The idea is to die young as late as possible. — Ashley Montagu — Monday November 3rd — —

I love listening. It is one of the only spaces where you can be still and moved at the same time. — Nayyirah Waheed — Monday November 3rd — —

“What art does — maybe what it does most completely — is tell us, make us feel that what we think we know, we don’t. There are whole worlds around us that we’ve never glimpsed.” Greil Marcus — Monday November 3rd — —

Albam

Last month, Albam, the classic British menswear brand which was founded in 2006 by Alastair Rae and James Shaw, released the imagery for the upcoming season, and instead of the usual lookbook approach they decided to create this clean cut series of portraits, which represents where the brand stands right now. Shot by longtime Albam collaborator and photographer, John Spinks, the portraits which were taken both in the Midlands, where John grew up, and in London, where Albam has stores in Soho, Shoreditch and Islington, aim to reveal the essence of what Albam is. Styling was done by Lynette Garland and art direction by Mark Tappin, the portraits, landscapes and still lives give a snap shot in to the relationship between Albam’s clothes and the wearer. It features normal people, friends or friends of friends of Albam, making them people, landscapes and objects that actually inspire Alastair and James instead of just people and places.

Albam is about the confidence you get from wearing a favourite piece of clothing; that inbuilt connection that’s hard to explain, but it just feels right.

The collection which was presented for this season is a nice mix of some new styles alongside the evolution of some classic pieces which has been the core of their wardrobe collection for the last few years. It shows a new Slim Canvas Trouser in a new style and silhouette. Also some amazing knitwear is included, with the Shawl Collar Sweater as our favorite. Another fact which excites us is that Albam has been working closely with a factory in the north of England, which resulted in some new denim developments arriving for autumn; firstly this will mean new selvedge garments and possibly new fits in the near future.

The concept of Albam came to life when Nottingham-based James Shaw, then a recent graduate from Manchester Metropolitan University, and his partner Alastair Rae designed a small capsule of very well made basic pieces in 2006, which they decided was the starting point of the brand. In those early years the business was run out of cardboard boxes from a bedroom in Nottingham, with James and Alistair doing everything themselves. Throughout the last eight years, in which they opened four stores in London with their Covent Garden store recently closing down, James and Alastair have steadily extended their clothing line and brand, but their original ethos has always remained the same.

Albam is British Clothing. It’s designed here, it has evolved here and it will continue to be produced here.

For more information and order online see here.

For more work by John Spinks see here.