The image of British literary titans all sat in a circle talking about Important Stuff is a scene as pretentious as it is romantic. Because it would be all deep nods (eyes closed), and Principia Ethica, and "less a question, more an observation" – things that make our cynical, meme-bruised brains shudder. But when those meetings took place before this digital dark age? The romance outweighs the cringe. We want in on the book club, the one full of communists and crinolines and the feeling that you could actually change something. That is pure, unadulterated romance, and it's something Qasimi tapped into during its A/W '21 show as the London-based label pulled up a figurative chair to the Bloomsbury Group.
Made up of intellectuals, philosophers, writers and artists, the Bloomsbury Group became a hotbed for really quite serious critical thought with several British greats among their ranks, like social class chastiser-in-chief E.M Forster (Howard's End, A Passage to India), and economist John Maynard Keynes (the founding father of Keynesian economic theory), and Virginia Woolf (no blurb necessary). And, in the languorous comfort of Qasimi clothing, the Bloomsbury Group lives on.
The collection itself, like Bianca Saunders and Tiger of Sweden et al, was presented from afar, and in two parts. The first: a sombre part-runway, part-interpretative dance performance choreographed by the Bakani Pick-up Company against the backdrop of a ghostly cityscape at sunset. The second: a lookbook that gave greater detail of Qasimi's offering.
The menswear, like collections past, was slubby, and comfortable, but made in the stiffer materials that, according to the show notes, were "conjured from the interior settings of the Bloomsbury Group meeting rooms". That meant velvets, and mohair, and houndstooth, with a distinct element of Savile Rowian tailoring and a palette that nodded to Qasimi's Middle Eastern heritage (in fact, the rich colours were said to be a specific reflection of Yemeni culture).
There was a solid mix at play, too; not bland enough to be considered wardrobe staples but not pure fashion week theatre kid either. Peacoats were actually, properly wearable, while trousers and jackets played to the utilitarians with their elasticated cuffs and boxy, multi-pocketed fronts. A particular highlight came in the form of fully cow printed co-ords, a bucket hat complete with the elongated drape of a desert sun hat. Other than that, there was plenty you could take into real life.
Was it a huge break from Qasimi's usual thing? Not really. But where other brands have fluctuated on fashion's barometer, or kneecapped themselves by staging the sort of spectacle that cannot be topped by subsequent shows, Qasimi has been a steadier beat. That's not to say it shies away from loftier thinking. On the contrary: messages of hope and optimism were emblazoned across several pieces in both English and Arabic, as were the words "Free At Last" as a commemoration of Martin Luther King's pivotal 'I Have a Dream' speech in 1963. Qasimi, like the Bloomsbury Group it commemorates, is not afraid of such thought – and it's most certainly not afraid of Virginia Woolf.
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