Inside Aaron Esh’s Camera Roll – THE FACE
Tue 10 Dec
Words Joe Bobowicz | Photography Alexa Rayner, Moritz Tibes
For East End designer Aaron Esh, sartorialism runs in the family. Here, we delve into the images, spaces, screenshots and memories that form his working mood board.
"It's about young people looking older, living out their haute fantasies on a budget."
Joe Bobowicz, THE FACE
Aaron Esh, the person and the namesake label, is all about the party. In fact, on the Tuesday morning we met the East Londoner at his Haggerston studio – it’s backed by the Sarabande Foundation, which was set up by Alexander McQueen to “support creative and visionary talent” – he’s still recovering from girlfriend Fiona Hartley’s big birthday bash in the countryside the weekend prior.
Aaron is clad in pointed Chelsea boots, distressed grey skinnies and one of his own abbreviated jackets. He offers a cup of tea before introducing a tight team of designers, each one as understated as he is. His penchant for partying isn’t quite what you’d imagine, though. Forget tar-lined warehouses or scatty squats. His are DIY soirées, where hot young things adorn themselves in Vinted couture, swill homemade martinis and chuff on Vogue cigarettes.
This sensibility was apparent in his SS25 collection, where models Jonas Glöer and Kiki Willems – who are also the designer’s neighbours – strutted down the runway wearing svelte leather trews, silky dinner jackets and gossamer satin lapels that caressed and flounced from evening gowns. Dressing upwards, if you will. “It’s not about Jonas and Kiki walking the show because they’re Jonas and Kiki,” says Aaron. “It’s because they were literally at the party we’re talking about conceptually.”
Indeed, any Dalston/Hackney/Haggerston/Hoxton regular accustomed to Aaron’s world will recognise not just faces, but traits in the clothes that make them both convincing and refreshing. Unlike a lot of East London’s creative class, it’s about young people looking older, living out their haute fantasies on a budget.
A glimpse into the world of Aaron Esh