Although they never reached the level of recognition that they deserved, the queer British painter Gluck (1895-1978) has been receiving a resurgence lately. For many of us, our first meeting with Gluck was on the poster for Tate Britain’s exhibition “Queer British Art” in 2017, which used one of Gluck’s self portraits as its main image. One wonders if that poster also caught Steven Stokey-Daley’s eye back then, as the designer’s latest collection — his first solely dedicated to womenswear — used Gluck and their paintings as its core reference.

The show took place in an airy space inside London’s Royal Academy with vibrant vases of flowers displayed atop plinths acting as minimalist set decoration. “This collection is about the universe around Gluck, allowing us to go deep into the techniques of womenswear,” Stokey-Daley says in the collection’s show notes. References were abundant. Feathered ties spoke directly to one of Gluck’s final paintings and the artist’s own wardrobe, often tailored and utilitarian, was reflected by huge wool coats and suiting.

Daley has included womenswear pieces in practically all of his collections up to this point, but it was exciting to witness how he’d translate his distinctive style to a collection of solely womenswear. What was most pleasing about the collection was how well Daley seems to actually understand the female figure. When predominantly menswear designers make the transition to womenswear, it often looks like they’re playing dress-up. But Daley’s capris and pleated dresses aren’t something we’ve seen in his menswear collections, this is a whole new vision for the brand. Of course, Daley still included his amazing baggy suits, but here he rendered them in corduroy and wool and anchored them around an artist for whom gender roles were negligible. 

Pairing the fact that S.S. Daley now encompasses both men’s and womenswear and that Daley himself won the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design mere days before his SS25 runway, it’s crazy to consider that S.S. Daley has yet to reach its fifth birthday.