Nov 245 min read

Nominal London: On the Catwalk

Daria Slikker and Emma Todbjerg delve into the creative vision behind Nominal London's striking debut at London Fashion Week Spring-Summer 2025 with it's founders, Krisztina Kalman and Sean Solomon.

Encompassing a mosaic of values and styles, Nominal London emerges as a contending defining force on the contemporary fashion scene. This past London Fashion Week saw their debut to the catwalk. A collection was presented that was an expertly curated ode to the creativity of streetwear. Their signature striking colour palette of deep reds, black, and silver provided the backdrop to a truly stunning inaugural show. Each look successfully cemented the brand’s emerging identity as an expressive blend of streetwear with bold Haute Couture traditions.

Following this daring debut, STRAND caught up with founders, Krisztina Kalman and Sean Solomon, to discuss the show…

STRAND: Black, red, and shimmer are striking, iconic choices. How did you land on this palette, and what emotions or narratives are you hoping to evoke with these colours?

Sean: It all starts with red and is the brand’s colour. Considering the alchemy and considering the chemical reaction that has formed from our relationship, we find it best represents us. It embodies aggression, love, pain – all of the most intense emotions. As we’ve been creating, I’ve tried to see as many different and subtle ways I can always stick a red in there somewhere. That’s why we have all black jeans with red stitching as a little accent. Historically, black has always been a core colour simply because, as new designers, it’s the easiest colour to work with, without disrespecting the idea or creation. Once you then start chucking in other colours, colour matching and pattern matching, it’s a whole different skill. At the very least we start off with the blacks and then think of how we can play with the silhouette. Now we’ve been adding silver and shimmer which is the cherry on top.

Krisztina: In the Spring / Summer line for next year, we plan on having more whites instead of silver but again keeping black and red as a staple. Designers like Rick Owens do amazing garments out of black only so it isn’t necessarily a restriction for us.

STRAND: What is your design philosophy and how do you try to frame it through the pieces in this collection?

Krisztina: In this Autumn / Winter collection, we did a lot of upcycling and draping. We used the garments we already had adding to the sustainable and creative aspect of our brand.

Sean: Part of the embodiment of our community and self-expression led me to bring in a close friend of mine who is a stylist and art director. I was having some issues a few weeks prior to the show with what angle we were going to take with some of the creative side of things but this friend showed me some of the editorial shoots she had been doing and frankly, they all impressed me. She helped us become a bit more creative in how we styled some of the pieces. We created the theme of disco noir and wanted to give the impression of high class clothing that you can wear for a party or evening event, but still in a creative, edgy and personable manner.

STRAND: What does "luxury" mean in the context of this collection, and how do you hope people feel when they wear your pieces?

Krisztina: It’s a good question because what is luxury? Is it price? I don’t think it's the price. I think luxury is a combination of authenticity and quality. We bring in high quality materials which makes the look stand out in an elegant way which underpins the personality. I was wearing one of the garments at the UK Glamour Awards and felt completely different to everyone else. They were all showing more skin whereas I was almost like a nun in my all red outfit.

STRAND: Were there specific fabrics or techniques you favoured to bring a vision of both striking and wearable pieces to life?

Sean: One of the most innovative fabrics we like to play with is 3D latex. I’m excited to show those pieces next year as I’ll be exploring a lot more with silhouettes and styles. I find that latex not only embodies luxury but creativity in terms of how you style it, layer it and what you pair it with. I’d also been keen to play with the combination of 3D latex and silk. I actually came across a study the other day that highlighted how some fabrics work with your vibrational energy. So if you’re wearing these plastics, nylons and polyesters, those may not be good for your core vibrational energy.

Krisztina: Not only are clothes about how they look, but it’s about how they feel on the exposed skin. We work with high quality leather, mohair, wool and our jumpers are made of cashmerino. In our Spring / Summer collection, we mixed linen and cotton, as well as viscose. We very specifically do not like working with polyester, not just because of the plastic industry it fuels, but because it doesn’t feel right on the skin.

STRAND: What elements did you consider essential to amplify your collection's impact on the runway? Were there specific lighting, music, venue, or staging choices that helped bring your vision to life for the audience?

Sean: I did first and foremost have many fights with Krisztina. She was trying to make me think efficiently whereas I thought we needed more light. When we have those disagreements, we ask ourselves if this is going to achieve what we want it to. I have a reasonable amount of experience in the industry since I used to manage artists and since the creation of the brand we’ve learned invaluable experiences but we’re still not experts. We build 30-50% and then wing it the rest of the way. Our life and blood, our day-to-day is fashion but what I’m starting to learn is that even if we have a week to put a collection together, we will figure it out. It’s not a comfortable space to be in and we don’t enjoy being in it but we’ve had enough trials to know that when it comes to putting looks together, we can always make something dope.

Krisztina: This is the funny thing, because I’m coming from a more corporate job, but in the creative industry you have to be prepared for the unpreparable. The plan is 50% and you have to prepare for that other half because things will go wrong. Someone will not show up, people will be late, so you have to be in the position to come up with things on the go rather than having an exact plan. You won’t believe how much we were tumbling behind the scenes for this show but at the end, we know what is important. For us, the choreography, the energy of the show, the impact we make and that the models feeling confident is all that matters. It’s what people will take home and lead to them coming back to take a closer look at the garments. During London Fashion Week, we had a street show which was for people to participate in, to walk next to a model and feel what it’s like to be one. Participation in our brand is what adds to our sense of community at Nominal rather than the crowd simply feeling like a guest.