Gundog Studios

Canadian-born, London-based designer Hunter McFarlane is limitless. Their independent label, Gundog Studios, stands as a testament to the many facets of McFarlane’s practice, with a first collection that shone front and centre at its inaugural showing during the SS22 season of London Fashion Week. A show-stopping round up of pieces, developed during the pandemic, that sought to highlight the risk and physicality required of firefighters around the globe, McFarlane’s fire-repellent pieces were perhaps a hint to the designer’s eventual move towards material science engineering.

Despite this very clear expression of identity, what followed for Gundog Studios was a move toward a more commercially-minded practice, one that left the designer in a state of disconnect, questioning the direction of their projects and the longevity of their work. As such, McFarlane’s return to their original references - ranging from the queer to the deeply Western influences that shape their life - stand as a marker of the designer’s internal questioning. And so begs the question: who is Hunter now?

Enter their latest collection, A Sunday Afternoon Drive. A designer in every sense, Gundog Studios looks toward the future with a craft that spans material science engineering, fashion and design, and this collection encapsulates every facet of that perspective. With a ground-up approach to construction, McFarlane masterfully bridges the gap between garment construction and material engineering, resulting in hand-crafted textiles expertly manipulated into a series of intentional looks (see, the charmingly quilted Pampas jacket for which Hunter created the inner material).

Ultimately, this collection is a marked return to McFarlane’s roots as well as a springboard toward a more enginerial practice. Shot on what are now the ruins of the church in which the designer was christened (a church which, fittingly, has since burned down), this is a reclaiming of everything that constitutes Hunter’s person; a close to home, London-meets-Western, non-gendered move away from commerciality.