Bennett Oghifo
Lexus supported Harris Reed, the acclaimed fashion designer known for challenging expectations, as a sponsor of his London Fashion Week show held in London last week (16 February). An all-new RX 500h F Sport hybrid electric luxury SUV was provided to transport Harris to the show in comfort and style. The car was also used to take VIPs to and from the event.
The performative, transformative nature of dress has always been at the heart of the Harris Reed brand. Clothing can amplify the character of the wearer, or communicate the role, or even gender they wish to portray. This sense of life lived as a dramatic performance is reflected in the collection title, All The World’s A Stage, and in the theatrical theme that ran throughout the show, from upcycled theatre drapes repurposed as gold lamé fabric, to the harlequin motif, and the pure enjoyment of dressing up that Reed’s looks celebrate.
The London Fashion Week partnership follows the recent collaboration between Lexus and Harris Reed in the US, where Reed designed Ruby Red Rims for the all-new RX at W Magazine’s 50th anniversary party in New York in October 2022, taking inspiration from two signature hats in his Spring 2023 ready-to-wear collection.
Lexus and Reed share a love of eye-catching, mould-breaking design. Reed commented: “Lexus design is extremely forward-thinking, really disruptive in the best way possible, and is daring and bold, just like my new collection, so I was keen to continue working with the brand as we share so many common values.”
Fighting for the beauty of fluidity, half-American, half-British Harris Reed designs to create conversation. Growing up with a strong sense of self, Reed was able to quickly understand the transformative power of clothing and its correlation with identity and liberation. Reed’s design process takes inspiration from the current social and political issues that he feels most connected to. His work is built from assessing the responsibility that fashion has to spark conversation in relation to the injustices that are happening within society today, while staying true to the brand’s ethos that strives for a vision of gender fluidity and inclusivity.
The overall DNA of the Harris Reed brand and personal identity is best described as Romanticism Gone Nonbinary. It puts the wearer and their fluidity, in whatever way it manifests, front and centre. Personally, Reed dresses themselves to invite the looks and stares, to blur the preconceived fault-lines people have about gender and sexuality. For Reed, fashion is truly revolutionary and has a huge role to play in pushing the world to a more expressive and accepting place – using his platforms to share personal visionary values, to help those seeking acceptance and self-love. Reed is also well known for being an innovative key figure among young creatives, whose work marries genres from fashion, film, beauty, culture and the digital world through a gender fluid lens.
