Few Black designers in the West bear the weight and good fortune of continuing their family’s legacy in the business. Charlie Casely-Hayford is one of them. He follows in his father’s footsteps, the late Joe Casely-Hayford, a London tailor whose approach was steeped in heritage and modernity.
Joe’s designs had the precision of Savile Row haberdashery and the creativity that has been thriving in London for decades. Having passed away in 2019, his son accepted the British Fashion Council’s posthumous Special Recognition Award on his behalf in 2023, which honored Joe’s cultural contributions to the menswear industry. Charlie, 38, is the creative director of the Casely-Hayford tailor he and his father established in 2019.
(Prior to his involvement, he was a student at the Courtauld Institute of Art studying art history.) He’s dressed the John Legends, David Beckhams, and Benedict Cumberbatches of the world, he’s even gotten the attention of Drake as well. The brand’s runway shows, between the fall seasons of 2014 and 2017, were bold.
They were filled with eye-catching color combinations, abstract prints on coats, and clear historical references. “But over time, we’ve become more restrained,” Casely-Hayford explains over a Zoom call. Indeed, neutral-toned ready-to-wear predominates the label’s offerings, which include handmade and made-to-measure tailoring.
But which years of the brand’s history will Charlie draw from in his contribution to the Metropolit.
