Aaron Esh is the new Chief Creative Officer at AllSaints The forthcoming of the high street renaissance?
There is a new guild of young names that have reignited London’s creative scene over the past year, as seen during the latest London Fashion Week. Among them stands out Aaron Esh, a Central Saint Martins alumnus who, after founding his eponymous label in 2020, has just been announced as the Chief Creative Officer of the British high street brand AllSaints. As reported by Business of Fashion, Esh will oversee both womenswear and menswear collections while also leading the brand’s overall creative direction, including its communication campaigns.
As the designer himself explained, his decision not to immediately follow the “traditional path” taken by many of his CSM peers, graduating, entering the LVMH Prize, joining the NewGen circuit and hoping for a position at a major Maison, was intentional. Only a small fraction of Saint Martins graduates manage to take that route, and for Esh, the goal is to prove that “it is possible to build your own brand and that the path can be different.” The partnership with AllSaints, he said, allows him to strengthen the financial foundations of his namesake label and invest in the long term, “without having to live day by day, season after season.” It is also a decision driven by his desire to stay connected to British fashion, continuing to create “at home.”
More and more designers are moving away from the Maisons
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Esh’s appointment fits into a broader trend that sees more and more designers moving away from major Maisons to explore new forms of collaboration with mid-range or high street brands. It is a phenomenon already observed with Clare Waight Keller, who after directing Givenchy and Chloé chose to collaborate with Uniqlo, or with the many designers (from Samuel Ross to Stefano Pilati) who have released capsule collections with Zara, as well as with the appointment of Zac Posen as Executive Vice President and Creative Director of Gap.
Although AllSaints does not fully belong to the fast fashion category, the brand remains a key player in the British high street (or what is left of it). In recent years, the group has undergone a major transformation. BoF recalls that after nearly facing bankruptcy in 2011 following the collapse of its Icelandic investors, AllSaints was restructured by its current owner, Lion Capital. Today, the group has reported a record turnover of £458 million (about $615 million) for the year ending February 3, 2024, an increase of 36% compared to the previous period.
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Esh remains one of the youngest and most contemporary voices in London’s creative ecosystem, and perhaps this is the designer’s greatest strength. In an interview with The Face, he said that he was initially curious when he was offered the creative direction of AllSaints. He described a “sense of separation between the industry I was trained in and the one my brand operates in.” The idea of a democratic fashion, or at least one that is more accessible than the luxury sector, fits naturally with his creative philosophy: “The idea of democratic fashion, made with care and attention to materials but without a grotesquely high price, really excites me.”
His approach is based on the idea of creating fashion that is accessible yet authentic, capable of maintaining a connection with urban culture and the everyday life of London. “What interests me is observing what the guy on the street is wearing, what the guy at the party is wearing, or what the intern in our studio is wearing,” said Esh. Could this new partnership be a sign (or a cause) of a high street comeback?
