At Good Clothes Show, Prince Keshi Argues for Craft Over Concept

Mary Nnah

Emerging Designer Prince Keshi used The Good Clothes Show Manchester 2025 to make a clear statement about where he stands right now: grounded in utility, fluent in texture, and still figuring out the limits of his own language.
Exhibiting and running two original looks across 8th to 9th November at Manchester Central, Prince positioned himself inside the UK’s growing sustainable and contemporary conversation without pretending to have all the answers. That honesty is both the collection’s strength and its ceiling.

The deep brown and black handcrafted patchwork co-ord from Day 1 is the more convincing of the two. It leans into oversized tailoring with raw-edged panel construction, and it works because the deconstruction feels deliberate rather than decorative.
Texture leads here. Layered fabric placement and visible stitching do the heavy lifting, so the look reads as luxury streetwear without borrowing logos or gimmicks. It understands how to balance rawness with refinement.
The problem is familiarity. Patchwork and utility is well-trodden territory in 2025, especially on platforms like The Good Clothes Show where nearly every stand is selling a version of “reworked.” Prince executes it well, but he doesn’t yet twist the formula in a way that makes you remember it a week later.

Day 2’s camouflage puffer utility look pushes him into safer ground. The sleeveless padded vest layered over a black hoodie, with matching trousers and workwear footwear, is clean, functional, and runway-appropriate.
Themes of resilience and urban identity come through. But the silhouette is the weakest link. It relies on proportions and styling we’ve seen repeatedly from independent menswear labels in the last 2 to 3 seasons.
The camouflage textiles add grit, but not distinction. For a second showcase slot meant to show range, it feels more like a variation than an evolution. If Day 1 was Prince arguing for craft, Day 2 was him arguing for competence.
Competence is necessary, but it doesn’t get you press.

Critically, the decision to exhibit alongside the runway was smart. For an independent designer, direct engagement with attendees, creatives, and industry visitors is often more valuable than the 90 seconds on the catwalk.
That face-to-face context lets Prince explain the wider vision behind the brand, something the two looks alone don’t fully deliver yet. The work communicates a mood: tactile, rugged, deconstructed. What it doesn’t communicate yet is a distinct point of view.

The bigger critique sits in the edit. Two looks over two days is a tight brief, and Prince used one to show material intelligence and the other to show commercial wearability. That’s a logical split. But on a platform built on sustainable, independent, and contemporary fashion, the bar for contemporary is high. Contemporary now demands conceptual friction, not just good construction. Right now Prince’s designs feel like they’re respecting the brief instead of challenging it.

Where he succeeds is materiality, hand-feel, and a consistent utility through-line. The patchwork set proves he can handle complex construction without losing wearability. Where he needs to grow is narrative and silhouette risk. The collection asks for resilience and functionality, but says it in a voice that sounds like other emerging designers. The next step is to make that voice unmistakable.

Prince Keshi’s Manchester showing is a solid, professional entry from an emerging designer who understands craft and audience. The patchwork set is a keeper and should be the anchor for whatever comes next. The camouflage look, while clean, suggests he’s still leaning on convention to feel secure. If Prince pushes past that safety and lets the deconstruction get more personal, more specific, and less polite, he’ll move from “one to watch” to “one you can’t ignore.”

For a platform like The Good Clothes Show, that leap is exactly what separates exhibitors from breakthroughs.