Brutus has released a doco style film to celebrate the new FW14 drop, taking us behind the scenes with Barry Kamen as he works to reignite the roots of the brand. Kamen, the fashion designer, artist, model and tastemaker synonymous with the 1980s Buffalo movement, here works with legendary London lenser Jamie Morgan to put an inimitable take on Brutus’ main collection.

Accented by archival hats, sunglasses and jewellery from Kamen’s own collection, the styling borrows from Brutus’ roots, ska and reggae origins, the East End brand having been embraced heavily by the rudeboy and suedehead movements in the 1970s following its earlier popularity amongst mods and skinheads of the late 60s (Brutus was founded by Keith and Alan Freedman in 1966 and is today undergoing a revival under the direction of Keith’s son, Jonathan).

Kamen is the obvious pick for the visual direction: the artist, stylist and model is the brother of Nick Kamen, who Buffalo fashion legend Ray Petri shot for seminal British music and fashion magazine The Face in 1984. (Though it was that Levi’s campaign a year later that brought him to notoriety, the Essex singer/songwriter/model stripping down to boxers in a launderette in order to wash his jeans).

Kamen himself worked closely with Ray Petri and Jamie Morgan – Petri, Morgan plus Mark Lebon were responsible for Buffalo in the 80s that would go on to play a key role in catalysing the street style-high fashion mix so synonymous with fashion today. Kamen himself was key in realising Buffalo the book, published in 2000.

Filmmaker Stephen Monaghan worked with videographer Santiago Arbelaez on the film and was inspired by the ‘day in the life of’ style carried by Japanese magazines of the late 90s and early 2000s a la Mens Non No, Popeye and Free & Easy. “The idea behind the film was to highlight not just the protagonists in front of the lens but to seek to put a visual onus on the creative direction with a ‘behind the seams’ philosophy,” Monaghan says.

“Having lived through the times of the original skins and rudeboys Barry was ‘the only’ choice to take the aesthetic further and produce a credible bank of content through his styling and direction, hence the decision to follow a visionary was a simple one.” Amen.