Imagine your clothes felt like natural extensions of the world around you; the cut of your suit jacket or the flow of your skirt falling perfectly in line with the way light is contorted by our bodies, or how our shadows are cast behind us. That special synergy is something ANEST COLLECTIVE has managed to embody, making clothes that are elegant; designed with precision and purpose.
They are proud perfectionists. Established in 2017, and headed up by British contributing creative director Brendan Mullane since March 2020, each new ANEST COLLECTIVE garment is crafted by a select group of family-run Italian artisan ateliers who engage in a constant dialogue with Brendan and the ANEST team. Though they make both mens’ and womens’ ready-to-wear, the inspiration for their silhouette is always a riff on the confident and striking nature of masculine tailoring, bearing similarities to the strength and beauty of mid-century architecture too. If this sounds stiff or stoic, it’s not: “It’s a form of femininity that I really like — to be so confident in yourself that you take masculinity and layer yourself in it,” Brendan says. “There is a strictness to these clothes, a rigid framework that allows them to be so much more.”
ANEST COLLECTIVE’s distinct hallmarks — sharp-edged tailoring, clean casualwear and natural, understated hues — evolve into something more complex and impressive with each new season. This is the case for their current collection, titled “The Architecture of Light and Shadow”. Comprising ready-to-wear for both men and women, these clothes are inspired by the interaction between our bodies and light sources, and particularly how our form contorts it. These garments capture how these two elements, as Brendan puts it, both “flow and merge”.
Think of their work as something of a sophisticated trompe l’oeil: fashion that appears to be one thing on first inspection, but that exposes its true form as you look closer. Light summer shirt-dresses are an ANEST COLLECTIVE staple; through Brendan’s eyes their simple form is elevated with elaborate (but never ostentatious) motifs, like subtle pleating. There are classic outerwear silhouettes — a car coat, for example — only with the minute details, like a collar crafted from fine leather, especially considered.
What’s more, the brand functions as a creative space for artists to flex their work too. Not only can you find art and furnishings on their digital space and in their standalone Shanghai boutique, but some of the most respected new photographers and stylists have been welcomed into their inner circle. The photographer Jack Davison and set designer Rachel Thomas created the brand’s expressive and playful most recent campaign.
ANEST COLLECTIVE are a luxury brand built around a poetic and timeless discipline — not skirting left or right to catch moments that feel fleetingly relevant. Their work and collaborations are proving that greatness doesn’t stem randomly from sporadic thinking, but from having a clear, unwavering creative motive. Great luxury fashion should be made with a purposefulness that looks past a ‘wear once’ mentality. ANEST knows that; their work runs deeper and more thoughtful than trends, striving to last a lifetime.
