Luxury ready-to-wear brand Naomi Hart makes its hotly anticipated London Fashion Week debut, unveiling a striking collection that merges bold artistic expression with expert craftsmanship. Founded by London College of Fashion graduate Abigail Naomi Hart, her eponymous brand sets itself apart for its sculpted silhouettes and super sharp tailoring.
The designer’s journey is deeply rooted in art and craftsmanship. Raised in the Peak District, surrounded by nature and guided by her artist father, Abigail developed an early passion for organic shapes and textures. A key influence is her deep connection to motorcycles (super cool right?), an experience rooted in her bond with her father and notably recurring in her designs which feature sculpted leather and are reminiscent of functional biker jackets. Her background in painting evolved into a fascination with fashion, treating the human form as a three-dimensional canvas. Every garment is meticulously designed and handcrafted in her London-based studio, ensuring an unparalleled level of artistry and precision from pattern cutting to final construction.
“The ‘Biker Girl’ aesthetic in my past collections represents power, confidence, and liberty,” she says. “I’ve never felt more alive than when I’m on a motorbike.” Naomi Hart
For Unproductive Thinking, contrasting fabrics, silhouettes, and personalities define the collection; a montage of organic shapes and marbled leather. Like her graduate collection— influenced by Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland— Hart takes us down a rabbit hole into a fanciful world of opposites and colour. Her lineup of flared and streamlined silhouettes draws from the youthquake spirit of 1960s counterculture.
This debut collection takes its name from Crazy Clown Time‘s album track, Strange and Unproductive Thinking(2011), famously composed by director David Lynch, known for surrealist cult classics like Twin Peaks. The spoken-word song explores themes of cosmic awareness and Transcendental Meditation. For the show, music artist Freya Everest has curated a mix of Lynch’s piece with Al Bowlly’s Midnight, the Stars and You(1934). The latter’s old-fashioned tone is offset by its reputation as the central tune in Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror film The Shining.
Stripes of pale canary yellow and cornsilk pigments taper off into dramatic flared trousers, while signature panels and florals capture a euphoric naïveté – girls on the cusp of womanhood. Naomi’s signature panels and leather are consistent throughout the collection, shapeshifting from sunlit creams to crimson, black, and burgundy – moving from youthful innocence to coquettish sensuality. This progression exposes the contrary nature of the human condition, fluctuating between polar states of mind and fluid emotions. As the carousel of optimistic yellows matures into darker pigments, heart-shaped necklines and quilted jackets emerge, alongside militant, utilitarian floor-length coats in electric lavender and carmine embellishments.
There’s also a coquettish nod to futurism within the collection with the use of tubed charcoal neoprene and linear striped ensembles, inspired by André Courrèges’ modernism and the era’s obsession with space-age themes. The collection’s black garments are playfully rounded off with an exaggerated flared dress, boldly colour-blocked with monochrome florals.
At the core of the collection are magnetic stripes and marbled fabrics, referencing the fluid lattice of a sliced geode. According to Hart, these pieces have been designed to reflect the brand’s core values: individuality, empowerment, and allowing the wearer’s attitude to be seen, felt, and celebrated. These traits are emblematic of the designer herself, weaving a tapestry of Naomi’s personality and childhood. The statement biker ensembles speak to her love for jetting around Derby’s countryside on a motorbike.
“Every garment is tailored to a client’s specific preferences. Not one piece is the same or made by anyone else’s hands. This is the beauty of bespoke tailoring.” Naomi Hart
The collection ends on a glamorous note with a sumptuously quilted scarlet taffeta coat gathered below the waist. Originally a toile (a test piece), the garment was deconstructed and refined for the runway—a notable decision reflecting Naomi’s sustainable practices and skilled craftsmanship. Like the artists she admires, the designer treats the human body as a three-dimensional canvas, contrasting structured tailoring and corsets with sculpted, flowing curves that accentuate the figure. Neoprene hip details and strong-shouldered jackets continue her exploration of Surrealism and the conscious vs. unconscious mind. Meanwhile, the hand-made nature of the pieces underscores the designer’s precision and individual expression.
Will we see a sophomore collection from Hart in September? Here’s hoping.
With thanks to:
Show Producer: Abigail Hart @naomihartlondon
Creative Director: Abigail Hart @naomihartlondon
Lead Makeup Artist: Nicky Ruisch @facesbynicky
Make-up Assistants Maria Bouctch @mariabouchtmakeup
Diana Redondo @dianarm_mua
Hair: Jonna @jonnajonnajooo
Photographer: @rosslynphotographer
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