As Harry Styles invests in SS Daily, the designer reflects on the transformative impact of his famous fan’s support.
The applause continued at Steven Stockie-Daley’s Autumn/Winter 2024 show in Florence tonight as news broke that Harry Styles had invested in a “minority stake” in the designer’s quirky British SS Daley brand. It’s a kind of natural — though unusual — story of mutual admiration that grew between a generation’s heartthrob popstar and a young fashion designer.
“It’s very organic,” Stockie-Daley said. “One of the really nice things is that Harry contacted me and made it clear that he was a fan of what we were doing. And of course, I’m a big fan of it.” Stockie-Daly is 27 to Stiles’ 29; It’s fun and eye-popping to champion a new cozily-cool, trad-modern stamp on British dressing.
Their relationship dates back to 2020, when Stockie-Daly just graduated from the University of Westminster amid the first pandemic lockdown. Things could have gone terribly wrong for him at the time – despite the ecstatic reception he received from some who saw the fulfillment of his strange twist on British aristocratic school and sporting codes. He returned home to Liverpool and began posting his collection on Instagram – within weeks, his radical super-wide pleated oxford bags were receiving orders from youngsters from the US to South Korea, all under lockdown.
