Yes, Stefan Cooke is relaunching womenswear! But when did the cult London label first launch, and then pause, its pursuits in the category, you ask? Well, those among you who follow our fashion reportage with an eagle eye will cast their minds back to September 2022, when my colleague Laura Hawkins got the scoop on the brand’s hotly anticipated debut of a concise edit of cropped, paillette-covered silk jackets, denim bombers with braided-seam detailing and bow-appliquéd jersey dresses – an offering developed on the grounds of giving the girls what they want, since a number of the brand’s female-identifying customers were buying from the menswear line, anyway.
Despite our – and countless others’ – fanaticism over the collection, that season proved an anomaly, with Stefan Cooke and Jake Burt turning the tap off almost as soon as it was switched on. Well, now it’s back on – and in a big way, with womenswear comprising roughly half of the 37-look-strong autumn/winter 2025 collection.
So, what compelled the pair to make the decision? And why now? “A couple of people have asked us that, but I feel like, with most things we do, there isn’t necessarily a justification for it,” Cooke says, standing in the brand’s airy north London studio. “We just did it because it felt right!” Intuition aside, though, their reasoning was qualified by the successful consolidation of their menswear business. “Over the past few seasons, we’ve done a big push with the menswear to really define it, and almost create a core collection,” says Burt, pointing to a line-up of looks that includes an array of the brand’s ostensibly familiar, but nonetheless directionally executed pieces: cargo-pocketed workwear jackets with contrast striped jersey hoods; cable-knit sweaters with the brand’s signature lozenge shaped slashes; bombers with in-built T-shirt-hem “skirts”. “We know that that part of the business is completely taken care of, so we then had room to add a full womenswear offering.”
So, what about this season’s womenswear? “It’s a really concrete proposition. There are pieces here that we hope people will want to wear constantly,” Cooke preaches to the choir. Imbued with a breezy irreverence, look closer at the pieces and you’ll see that they’re in fact artefacts of painstaking consideration, craft and execution. What look like white tank tops, for example, are in fact composed of fine strips of tonal calfskin bonded to lycra, with perforated shield motifs at the chest (for a more budget-friendly option, similar pieces come in a no-less-dazzling ribbed knit). The “pleats” of dresses with in-built capelets are in fact pin tucks, affording the fabric an unexpected, subtle heft. And then, a personal favourite: trousers bearing the sort of equestrian harness motifs you’d expect to see on, say, an Hermès scarf. On closer inspection, though, you’ll see that the graphic motifs are in fact laser cut vintage scarves (not Hermès, alas), painstakingly appliquéd to calico pieces that are washed to yield a subtly puckered effect.
All of this goes to say that these are pieces that warrant being seen and felt in the flesh to really glean a sense of their value – which is exactly why they’ve opted not to stage a show, not even for their fanfared re-entry into the category. There’s the simple fact that “it’s really hard to justify shows at the moment,” as Burt says, with a number of his peers concurring, as this season’s schedule well proves. The pair do, however, have a physical launch planned – a four-hour drop-in at the space below their studio, which, since early November, has hosted Jake’s – the roughly fortnightly, Stefan Cooke-adjacent design and retail project overseen by Jake.
“We are in this amazing position where we have access to this space, where we’ve also staged sample sales before,” he says. “Doing those, we realised that we’d spend a lot more time with people who wanted to know more about the brand. They would come because they wanted to buy the clothes at a great price, obviously, but you’d then strike up a conversation, and chat about the work and the brand for ages.”
“Doing shows is great,” Cooke adds, “and we love doing them, but you only get 30 seconds to take in a look. With this, though, it’s just so much more welcoming and feels closer to how we feel about the brand at the moment. Having the space to actually talk to people about what we do is so nice.”
With this launch, Cooke and Burt aren’t just presenting a sterling body of work; they’re also reminding us all what engaging with fashion should really be about – looking at clothes, sure, but also touching them, wearing them, and finding joy in having a chinwag with people who care as much about all that as you do.