West

Maximilian Davis grew up in Manchester, England, in a lively, close-knit family for whom fashion was a shared interest. His mother had modeled in the ’70s, and both his father and older sister studied clothing design before pursuing other careers. Davis himself was just 6 when his maternal grandmother taught him how to use a sewing machine. She also instilled in him the importance of “using clothes to represent who you are,” he says. “She always made an effort. She would wear the most colorful embroidered nightgown, spray herself with perfume before bed and say, ‘If I die in my sleep, I want to smell nice!’” Seeing her in her Sunday best for church also left an impression. “It was the one moment where the Black community in our area would really get dressed up,” Davis, now 25, recalls. “There was something joyous about that.” It was fitting, then, that