Horse Boy 

Leo Prothmann used to be a horse boy; growing up, his parents had horses and ponies, and when they’d be clipped for the winter, the skin underneath would be oily to the touch. “I went to my leather lady and said, Can we make this oily?” Prothmann says, “And she said, You’re such a weirdo.” The liveness of the leather is at the centre of Prothmann’s work: items that are designed to be worn again and again, keeping the leather supple. 

Prothmann grew up in Spain – a photo of weathered barn doors is affixed to his moodboard – and moved to Berlin aged 16, where he encountered the fetish and club scenes that inform much of his designs. The “Cage” is a key design of his – an accordion-like structure that can be worn as a top or headgear. It is both spectacle and armour: it demands attention while producing anonymity.

Leo Prothmann’s leather creations had him spotted from the outset by Rick Owens, who got in touch with him after his graduate show. His studio is in Whitechapel, deep in the heart of London’s leather industry, and Prothmann sources his leather from a shop down the road. It is all a byproduct of the meat industry in Italy, and treated with organic material so as not to poison the environment. The leather that is sourced from further afield has equally good environmental qualifications; like fish skins that come from a tannery in Florida, which produces leather from silverfin, an invasive species.

The collection is inspired by Gaia, the figure from Greek mythology that personifies Earth and all its natural processes – she lent her name to Gaia Theory, the idea proposed by early computer scientist James Lovelock, that the world is constructed of a series of interlocking ecosystems that should be understood as a dynamic whole. For the collection, this means placing the emphasis on sustainability as well as the idea of living pieces: these designs are supposed to be worn on the street, in everyday life.

Stylistically, Gaia accounts for the collection’s emphasis on balance and movement. Other inspirations include the artist Theaster Gates – Prothmann has a photo of Gates pinned to the wall in his flat – and the social role of women, more broadly. Prothmann is aware that calls to naturalise gender roles, and the desire to make a return to Gaia-inspired forms of life, are often co-opted by those calling for greater feminine submission and more stringent gender roles. The strength and power of women are at the core of this collection. 

In Prothmann’s Spring/Summer 26 collection, presented at the Mandrake Hotel in London, models walked the runway in imposing apron skirts, sloping harness pieces and asymmetrical dresses shouting “COWBOY, DIVA, PUSSY”. Smudgy, acid-hued eyeshadow makeup brought to mind a corroded take on 80s glam, and the runway was closed out by performance artist and nightlife icon Dahc Dermur VIII in a flowing green veil. 

If Gaia is said to represent the interlocking elements of the Earth, Prothmann’s work looks to translate this interconnectedness into fashion, wherein maker, material, and wearer are locked into a mutual collaboration. In an industry obsessed with surfaces, Prothmann invites us to deeply consider what surfaces hold: how the weight of leather feels against the skin, how it simultaneously constricts and holds. His supple and stubborn designs invite us to imagine clothing not as a fleeting trend, but as an ecology, entangled, and enduring.

Explore more about Leo Prothmann HERE