There was a collective sense of relief across London this season when the news broke that Stefan Cooke is back. The brand’s last collection was for FW24 and, before that, their last runway show was SS24. This season they returned after a year away with another lookbook and an exclusive preview event at which, as the invite stated, “a large cake” was also in attendance. 

The new collection was titled Altitude and featured a number of heritage materials – tweeds, wools and cottons – charting a map of England through fabrics. There were distinct styles aplenty, such as a vest on which leather had been sewn and then slashed to create a shield motif. Denim jeans had circles and diamonds, “biscuit cutter shapes,” rendered in leather and sewn on at random. The patterns of vintage headscarves were stitched onto calico and used to decorate skinny trousers. Elsewhere, Stefan Cooke offered their own take on cable knit sweaters with their four-leaf logo as a cut-out at the elbows. Jackets and bags featured roundels of regional labels, whilst Stefan Cooke and Jake Burt’s dog, Ralph, and his best friend Lenny found themselves immortalised as coin purses.