Designer Sally Kite is making a case for West Country fashion

England’s West Country isn’t known for being fashion-forward. The area’s on-screen representation hasn’t exactly helped its reputation – see Hot Fuzz or This Country. It did give us Skins, which was set in Bristol, and increased the West Country’s cool factor by a fraction, but that was nearly twenty years ago. 

Known for its agricultural industries, it’s home to 25 per cent of England’s farms, which should paint you a picture of the area’s stereotypical inhabitants. While the North has been carving out its identity and influencing fashion subcultures for decades, the South West has been lagging behind, to say the least. But can farmers ever really be fashionable? Accessories designer Sally Kite certainly thinks so. 

The Bristolian creative is the woman behind London’s hottest IYKYK bag brand, Six95, known for puncturing her leather with silver eyelets and coins. Her latest project, however, is a book – created in partnership with Somerset-raised Lottie Collins, and photographer William E Wright. Titled Coin For Scale, the book captures and shares the stories of West Country locals, who “are not normally part of fashion conversations,” explains Kite. 

“We wanted to work on a shoot with the local characters we have known all our lives, but it didn’t feel right to include fashion products when that’s not really the ethos here. There’s an independent spirit – a resistance to mass culture. People often dress in a way that signals their niche interests rather than in a fashion-conscious way.” 

Art directed by Dazed’s own Ester Mejibovski, Coin For Scale launched at Jake’s (London’s coolest independent boutique) last week. Get more information here to bag your copy. Elsewhere this week, we waved goodbye to London Fashion Week SS27 and hello to Milan. The shows are in full swing – catch up with all our coverage here. Beyond fashion week, here’s everything else that’s been going on…

To think of Glastonbury’s greatest fashion moments is to think of Kate Moss wading through the mud in hot pants and Hunter wellies. Now, the Scottish rubber brand has reunited with the super model, celebrating a relationship that dates back more than two decades, as well as the brand’s 170th anniversary. The campaign, Iconic by Nature, launches today (September 25). See more here. 

Earlier this week, rounding out London Fashion Week SS27, Alaïa and Claire de Rouen Books hosted an intimate talk with photographer Nancy Honey and Brandei Estes, the senior curator of photographs at the National Portrait Gallery. Held inside Alaïa’s New Bond Street store, the talk focussed on Honey’s work, which centres on the lives of women through autobiographical and documentary photography. 

Stone Island has officially taken over Selfridges’ Corner Shop, following in the footsteps of brands such as Thom Browne, Coach and Dior. For the next six weeks, the department store will play host to the Italian brand’s latest project, SELECTED WORKS ‘982–’026 STONE ISLAND: THE COLLECTOR SERIES – a debut collaboration with its super fans and collectors. The curated space will change on a weekly basis to reflect each collector’s archive. To toast the takeover, Stone Island has also launched a short film, directed by Glenn Kitson in partnership with Nowness. Watch it here.

What happens when one of fashion’s most in-demand stylists joins forces with one of New York’s most influential modern photographers? I’ll tell you: they create a limited-edition poster set. At least, that’s what happened when Miyako Bellizzi teamed up with Bella Newman. Working alongside Commission NYC, the pair have launched The World We Knew, a set of posters paying homage to Asian and American cinema, redesigned from the Commission’s SS26 campaign.

On Saturday evening, in the midst of London Fashion Week, Dazed’s Jefferson Hack and Mike Amiri held an intimate gathering at Amiri’s first London flagship store, which opened on New Bond Street earlier this year. The fashion crowd and friends of the brand took a much needed breather from LFW chaos, ending the night at Mark’s Club with a DJ set from Benji B.

Guess Girls has swapped LA for London and is celebrating with a brand new campaign, fronted by electro-punk duo, The Femcels. As we put it earlier this year, Everyone is fucking with The Femcels, and now Guess is too. The duo even hosted an impromptu magical mystery bus concert outside Buckingham Palace – plus, a guerilla-style take-over across London buses. See here. 

Icelandic outerwear brand 66°North is 100 years old! Naturally, the brand has many celebrations (and activations) hidden up its sleeve, but its latest endeavour is a very special 10-piece capsule collection that traces the past 100 years of Icelandic outerwear, from its 1926 fisherman’s anorak to today’s technical shells. The collection revisits one defining style from each decade, updated for the modern day. See here.

Yesterday, Dr Martens unveiled its huge new campaign and global brand platform, With Bouncing Soles. The German footwear brand’s new chapter refocusses on its OG hero styles with a campaign starring Chloë Sevigny, Jordan Stephens and Naomi Watanabe, alongside a wider cast of community voices. And it’s not stopping there. Dr Martens has also lined-up a series of cultural programming and events, plus a whole new range of designer collabs (including Chopova Lowena, Labrum, MHL. and Sage Nation). Get more information here. 

Cult streetwear brand Aries is having a major archive sale in aid of Choose Love. Taking place at the brand’s flagship Soho store this Saturday and Sunday, expect to see up to 80 per cent off archive pieces, with 20 per cent of all profits going directly to Choose Love, the charity delivering critical humanitarian aid by working directly with displaced communities around the world. See you there! 

Earlier this week, Apple’s Beats launched Beats 360, its latest over-ear headphone, accompanied by a campaign starring Kendall Jenner. In the film, Kendall meets multiple versions of herself, showcasing all the possible ways to wear the new product (which is also customisable, with interchangeable cushions available in various colourways). Watch the film here. 

LA-based streetwear brand Brain Dead has swapped the City of Angels for Ibiza’s sunny shores, partnering with professional football club UD Ibiza. It was announced earlier this year that the brand would be this season’s official technical equipment partner. Forget Ibiza nightclubs, Brain Dead is all about the Spanish island’s football club! Drop two of the partnership launches today, watch this space. 

Earlier this year, the British Fashion Council announced its new initiative, Fashion Britain, supporting young designers outside of London. As a branch of the initiative, Schuh has teamed up with Northern independent collective Gone Norf, who has designed a special window display for the shoe shop’s Manchester store. It’s all part of Schuh’s Community Window project, which invites new creatives to redesign the display every few months.