London
CNN
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Even if you’re unfamiliar with designer Martine Rose by name, chances are you’ve seen her clothes at some of the most memorable pop culture moments of the year. From the varsity leather jacket worn by Kendrick Lamar for his viral Super Bowl halftime performance, to the navy suit donned by Timothée Chalamet in one of his most unusual red carpet appearances (the actor arrived at the London premiere of “A Complete Unknown” via e-bike), Rose’s clothes have been center stage in 2025.
Her rapid rise has taken her across the globe, but on Saturday night the British-Jamaican designer made a triumphant return to her hometown London with an off-kilter Spring-Summer 2026 collection. When it comes to show venues, Rose — who has attracted a loyal following for her street-inspired menswear — doesn’t opt for your typical picture-postcard depictions of the British capital.
This time, the setting was a 1950s-era former job center in central London, a government-run office that in the past would have been used by the unemployed to find work. The same job center where English punk band, The Clash, famously met in the 1970s.
Rose’s brand shared the space with independent designers, veteran market traders and “all kinds of people that contribute to the fabric of London cultural life in loads of different ways,” she told CNN in a video call from her north London studio ahead of the show.
Among the 22 stalls were safety-pinned creations from designer Jawara Alleyne (Rihanna is a fan), bleached and graphic casualwear by Chalamet’s cap designer of choice 4FSB, and bomber jackets and T-shirts printed with photography by Jamie Morgan of the ’80s London style movement “Buffalo”, as well as indie publications, limited-edition collages and vintage furnishings.
For the 44-year-old designer, it served as a love letter to the melting pot of cultures and adversity-born creativity that London is known for. “I hope people experience this feeling that I always strive to portray, this positive energy, this boost of possibilities,” she added.
From members clubs to climbing walls, cul-de-sacs to community centers, Rose chooses everyday backdrops in which her off-kilter characters can come to life. For Saturday’s show — which ran despite the June edition of London Fashion Week being cancelled by the British Fashion Council — Rose presented looks that twisted, stretched, distorted and shrunken outerwear staples including puffa jackets, trench coats.
There were unusual style pairings, such as big-shoulder tailoring with cinched waists combined with lace-trimmed boxer shorts, knee-high football socks, and square-toed loafers. In another look, a suit jacket was worn over frayed denim shorts, football socks and the latest edition of her Nike footwear collaboration, a hybrid sneaker-mule. For some, the seemingly mismatched pieces might appear jarring, but the collection encapsulated the creative community that Rose is inspired by.
Among the show’s attendees were local fashion designers Craig Green and Simone Rocha, American rapper A$AP Nast and British DJ Benji B.
“London is my home,” explained Rose. “I love it and feel that there’s so many stories to tell, from its past and present, and the people within it.”
From shirts to the Super Bowl
Since Rose established her eponymous label in London in 2007, it has evolved from a shirt-only capsule collection to an internationally renowned, fully fledged brand, admired by both industry insiders and celebrities. Alongside Lamar and Chalamet, the likes of Drake, Rihanna, Gigi Hadid, Nick Jonas, Hailey Bieber and Dua Lipa are all A-list repeat wearers of her pieces. But it’s Lamar — the Pulitzer Prize-winning, most awarded artist in BET Hip Hop Awards history — with whom she has the closest, and most creative, of bonds. “Like all good relationships, it started slowly before we realized the energy between us, this creative synergy that means it just works,” Rose explained.
Shortly after wearing custom Martine Rose pieces, including her signature Oklahoma leather jacket, during the UK leg of his “Big Steppers” tour in 2022, Lamar took to Instagram to declare that it was on his “bucketlist to work with Martine Rose, she room shy but gangsta,” in a since-deleted post (the musician regularly clears his Instagram feed). He subsequently collected three Grammys for his studio album “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers,” dressed head-to-toe in Martine Rose, including shoes from her Nike Shox MR4 collaboration.
As admiration turned into collaboration, Rose worked on the outfits for Lamar’s performance at the Camp Flog Gnaw festival in 2023 — along with its highly sought after limited-run merchandise, which included a twisted football-inspired shirt, a top featuring Lamar’s handwritten lyrics, and even a long-sleeved top with the words “Martine Sardine,” a nod to the rapper’s Martine Rose namecheck rhyme in his collaborative hit with Baby Keem, “The Hillbillies.” But this year’s Super Bowl collaboration, which saw Lamar wear a custom leather Martine Rose varsity jacket that spelled out “Gloria” across its front before, more than 133 million viewers, took their relationship to new heights.
“When he approached us to work on the Super Bowl, I totally underestimated it,” Rose confessed, before breaking into a self-deprecating laugh. “But for me, it’s rarely about the final destination but the journey,” she added. Rose worked closely with Lamar to realize his vision. “I just love the fact that he (Lamar) gets it,” she explained excitedly. “Approaching an unbelievably important entertainment stage, to not only go out and put on a show for the people, but to use it as an opportunity to do something more impactful, to subvert it into something with a real message was so powerful — it’s a huge privilege to have been a part of it,” she added.
“It meant people that would ordinarily never look at us did, and it makes me smile to think of the people that saw Kendrick Lamar in our jacket (and) went onto our website to be met with models in prosthetic noses (a quirky feature of the brand’s Spring-Summer 2025 show), leaving them totally confused.” It’s clear Rose delights in challenging societal standards and expectations.
It’s also precisely why she loved Chalamet’s electric Lime bike red carpet moment back in January. Yes, it helped that the actor was wearing a custom Martine Rose suit (as he has done for numerous media junket appearances), but she “loved the sense of humor of this particular moment, a playfulness that dissolved what can so easily be so scripted.” For Rose, it’s a pleasure to dress anyone, but “it’s even nicer to dress people that bring something else, a sense of character and personality,” she said.
An anomaly in fashion
This sense of authenticity is at the heart of a brand Rose has built over two decades. Back in 2015, when she was working in bars and squatting in abandoned properties to support her brand, a surprise invitation came from Balenciaga to consult on its menswear collection — which Rose did for three years, until 2018. Working closely alongside the brand’s then-creative director Demna (who only goes by his first name), Rose introduced elevated versions of her signature styles to the French luxury house, such as cropped bomber jackets, oversized shoulders, drab tracksuits and suit jackets. Major collaborations with the likes of Nike, Clark’s and Supreme soon followed.
Working as a female fashion designer in an industry largely led by men, Rose is a rarity. Doing so while taking inspiration from her Jamaican-British heritage, rarer still. With the proportion of female creative directors in luxury fashion falling and under-representation of people of color in both creative and leadership positions, her creative resilience hasn’t gone unnoticed. Speculation was rife that Rose might become the new men’s designer of Louis Vuitton and later, Balenciaga (roles that ultimately went to Pharrell Williams and Pierpaolo Piccioli, respectively).
It’s gossip that Rose purposefully distances herself from. “I’m not on social media, so I miss a lot of the noise intentionally,” she confessed. “Occasionally, someone might corner me when I’m out and ask me about a position and, of course, it’s deeply flattering to have your name mentioned.”
For some designers, the dream is to work for a big luxury company while running their own label (see Jonathan Anderson designing for JW Anderson and Loewe, and most recently Dior). But Rose feels differently. “I’ve never been one to follow a script and I have enjoyed — and continue to enjoy — the freedom of forging my own path, which is harder to do when you’re part of a bigger machine,” she explained.
The moments when Rose feels unsure or questions herself, are also the moments when she knows she’s “in the right zone.” “I never want to remain in a safe space where I’m just pushing out greatest hits collections with pieces I know work. I want to design garments that make me feel something at least.”
Similarly, she wants the public to come away from her shows having felt something, “whether that’s hate or love, pull or repulsion,” she said. “Ultimately, you either get it or you don’t — and it’s ok if you don’t because we’re not for everyone.”