The 2021 LVMH Prize: Bianca Saunders

In the short time since she launched her line for Spring 2019, the Royal College of Arts–educated menswear designer Bianca Saunders has looked to the surrealism of Man Ray, translating look-twice black-and-white images to trompe l'œil denim and crinkled ruffling on boxy, stately jackets; reimagined Hans Eijkelboom's 1978 self-portrait series The Ideal Man in the image of today's ballroom scene; and looked to the elegance of the men in her family and rudeboy culture in her vibrant, subtle début. In each collection, Saunders creates a world and a concept around a man who reaches outside the confines of both strict masculinity and loud femininity. He might be an artist. Maybe he likes anime or has interests that are only his own; he moves comfortably in the clothes. And he embraces classic pieces while exploring a relation to gender that is nuanced and in quiet ways transgressive.

"During my MA when I started branching into menswear, I first started with looking at my male friends and what they wore," says Saunders. "I found that menswear generally tends to be one extreme or the other—very 'out there' directional pieces, or really classic, which is something that really interests me and inspires my collections to date. I pride myself on dwelling on the in-between, which is why I've always been interested in masculine staples like denim and tailoring, but then exploring the femininity within that, adjusting the silhouette slightly, adding my signature shoulder, etc., and really showing off the movement that garments allow us."

Saunders, who was born and raised in South London, is filling this gap in explorations and representations of the various fluidities and experiences within masculinity, specifically that of Black men. Growing up, she was always interested in the arts, but she realized around age ten or twelve she wanted to go into design. "My parents always supported my interest in arts and crafts and encouraged me to push the boundaries, to not follow the typical norm which society can push on us," she reflects. Early role models included Phoebe Philo, Ozwald Boateng, and Craig Green. "Ozwald in particular inspired me growing up, that was the first time I saw real Black representation in design and the fashion industry."

Today, Saunders is becoming known for her elegant, artful (de)constructions of traditional menswear staples, with techniques including shoulder tucks and draping, and the overarching vision she builds around her designs. Her collections—and the art she creates around them, including beautiful and slyly playful films like her collaborations with Akinola Davies Jr. and Daniel Sannwald—come as fully imagined, slice-of-life offerings. "Each collection or next collaboration, I am always trying to give everyone a snippet and invite them into another part of my world, whether it’s my interests as a creative and not only a designer, or an exploration of my heritage," says Saunders.

Her references include the men in her family—"I never forget something as simple as [my dad] always telling me the importance of a good pair of shoes!" she says—old record sleeve designs, the work of artists like Eric N. Mack, a visit to an Erwin Wurm exhibition in Paris, and her friends, who include talented collaborators like designer and choreographer Saul Nash and the rapper and producer Benny Mails, who creates her soundscapes. After her research, fabric—and in particular denim, which often forms her favorite pieces in her collections—is an important starting point.

Between Covid-19 and the no-deal Brexit, this has been a challenging year. "You just have to plan around these situations and be one step ahead when it comes to designing and production," says Saunders. Still, she has continued to create inspiring work. She won the prestigious ANDAM Prize earlier this year, created a special collaboration with Gucci and Davies working around Pre-Fall, and now she is up for the LVMH Prize. "Every time I release a new collection is both an exciting and nerve-racking moment, because each collection is so personal to me," she says. Up next is her Spring 2022 collection and perhaps soon "lifestyle products and furniture," she adds. "I want to create a 'world' that people can step into."

For more information, please visit BiancaSaunders.com. See the full portfolio of the 2021 LVMH Prize finalists here. Read this story and many more in print by preordering our Fall 2021 issue here.