Fetch the ironing board!
The persistence of the Ivy League-cum-Sloane Ranger wardrobe renaissance has been a shock — a trend that first seriously cropped up on the catwalks at the beginning of last year, but which continues to race ahead as we move from spring into (a rah) summer. Anyone after proof of this need only walk down the high street and glance into John Lewis or Uniqlo, where the men’s and women’s sections both currently both resemble Harrow’s changing rooms, or flick on the telly to see the Chanel-sponsored Boat Race.
America has long had its polo shirt, chino and quarter-zip overlords in Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren — now London is catching up. Enter our very own fresh prince of preppy style, Daniel Fletcher, who is riding its wave.
I find him, dark hair coiffed upwards and sporting an on-brand uniform of white horseshoe jeans, black boots and an ironed, pale blue shirt from Loewe, reclined on a creamy, asymmetric sofa in his bright new studio, a stone’s throw from the Shard.
The 34-year-old designer is well known in the industry. A Central Saint Martins graduate, he began his own menswear label, Daniel w Fletcher, in 2015, was the menswear director of Italian label Fiorucci between 2019 and 2023, and appeared on Netflix contest Next in Fashion in 2020. Last summer, he made headlines with his appointment as the creative director for Royal Ascot, urging people to be more daring — within the dress code, of course.
The rails of clothes that surround us today, although typically Fletcher in design — blue and white striped, cotton Oxford shirts, red and navy silk ties, jersey rugby pullovers and cotton boxer shorts — bear a different label: Chinese brand Mithridate.
Fletcher is its incoming creative director, tasked with transforming the label. Founded in 2018, it had become tired and more known for ornate gowns and heavily embellished tailoring than anything cooler or more wearable. The switch was evident when he hosted his brand runway debut in the brutalist Space House London in February.
“It was a wardrobe for a 1990s British rom-com,” he says, gesturing towards the catwalk looks hung in order, beginning with chartreuse mohair knits, pinstripe slacks and green sequined midi dresses worn over short-sleeve shirts before giving way to hand-beaded black gowns and floor-skimming, woollen overcoats for evenings out. “There’s a sexy preppy-ness to it with elements of British heritage infused with some Chinese craft.” That, he explains, is the USP of his latest endeavor.
“The collection is so drastically different to what it was before, and I don’t want to talk badly of a previous creative director — I think we just have a different vision,” he says.
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Will it fly here and abroad? The first commercial test comes this week, when his Mithridate designs first hit shop floors — it has eight physical outposts across China — and the global e-commerce site is relaunched. He is selling a 30-piece capsule collection, which ranges from entry level, yet still pricey, striped T-shirts, ties and boxers, from £139, and climbs up to larger investments; particularly lovely are the sailor-inspired pullovers, £399, a double-breasted mocha suit, £699 and the inevitably popular rugby shirts, £250.
He tapped Alexa Chung as the campaign’s face, his “perfect” Mithridate woman as well as a friend. “When we photographed her in New York in January, it was the first time anyone had really tried it all on,” he says. “She’s got such a brilliant way of putting clothes together.” With the exception of a rope “M” logo, and shirts that have Mithridate embroidered on one sleeve, it’s not unfair to say these designs are interchangeable with those for his eponymous label. Fletcher doesn’t see it as a problem. “I don’t want them to compete with each other; DWF is much more focused on men’s, whereas Mithridate is focused on women’s,” he says.
Turning down Mithridate would have been tough — he had never been offered so many resources, starting with a full-time 50-person atelier in Guangzhou. “It is a dream,” he says. “I can be there in the morning and draw something up and by the afternoon they can show me a toile of it. For a European designer, that is unheard of.”
He visits at least every two months, doing the brunt of his design work in London before taking his core team to China to power through development. “There’s this conception that ‘made in China’ means poor quality and cheap clothes, so I’m excited for people to be able to get their hands on these clothes, try them on, and realise they are actually beautifully made and really good quality,” he says.
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His journey to China started in Chester, where as a child “I was always embarrassed to say that I was interested in fashion. Growing up in the north of England in a state school, saying that you were interested in fashion was not something that boys said”.
He learned to paint with his grandmother, an art teacher, and enrolled in an art foundation at Kingston University. He went on to study fashion menswear at Central Saint Martins, and had his big break when Harry Styles’s stylist Harry Lambert ordered pieces from his graduate collection. “Styles was the first person who ever bought my clothes — I sent him five shirts and got a little bank transfer,” Fletcher laughs.
His love of a great shirt continues to serve him well — so when I ask him for advice for anyone wanting to sharpen their look in the coming months, he doesn’t need long to think. “I’m very into the mix of something that feels masculine and preppy, with traditional ladylike notes,” he says. “In the show, we had a pencil skirt, which could feel a bit Princess Diana, but styled it with an oversized Oxford shirt and a bomber jacket on the top.”
Then he smiles. “There’s an easy, cheaper, way to nail that too: just tie your jumper around your shoulders, and wear your dad’s shirt.” Catch you at the polo.
Daniel Fletcher’s debut capsule collection for Mithridate is available now, mithridate.com
