Get Up & Go by George Hutton (2021) is a photographic series documenting the tradesmen of the North. Shot in and around the coastal countryside of North Yorkshire’s Whitby, the subjects range from an Engineer to a Joiner as they go about their jobs in what was once the industrial backbone of England. Focussing specifically on the clothing of these workmen, from a 2012 England Cricket Team jersey to a pair of well-worn men’s lightweight steel-toe cap safety training boots, it’s undeniable that while far removed from the industry that designs clothing, there is a strong sense of fashion in these images. It’s not the fashion that we see paraded down catwalks or in the windows of Bond Street flagships, but rather the fashion that is used and worn. With signs of wear and tear, dirt, stains and stretching, what we see are pieces that have been moulded by the wearers and their industry. Clothes that have become as much about the identity of the wearer than about the identity of the garments themselves. This is the fashion of the Industrial North.

Foreword by Jeffrey Thomson