As his Women’s SS24 collection for JW Anderson lands at London Fashion Week, Jonathan Anderson curates On Foot: a new exhibition at London’s Offer Waterman gallery, drawing a line between art, fashion, and the distinctive mood of the city he has made his home. Bringing contemporary artists into dialogue with iconic works of modern British art, the space presents an extension of the designer’s creative mind – through referential works in paint and sculpture, and observations collected by walking the London landscape.

In a film by Emile Rafael, the Irish-born fashion designer guides viewers through the exhibition, and the streets of Soho and Mayfair that served as its situational context, and main inspiration. Displaying archival JW Anderson looks alongside more recent runway pieces and works of art from his personal collection – and that of Offer Waterman – On Foot considers the dichotomies of the capital through its cultural intersections, and the stimuli that arises from its most mundane settings.

Playing with scale on a psychogeographic journey from the JW Anderson store in Soho to the Offer Waterman Gallery in Mayfair, Anderson reaffirms London’s cultural importance, speaking to the unlikely landmarks – parks, streets and pubs – that have influenced his work. Through the lens of School of London artists Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossof – who centered themselves around the haunts of 1970s Soho –, and the contemporary portraiture of Lynette Yiadom Boakye and Florian Krewer, On Foot captures the essence of the city in its rawest form, and the sense of storytelling it carries for the many creatives who tread its pavements.