Founded in 2020 by Luke Walker, London-based menswear brand L.E.J. has spent the past three years cementing itself as a label synonymous with merging wearability and artisanal craft. Now, marking the brand’s SS23 collection, Walker is set to open a pop-up residency on Mayfair’s Savile Row, the heart of bespoke tailoring and classic suiting.

This latest drop offers a collection that leans further into a soft and sensual mindset, focusing on billowing linen, breezy trousers and louche shirting that hangs off the body. Designed for hazy summer days where time melts in the heat, sheer fabrics are fashioned into pussybow shirts delicate florals bloom atop linen and silhouettes are elongated to create a new flow. Tied together by a pastel-hued colour palette, accents of leopard and zebra animal print inject an element of playful hedonism that beckons you to the late-night bar. Ahead of the brand’s residency at Savile Row, Walker talked us through what we can expect from the L.E.J. man this season.

“…so soft and sumptuous looking that one can’t help but reach out and stroke it, and thus the wearer.”

Ella Joyce: Tell us a bit about the inspiration behind your SS23 collection…
Luke Walker: I wanted to have a super soft light to the collection, an 80s-esque Weber feeling of sun-kissed cheek bones and salty hair. That required blissfully billowy shirts in lightweight, body-revealing fabrics, sometimes transparent, sometimes so soft and sumptuous looking that one can’t help but reach out and stroke it, and thus the wearer.

EJ: How has your man evolved this season?
LW: He’s ditched anything which isn’t pure comfort. Total freedom of movement. The trousers are looser, almost like yoga pants, but with a clean and lengthening silhouette. The shirts, as ever, are barely worn, with one or two buttons done up.

“Savile row was my gateway drug into menswear.”

EJ: Your pop-up in Saville Row opens in just a couple of weeks, as a menswear brand what does the iconic street represent for you?
LW: Fashion has been and gone on Savile Row – remember the stunning Jil Sander store of the early noughties? I believe that mix is super positive, and exactly what we need in order to keep Savile Row as attractive and populated a street as some of the others around it. Savile row was my gateway drug into menswear. I think most menswear designers have had their obsessive moments of delving into bespoke tailoring techniques, but right now I don’t wear a suit more than a couple of times a year. Hopefully L.E.J can fill the gap in between those moments for others as it does for me; that is, respecting those traditions of supreme quality and craftsmanship, but breaking down the codes a little, and adding some more playfulness into the postcode. Mix and Match!

The L.E.J. Savile Row pop-up opens on Wednesday 19th April.