Ennis Finnerty Mackay is not a name you should put on your radar, it’s a name to remember, get in tune with, follow, adore, admire, and study. Because it won’t be long before this London-based emerging designer hits the mainstream. You might have seen his work before at the Kingston University fashion show, or when he first released this inaugural collection in August 2023, but now Mackay has given us an exclusive insight into one of his most personal moments: a photoshoot captured in his childhood home.
Shot by Joshua Tarn, the “impromptu” lookbook captures model Summer Raine in the latest from Ennis Finnerty Mackay. It’s unadulterated and kinky, yet simultaneously sophisticated and undoubtedly luxurious. It’s an impressive feat for a young designer to have such influenced nuances and a broad understanding, and this isn’t something that is necessarily teachable or learned — as Mackay shows, this comes down to born taste and talent.
Such is evident in his collection, which features an hourglass coat that becomes increasingly thick in Toscana sheepskin. A similar coat, now found in deep black leather, serves up the sex that oozes throughout Mackay’s work, while a concealed-closure blazer cut with square shoulders and worn with a matching pencil skirt delivers a totally different, yet still sexy, storyline.
These photo tell a story: it’s as if the model goes to court in her suit, and wins the divorce settlement. She celebrates in her capacious home, wearing nothing but that coat. All Toscana sheepskin coat, no knickers, as the saying (kinda) goes.
Speaking exclusively to Culted, Mackay said:
“The choices of where and how we wear clothes upon our bodies is a personal love letter to the objects we choose to be most intimate with. This notion fascinates me and has been the primary focus point throughout my work. Inspired by my Queer family and their unique interaction with clothing especially through kink, I distort the contact point between skin and cloth in order to create a deeper relationship. This has been expressed through creating composite materials via screen printing latex onto wool, twisting the balance of garments and exposing specific parts of the body. In partnership with Joshua Tarn, we spontaneously photographed the garments on Summer Raine. The shoot reflected a playful attitude allowing the garments to create characters separating them from an all too serious fashion Industry.”
Take a look at these Culted-exclusive images of Ennis Finnerty Mackay’s debut collection, and follow the up-and-coming designer on Instagram.
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