Last month, King Charles III was crowned at Westminster Abbey, marking Britain’s first new monarch in 70 years. Across the continent, in Milan, another Charles—Scottish designer Charles Jeffrey—was inspired by this shift in Britain’s dynastic succession. Loverboy’s Spring/Summer 2024 show asked how the aesthetics of empire could be repurposed to represent a queer, multicultural country. By synthesizing the hallmarks of British fashion history with colorful, cutting-edge designs, Jeffrey brought the UK into the future.

Utilizing AI’s image generation capabilities, Loverboy created a hypnotic floral print, smattering it across the collection. It stood out against the bleached white of the runway, appearing on sundresses and shoulder plates alike. Simultaneously bucolic and unfamiliar, the print was a fragment of nature, mutated by Jeffrey’s futurity.

In designing for the future, Loverboy also sought to subvert the past. The show satirized symbols of the British aristocracy: A menagerie of cartoon characters sat atop tricorn hats, monocles were painted onto skin, and models wore suits of armor constructed out of vintage Wedgwood jasperware. The result was something irreverent and playful: costumes for a party at the end of the Old World.

In effect, Jeffrey liberated the theatricality of the coronation from the confines of the monarchy. Under Loverboy’s reign, anyone could embody the pomp and power of the royals.