ABOUT/ABUT

Owen Edward Snaith started his eponymous label in 2022 in London. Snaith's work started off as an expression of his experience growing up queer in a small rural fishing community on the East Coast of Scotland. A poetic queer thread weaves throughout the work, which is grounded in craftsmanship, collaboration, and community. These threads informed Snaith’s research and making processes, throughout which he referred back to archival objects, imagery and poetry which was then collaged together in a manner akin to a family album to inform draping, cut, silhouette and embellishments. The work has since then evolved and shape-shifted into a wider exploration of identity and the environment Snaith now finds himself navigating.

Collections are designed with a menswear sensibility but retain a sense of fluidity in their construction. These intentional design features are intended to guarantee that garments can adapt to the shape or gender of the vessel wearing them. Traditional menswear elements seen across Snaith’s work contrast with flamboyant colours and obscure cutting heavily influenced by the androgynous uniforms of 1980s club culture. There is a strong emphasis throughout the brand of experimental surface design, including through print, appliqué and traditional textile techniques to create and convey a combination of tales and histories.

No matter how much Snaith's work evolves, at the core is a love for Scotland and the ancient skills that are so intrinsic to Scottishness. The opportunity to work with and build a community of craftspeople whose unique skill sets are nearing extinction is a highlight of Snaith's process. These collaborations have seen and continue to see him work with kiltmakers, jewellery designers, handknitters and weavers. Such collaborations notably led to the birth of Snaith’s own tartan named ‘Incentive’. Now fully registered on the Scottish tartan register, the cloth is dedicated to all the fisherfolk & queer youth of the Scottish east coast.

Owen Edward Snaith has featured in a number of notable publications such as Bricks, The Greatest, The Guardian, Elle Italia, WWD, The New York Times, Vogue, ShowStudio and The Scotsman. Snaith was also featured in the blockbuster V&A Dundee Tartan exhibition which seen him continue to work with V&A Dundee in the form of a commission with drag icon Cheddar Gorgeous, museum ‘takeover’ with illustrator Katie Braid and a panel discussion discussing queerness in relation to cloth at the exhibition’s closing symposium. The featured look has since been bought by the Westminster Menswear Archive.

Further recent successes include the launch of Snaith's second collection “The Eye in the Cave”, from which a key piece appeared on the singer Anne Marie’s album cover, and his first RTW collection “Night at The Glebe”. These collections were featured in publications including Vogue Scandinavia, British Vogue and 10 Magazine. 10 Men Magazine additionally published an edition in their “10 Meets” series on the namesake brand.