Juggling Life's Threads: A Father, Mechanic, Photographer, and Fashion Designer Reimagines London Identities

Photo credits to Adam Lin

“I see everything I do, my wholev activity, as one.” - Zachary Anderson

The Multi-faced man

Zachary Anderson isn't your typical fashion student. At 33, he juggles the demands of fatherhood (four kids!), a mechanic's job, a passion for street photography, and a newfound love for fashion design. This story delves into his journey, a tapestry woven from ambition, sacrifice, and the unwavering pursuit of self-discovery.

Born into a working-class London family, Zachary understands the city's grit firsthand. "I need to work so I can come to university," he explains, highlighting the years he spent balancing studies with fixing police cars, often leaving home at 8 AM and returning at 2 AM with a motorcycle. He started young, at 16, following his father's advice: "You have to do something that is going to earn money."

However, stability and money couldn't quell his growing creative urge. "After about three or four years of fixing cars, I just realized it wasn't for me," he confesses.

A spark ignited in the form of caps. Designing them became Zachary's escape, a creative outlet that brought him joy amidst the routine of his day job. Every time we see Zachary, he comes with a cap. This passion ultimately led him to the University of East London's fashion foundation, marking the beginning of his journey towards becoming a fashion designer.

At 25, he ignited a seven-year journey at Central Saint Martins while his two kids were only 2 and 4. He did a BA in Fashion for 5 years and is now doing an MA for 2 years. "I always thought university was not for me. I didn't even realize I would have the rest of the eight years of doing exactly the same thing," he says.

Happiness came at a cost. The more Zachary poured into his studies, the less time he had for his children. On a sunny Saturday morning, we met his family at Zachary's home. They live in a semi-detached house in Hampton, a suburb of London. When we arrived, his youngest son Isaac, who is 2 years old, stood next to the window and waved to us like he was waiting for Zachary's home as usual.

The living room is filled with kids' dolls, toy cars, and a baby chair, and the playroom, meant for their joy, is now a makeshift studio filled with sewing machines, mannequins, and scattered toys. His two other kids, Cameron and Leo, 11 and 9 years old, were sitting in the playroom and drawing, a passion inspired by their father's artistic pursuits. They showed us drawings of a dragon and the cartoon character Sonic.

Cameron, Zachary's oldest son, has begun exploring his design aspirations, drawing inspiration from his father. He started it by sewing a teddy bear at school and designing a sportswear collection named "Rossa" with his classmates. "I think that's quite cool because if dad's a designer, then I could try to be a designer as well," Cameron adds.

It's always fulfilling for a father to see himself making an influence on his kids. Zachary adds, "When you feel like your child has taken inspiration from something you're doing, it's an extraordinary moment."

Yet, the long hours take their toll. "He gets home really late because of work, so we usually only see him sometimes in the morning or after school," says Cameron, reflecting a sentiment echoed by his youngest, who misses his father dearly and often asks, "Where's daddy? I miss Daddy."

Guilt is Zachary's constant companion. "I just feel guilty because I feel like I'm going off to do something that I enjoy, whereas I am the thing that the kids enjoy. They like me being around. Isaac, especially, is only two, and it's tough leaving home. It's way easier to leave the house when no one's in", he says.

He faced the dilemma of prioritizing his studies over his role as a father. "Leaving your children drains your energy, then you must try to lift your energy when returning to school and be creative when your mood is low," he admits.

Weekends, his only time at home, are dedicated to family activities. The family of sportswear watches TV and plays football together in sweaters and sweatpants. However, some weekends were still sacrificed due to the heavy workload of his studies. While spending all day in the playroom sewing clothes, he separated himself from the kids with a safety gate.

Laura, Zachary's partner, adds, "Isaac wants to be with him when he is home; he cries every time the gate is put up as he is blocked from going to find his father." Sometimes, the family would go to fabric stores or charity shops together as Zachary needed to find a source for his work. Laura explains, "We incorporate our day into that to spend time together. And he still gets his work done. Otherwise, we won't ever see him because he's not here during the week. The kids are used to it."

Laura carries the weight of running the household. When I talked to her in the living room, the conversation was constantly interrupted as she left to take care of Isaac: prepare a meal, play with him, and put him to bed.

When they had their second child, Zachary decided to go to university. Laura knew it was going to be tough. "I didn't feel it was the right time to do it. He doesn't really have the time to help out with anything." It's not only about the parenting stress. She adds, "We've got three kids; he can't quit his job. Even with him working full time and me working, we still have no money left at the end of the month."

Despite the initial reservations, she ultimately supported his dream, understanding the spark of joy it brought to him. "When Zach gets something in his head that he wants to do, there's not much going in any other direction. When I've seen how happy it's made him and I actually support what he's doing now", she explains.

The most challenging time is nearly coming to an end, or not. Laura says, "I'm just hoping it will be worth it."

In the meantime, Zachary was busy introducing his films and cameras to Cameron. His obsession with photography is never less than his passion for fashion. There was an interesting conversation between Laura and Zachary on photography. "He loves taking films, but he never takes pictures of his own kids; he just shoots other people," Laura complained. Zachary replied, "I don't like staged photos. I prefer more natural photos." Laura added, "That's why we never have photos to be hung on the wall."

And, unsurprisingly, he offered rolls of films for the shadowing shooting.

The makedos in London

Zachary's role-changing journey is not only about bitterness and hardship but also about bringing Zachary's inspiration to his MA collection, London's Identities.

Street photography, his first love, serves as the foundation, capturing the essence of the city's diverse inhabitants. He then uses clothing as a canvas to challenge societal stereotypes and celebrate the ingenuity of workingclass individuals who "make do" with what they have. "I've lived here in London my whole life. I grew up with nothing and understand how difficult it is to be a working-class person," he adds.

He once showed us the references to his collection. Most are photos he took from the street. "Street photography was my first point of research looking at people. It's about catching the feeling of people in London", he explains. Pointing to the photo of a man in a suit carrying a briefcase, he says, "This guy doesn't look like he shops at Asda. He looks like he shops at Marks and Spencer or Waitrose. He looks like a CEO of a big company."

His collection is strongly centric on his vision of what London is. "To me, London is the melting pot of opportunity. But to realize the opportunity, you have to break down all of these walls and take your eyes away from natural assumptions", he says.

What are the walls, though? "Class stereotypes, gender stereotypes, and social stereotypes," he says. This idea comes from what he's been taught since he was little: people from the lower end of the social scale are always stuck in a cycle of being told they aren't worth a dream. "You're often told that you can't do this. I have so many friends who would never dream of doing what they dream of doing because they just think it's a dream."

"There's always a revolution at the bottom. However, the people doing what I'm doing are so small, it's like 0.0001 of the working class population", he adds.

His designs are a fusion of high-end tailoring and sportswear, blending practicality with a touch of rebellion. He chopped the suit and added sportswear accents: reflective straps, caps, sports socks, and sneakers.

His collection features a striking combination of unexpected pairings: a brown down jacket adorned with a single yellow strap, a short-sleeved blazer juxtaposed with bright orange Reebok sneakers, a navy zip-up jacket accented with double red lines worn with mixed-fabric parachute pants, a blue and orange reflective jacket layered over a sleeveless checkered shirt, and a black striped suit with the pants secured by bold yellow and white straps.

The double lines running through many pieces mirror London's bustling streets, a constant reminder of the city that shaped him.

"The whole point is to show the make-do, the limitations that you have in life can produce the most beautiful things," Zachary concludes.

Being slow in fast fashion

"I'm a slow person." It's the first thing Zachary told us about himself at our meeting.

We first met Zachary a week before the fitting of the MA Fashion Show. He walked out of the fashion studio with oblivious tiredness and talked about how he was dealing with his pattern cutters and that the six outfits, as required, still needed to be finished. There's not much worry on his face, "I'm gonna finish all of them by the fitting day. I will finish them," he determines.

But things didn't go well as expected. Zachary was unable to complete all six required outfits for the final MA show fitting; some were unfinished and left raw. On the fitting day, he gently and carefully adjusted the models' looks with pins and matched each look with a pair of Reebok sneakers. His meticulous nature clashed with the fast-paced environment, making him 15 minutes late for the fitting. At the time of the fitting, he was questioned a lot on the outfit's finishing and execution progress by the panel: Is the look supposed to be like that? Why isn't it done?

After an overwhelming and stifling discussion of 15 minutes, Fabio, the course director of MA Fashion, asked him: "You want to put things together and get into a show, or you want to actually go at your own pace?" He does not explicitly say what he had answered to Fabio, "I think straight away my brain goes to what's the right thing to say, for me to be in the show. But I stuck with what I wanted to do. I wanted to produce my best at that stage, so I stayed true to myself."

Hard work just doesn't pay off sometimes. The unfinished line-up led to Zachary's exclusion from the show. Despite the disappointment, Zachary remains steadfast in his resolve. "It sucked a bit. Obviously, it (the show) is something that you want to be involved in. I knew they liked the clothes, So it was more of a matter of feeling whether I was prepared," he says calmly.

The struggle of being slow always happens during his eight years in university. Unlike other students who don't have kids, Zachary could never 100% focus on the study because of work and family. Weekends are basically the only time he gets to spend with his children, whereas tutors from the course expect him to work over the weekends and holidays.

"But I have to spend time with kids. I'm just making up for the time I've lost with them", he says. And the trade-offs are incomplete or scrambled works that don't look nice. "It's kind of embarrassing", he adds.

However, he seldom explains his situation to the tutors. "I wouldn't want that to affect how they treat me. I want to be treated the same as every other student", he explains.

Zachary has prepared to struggle since he decided to attend university, as did the day he had the fitting for the MA fashion show. After he wasn't selected for the show, he emailed Fabio and said, "I really wanted to reiterate that the collection is as truthful as possible. This is as real as not trying to do anything I'm not."

Keep marching to the Beat of His Own Drum

Zachary doesn't create loud, avant-garde pieces; he crafts "normal" clothes. But don't mistake this for a lack of ambition. "It's the craziest idea," he declares, "because it takes a huge amount of bravery to do something normal."

This self-proclaimed "non-fashion person" acknowledges his lack of conventional fashion expertise. While his classmates religiously devour fashion shows, Zachary confesses, "I didn't even watch the MA show of CSM before." His focus? The human element. "I like seeing people happy," he affirms, "If I can produce work that makes people happy, that's brilliant."

And after 8 years of navigating the fashion landscape, he's finally found his niche. His ultimate vision? A fashion brand with a heart, one that empowers the marginalized: the homeless, single mothers, the unemployed. "They're kind of forgotten," he says with quiet determination, "It's just about lifting people because there's so many people who are stuck down."

But can his deliberate pace withstand the whirlwind of fast fashion? "Fashion is changing massively," he acknowledges, recalling his first encounter with Fabio, "I have always stuck to my own pace which really bothered some people." Yet, he remains unfazed, "Why stress yourself in a way, trying to create something that just isn't there?" Fashion Week deadlines hold little allure for him – his focus remains on the right timing, on following his own rhythm.

What truly matters, he emphasizes, is that people understand his message. "We are in a time where fashion is interested in changing, at least there is a conversation," he observes. "But even though we're talking about these important matters and issues, the people in power seem to remain the same."

Leaving the academic world in a few months, Zachary is poised to face the challenges of the real world. But this unconventional man with a backbone of resilience shows no trepidation. He says, “ I've just been marching and I've got this far. I know it’s gonna keep going because I'm doing what I love.”