British rapper of Nigeria descent, Tinie Tempah made his catwalk debut at London Fashion Week Men’s on Saturday with a minimalistic, casualwear collection inspired by architecture and “the everyday man”.
The 28-year-old, known for hits such as “Written in the Stars” and “Not Letting Go”, opted for a simple colour palette of navy blue, grey, white and black to present his first creations of mainly loose tops, trousers and shorts for his menswear brand “What We Wear”.
To the sound of a live music performance, models walked down the catwalk in zip jackets, large tops, drawstring shorts and ankle-length tracksuit-like trousers in cotton, neoprene, linen and nylon.
The “Pleats & Poppers” collection also featured subtle folds in designs and easy fastening on sleeves or the sides of trouser legs. The looks were accessorised with white sports shoes bearing the “What We Wear” logo at the back.
“I was very much inspired by architecture, especially European architecture as well, travelling throughout Scandinavia and even now I think east London is starting to adopt a lot of that as well,” the rapper told Reuters backstage.
“And then again it was the everyday London man…I’m excited to be able to get my vision of the way I see menswear in 2017 going onto 2020 and beyond.”
Tempah, who has designed clothing before, said the line would launch in April and that he would also consider doing a collection for women’s wardrobes eventually.
“To be honest I got a little bit bored of people just saying I was really stylish just for wearing other people’s clothes,” he said of his decision to launch the menswear line.
“After a while I feel like people start to put more of the emphasis on the clothes than the actual person…I started to feel like I was a bit of a walking mannequin.”
Asked if fashion could now take his focus away from music, he said: “No…Music is always the core focus.”
London Fashion Week Men’s runs until Monday.
