Charles Jeffrey is not giving up on London yet.
In the absence of a men’s fashion week in London this June, he and Martine Rose dragged the city’s fashion crowd to North London over the weekend for one-of-a-kind experiences that turned out to work better outside of a traditional fashion week framework.
The Scottish designer adopted a behind-the-scenes concept, inviting the press to witness the making of his spring 2026 extravaganza, titled “Prepared Piano,” at Abbey Road Studios, which encompassed a photo shoot, a live band performance, a documentary filming, B-roll footage for social media and a digital instrument with sounds coming from the fabric used in the collection.
“It’s a bit sad that London Men’s has ended, but I still wanted to do something that felt very steeped in London,” said Jeffrey, who was inspired by the rich history of Abbey Road for the collection, but also the recording studios’ recent effort to democratize its space by turning instruments, reverb rooms and buttons in the space into digital plugins for music creators around the world.
“I liked this idea of bedroom producers. We’re looking at Japanese homes and thinking about collections of things, and trying to bring that Britishness into the international stage that the Loverboy community is based in,” he added.
He cast a fun ensemble for the occasion, a one-off band that donned his signature tailored checkered looks, models in striped knits, asymmetrical shirts and logo lab coats made in a shirting fabric. There also were friends of the house, whom he called “arbiters of taste,” in bolder looks, some inspired by American composer John Cage’s technique of modifying music instruments with unexpected materials such as bolts, rubber and cutlery.
Marni’s creative director Francesco Risso, a long-time mentor of Jeffrey’s, had his head painted in gold while wearing a relaxed-fit suit with a kilt. Jeffrey said Risso’s look was inspired by Andy Warhol’s illustrations and New Wave music from the ’70s.
Chappell Roan’s stylist Genesis Webb sported a white chunky knit dress. Fashion commentator Lyas donned a back-as-front dinner jacket with a melted French horn design around the neck.
Other standouts included a simple but surreal slip dress with a deflated cello decoration at the front, a sequined gold banana split dress with trumpet bells sticking out here and there, a checkered dress Jeffrey described as “a one-man band dress” with a fabric-made drum kit stitched into the look, and a dog shaped crochet bag as a direct reference to The Beatles’ hit song “Hey Bulldog.”
Having celebrated its 10th anniversary with a show in Somerset House last year, the Abbey Road Studios takeover pointed to a promising direction where the brand is heading: putting its community at the forefront, and expanding its universe at its own pace.
“We’ve got so many different communities that are buying into Loverboy. I’m trying to steer Loverboy into the music world. Then, the makeup community is the next step, as we’re starting our makeup brand,” said Jeffrey, who was named one of the winners of The Catalysts, a beauty initiative created by the Estée Lauder Companies’ New Incubation Ventures with TikTok as a partner.
