London-born Bianca Saunders studied fashion at Kingston University and the Royal College of Arts before launching her eponymous brand after graduating in 2017. Blending her West Indian roots with her daily life in London, she crafts hybrid collections for men, specifically the men she has encountered throughout her life in her neighborhood or family. Right away, she became interested in how Black men form their identity while facing stigma and discrimination, even within their communities. Like many young designers, she also aims to deconstruct masculine stereotypes in order to question the fundamental assumptions of our patriarchal society. Men’s clothing is becoming much more open and now freely borrows several items once reserved only for women. Never gimmicky, the subtle fashion of Bianca Saunders remixes conventions. Her Fall/Winter 2019 collection “Unravelling” presented men in their most intimate setting: their rooms. Between dreams and solitude, masculine figures appear vulnerable and pared down, wearing wrinkled and crumpled cotton shirts, tucked into baggy pants in glossy leather. Solid pieces in white, brown and black appear as supple and comfortable as a second skin. To recreate the relaxing feeling of cutting loose in your own room, the designer paired her carefully crinkled pieces into surprising and chaotic ensembles, as though the men had donned the first things they happened to grab from a pile of dirty laundry. In just three collections, Saunders has emerged as a talent to watch through her style and interests rooted firmly in the present.

Photographer: Josie Hall