Somerset House to present first exhibition on Charles Jeffrey

Glaswegian-born designer, illustrator, and stylist Charles Jeffrey will be the focus of a new exhibition at Somerset House to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his fashion house Loverboy.

‘The Lore of Loverboy’ will run from June 8 to September 1 and will examine Jeffrey’s impact on the global fashion scene, from club to catwalk, and will include “the full spectrum of his prolific output,” as well as newly commissioned works.

Charles Jeffrey Loverboy has been lauded for ripping up the fashion rule book, combining art, design, and music, and merging traditional tailoring with a punk ethos, and that collaborative spirit nurtured during Jeffrey’s time at art school and his gender-inclusive brand’s narrative will be at the heart of the exhibition.

Commenting on the honour, Jeffrey said in a statement: “I’m so excited to have this moment to share my journey in fashion at Somerset House. It's not just about celebrating 10 years of Loverboy; it's about sharing our approach to fashion; being creative, approachable, and not taking ourselves too seriously.

“We're here to shine a light on what we've built and to show that if we can do it, so can you. Visitors can expect to see our journey, our quirks, and have a good laugh along the way. It's about making fashion accessible and fun, reminding everyone that at the end of the day, it's about expressing who you are.”

Charles Jeffery to celebrate 10 years of Loverboy with exhibition

The ‘The Lore of Loverboy’ exhibition will be displayed across three rooms within Somerset House and will feature artistic collaborations, films, illustrations, paintings, memorabilia, and never-before-seen material. It will also provide space to celebrate a new generation of young London creatives.

Each room will have its own “distinctive vision,” explains organisers, and visitors will be led through a series of “sensorially led spaces rendered in Loverboy’s signature playful style,” as it looks to provide an accessible and engaging insight into creative production and the fashion industry. This will include an immersive multimedia installation, assembled from the Loverboy archive, alongside showing the designer’s creative process and inspirations.

The first room will introduce his artistic inspirations, followed by a closer look into the development of his craft and codes, culminating in the final room featuring the brand’s most iconic and extravagant designs.

Jeffery is one of Somerset House Studios’ original resident artists and his studio is still based within Somerset House’s community of cultural innovators. He graduated from London’s Central Saint Martins in 2015 and founded his own fashion label Charles Jeffrey Loverboy shortly after, named after the cult club night he had hosted weekly in East London to fund his studies and an internship in the haute couture ateliers of Christian Dior in Paris.

Tickets for the exhibition will operate a ‘pay what you can’ scheme to ensure accessibility.

‘The Lore of Loverboy’ will open on June 8 at Somerset House.