Guests to Aaron Esh’s FW24 show at East London’s Sarabande Foundation (the designer has been based there since November 2023) were greeted by a bowl of Marlboro Golds and a glass of Moët & Chandon. This designer knows what the people want.

Contrastingly, the scene spoke as much of early morning Dalston flat afters as Soho’s mysterious Member’s Clubs. This is London – a city where you can go on a spontaneous night out and just as easily end up mouth-to-mouth with a Jagger or a Jägerbomb. Playing on this alluring mix continues to influence Esh, and has seen him quickly become one of the city’s hottest names.

And to evening, when all the best things happen: a palette of greys, blacks and purples cast across the collection, echoing London’s shimmering and swirling night sky. “Dressing down, and then up, constantly teetering between the high and low,” read the show notes. “No other city does it quite like London.” It was all about that glorious clash of debonair tailoring, sexy after-hours sheer and undone formality. Shimmer and sheen. Casual and classic. Gowns and hoodies. Rebellion and refinement. Told through Esh’s design language, it all swirls into one heady cocktail. Within this, the enduring tropes of British adolescence were reinvigorated and reworked through high-craft: cigarette jeans, beanies, henley knits, leather coats and skinny neckties. Visions of London’s Barfly, Sheffield’s Broadwalk and Manchester’s Night & Day were instantly conjured – the shadows of Britain’s 00s indie scene dance again. Set to a John Gosling remix of Brian Jonestown’s seductive track Anemone, that’s exactly what Ash’s collection felt: seductive. Of living in the moment, riding the city’s wave, and dressing with freedom and attitude. “Don’t overthink it. Get dressed. Go out. You look great” – the show notes read. Tattoo this across our forehead.