We drop the needle on an original composition written and performed live by legendary US producer DJ Premier and The Badder Band, transporting us to 90s New York: when the East Coast was setting the agenda – with Premier as its lead orchestrator. This is where the AW23 process began, with Mike in Premier’s Queens studio exchanging ideas and discovering archival cuts that link to the designer’s own formative years. The idea of production flows through the collection itself, as Mike and his team’s methodology repli-cates the notion of being in the recording studio: jamming, discovering new rhythms, new ways of play-ing with materials. On this beat, time-honoured tailoring fundamentals are cut with those of skate, studio and stage. Drawn loose, fluid with generous proportions, shapes slouch with languid downtown ease. An irreverent spirit finessed by sophisticated materials – cashmere, silk, shearling, faux fur, brushed wool – elevates garments to the most luxurious versions of themselves; cast in a palette of mono-chrome, silver grey, azure and ochre, accented with jolts of deep red and mint green replicating the city hues. -- Casting: Noah Shelley Soundtrack: DJ Premier & The Badder Band Runway Photography: Catwalk Picture