Photos: National Youth Theatre Partners with Designer S.S. Daley for Fashion Week Debut

Last Sunday National Youth Theatre of Great Britain collaborated with talented young fashion designer and recent NYT alumnus Steven Stokey-Daley on his S.S. Daley's London Fashion Week debut, as part of the British Fashion Council's NewGen showcase, in partnership with TikTok at the Old Selfridges Hotel.

S.S. Daley presented his first solo catwalk collection, created while working closely with members of the National Youth Theatre. In a series of workshops, the young actors discussed their own experiences of school, both private and state. Daley used their stories to explore British public school culture, how the intimate bonds of private education dictate structures of power and class.

Stokey-Daley is a National Youth Theatre alumnus and a working-class sustainability conscious fashion designer from Liverpool. His clothes have notably been worn by Harry Styles, in his music video for 'Golden', NYT Patron Ian McKellen, Lil Nas X and The Crown's Josh O'Connor at this year's BAFTAs.

S.S. Daley said: "I joined the National Youth Theatre when I left high school in 2014. It was the first time I met likeminded people, my lifeline to culture that opened up the possibilities of what I could do. It is the biggest honour to now work with current members of the National Youth Theatre, whose input has been at the heart of my first solo catwalk collection," says Steven Stokey Daley.

Paul Roseby OBE, CEO and Artistic Director of National Youth Theatre said, "Using theatre to animate a new fashion collective is a thrilling way of engaging our talented young cohort. Fashion and theatre are both about telling great stories with creativity, wit and invention and after the last year we need to do it more, in schools, in theatres and on the catwalk - why not! At National Youth Theatre we're all about giving young people a voice, so it was important to me that this was an opinion piece, platforming our young talent's words and lived experience at the heart of the piece. Together in rehearsals with this brilliant and articulate cast we've explored a host of topics from memories of school and class rituals to masculinity and teenage crushes. The show gives a voice to young people who've been hit hardest by the pandemic and celebrates their talent and Steven's exquisite style."

The 10-strong National Youth Theatre cast features some of Britain's best young talent from around the UK and is made up of William Atiomo, Tomás Azocar-Nevin, Alexander Da Fonseca, Billy Hinchliffe, Jez Davess-Humphrey, William Gao, Felix Kai, Gael Mfula, Nay Murphy and Liam Whiting.