The concepts behind the FW24 season flow from one simple item; the balloon. But from the balloon flow countless more. There is a bittersweet, nostalgic charm to brightly-coloured party balloons – they evoke gatherings, childhood, youthful optimism, play, unguarded happiness. There is a hopefulness in the way we give them life with our mouths, watching as they expand and take on their optimal form, often gathered in large groups with string. Once blown up, the balloon may look stronger and stouter than ever and yet, in taking on life, it is rendered its most vulnerable, prone to a premature demise at the whims of any nearby pin. A slight graze can reduce it to a small pile of useless, moribund rubber. Or it can become unmoored, drifting up to the sky and into a short and perilous future. The party is over, but hope remains. All these themes coalesce in FW24. Hope is needed now more than ever but hope has to be tempered with truth to have any chance of realising itself. For FW24, we have commissioned 1500 balloons designed by artist Dominic Myatt, printed with different artworks.

Our own personal tussles with grief have helped us to strip back our understanding of spirituality so that, freed from its more complicated accoutrements, it becomes about nothing more than finding joy in the now. In "Not Forever, But For Now," Chuck Palahniuk, a favourite novelist at JORDANLUCA, writes: “Once the breakable things are broken, then everyone can relax.” This applies as much to the emotional as to the physical brokenness we accrue as a society – it is not nihilistic but in fact life-affirming to understand and accept our losses and the ways in which we sometimes suffer. Time, whether viewed as a harshly impassive, blankly uncaring force or something that gives as much as it takes away, is evident throughout the new collection. Time cannot be resisted - it winds itself around everything. And this idea took form in a dress made of 37 continuous metres of one fabric, wrapping itself around the wearer again and again. Time, emotions, the ephemeral nature of life… all are non-negotiable parts of the human experience, knowing no cultural, social or economic boundaries. Like love, they are all levelling forces, affecting society at large.

There is no sustainable way of opting out of them; this is reflected in our show venue, whose adjoining archways remind us that we have to move through life. Sometimes the balloons we hold will represent joy, sometimes grief. But hold them we must.