash that popped in all the right places. The model’s eyes were surrounded in pearly whites or vibrant pinks.

Proportion gave something for the audience to ponder. Not only were there the multitude of fabrics and techniques to view, but Stephen Jones’ hair and head adornments confused and delighted. Curtains featured heavily as did square headdresses where the hair acted as a drape. This made the clothes feel somewhat held in sanctuary.

Bovan has created something personal and fragile and upcycling and sustainability carry the message further, or perhaps it is the other way around. But caught between fiction and reality, hope and fear, Bovan has placed this collection in the middle and gone further than before into fashion’s psyche.