Endorsed is our ongoing series in which we ask our favourite people to tell us about their favourite people. Whether established icons or nascent talent, these are the influences behind the influencers, the inspirations behind the inspired.

John Alexander Skelton on Oliver McConnie:

Since graduating from London’s Saint Martins in 2016, John Alexander Skelton has established his eponymous brand as among the most exciting and unique in London: imbuing hand-made, traditionally crafted garments with myths and folkloric legend.

Few young designers can claim a signature as distinctive as Skelton’s, whose collections shun the highly polished, Insta-friendly paradigm in favour of authenticity and truth. His lookbooks too, are a far cry from the immaculately curated assembly of up-and-coming models and hot young photographers we’ve grown accustomed to seeing. Instead, you’re more likely to see a silver-haired gentleman sporting Skelton’s Dickensian garb in some nondescript location, shot by his younger brother, Ryan Neil Skelton.

Take his FW19 collection for example, staged earlier this year in a cramped Fleet Street pub. The show paid homage to the lawless days of Sweeney Todd, reviving the debtors’ sanctuary of Whitefriars, known colloquially as Alsatia. A departure from the 19th-century British folk theatre and medieval pagan rituals he’s explored in previous collections, the collection carried a visible history with transportive effect.

Skelton’s meticulous incorporation of historical craft and traditional production resonates with the work of printmaker Oliver McConnie, an artist Skelton often collaborates with, who explores the contemporary subversive potential of printmaking. Chosen by Skelton as part of HERO’s Endorsed series, in these highly symbolic and at times grotesque etchings, McConnie’s parodic prophecies explore subjects including environmental destruction and class hierarchies.

Saint Laurent Teddy Jacket £1,005

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