The more you see of Stefan Cooke, the more taken you’ll be with his talent for branding. That might sound faint praise, but no: his ability to play around with new ways to signal his cross-hatched argyle pattern every season is a delight that’s created a club of followers around him.
So they’re going to love the piece of painted wooden toy train-track he has slung on a thong as a necklace in his latest collection. He’s named it Oh Vienna! You have to double-take, but there’s the suggestion of that pattern again. As a reminder, it’s the one Cooke made such a success of in fall 2020, when he designed his famed (to insiders) negative-space argyle sweater. Said configuration is also to be found in the suede cut-outs on his shoulder-bags and on the toe-tips of his shoes.
But what’s all this about Vienna? At his lookbook shoot in a primary school gym in London, Cooke was relating how come the Austrian reference, and why the train-set pieces. “It’s funny, because I was thinking a lot about my mum who’s Viennese,” he said. “The last time I went there was I was 15, I think, and I went and stayed for two months with my aunt. I can remember playing with train sets. And also, my family are very crafty. I feel like my whole childhood in Austria, it was very much: we’re getting out the box of craft supplies, and we’re all going to do that for a day. Which I thought was really nice.”
Another Viennese touch is this season’s black patent opera shoes, which appear low-cut, but come with an illusion white sock made from elastic in the upper—a kind of spat. Whoever dreamt that spats would chance a comeback? But they have here, and it can be confirmed that, actually, they do look very cool.
Cooke’s collection still has the boyish English freshness it’s always had, with half of it now catering to women. In truth, it’s hard to read much literal Mitteleuropa styling into it, although perhaps the stiff vinyl skirt, which can be velcroed on, could echo the shape of a folk dirndl. There’s no point in trying too hard on that score, though, because what we’re looking at here is continuity, which is a smart thing. His flippy skirt silhouette is now a zipped-through dress. His bombers have a blousy 1980s shell-suit look, although they are, of course, much nicer.
Cooke hasn’t had a physical show since before the pandemic. However, it was during lockdown that his brand was discovered by fans who wanted to buy via his Instagram from as far away as Japan, South Korea, and the USA. These days, though, Cooke is thinking seriously about opening his own store, somewhere in east London. His partner Jake Burt has already passed through the proof-of-concept stage of his Saturdays-only store at 63 Vyner Street, and with flying colors. The Chopova Lowena designers have opened their own shop in Bethnal Green. “I feel like there’s a hunger in people to experience things in real life now,” Cooke grinned, “and we’ve proved it.”
