THE JOURNAL

There are a lot of strings to Mr Leon Cerrone’s bow. As well as his long-term career in the fashion industry, He also works as a model and a stylist, is a powerful mental-health advocate and a dedicated cyclist. There’s even a run club in Glasgow that Cerrone helps to organise, from arranging runs and booking track sessions to coordinating the group’s charity work. The key thing for Cerrone across all these worlds is the communities they introduce him to.
“It’s really nice to be involved in so many different things – and it means that my network of friends and connections has grown,” he says. “It’s great to have so many people spread across so many different areas, but these things have started to cross over now. Friends who worked in fashion have started to run, so the two have bled into each other.”
All of these different activities – from sport to styling, his passions to his work – have helped Cerrone to build a community around himself, something that started when he first moved from Birmingham to London the best part of 20 years ago. “London is a big place, so it can be quite lonely and daunting when you first get here,” he says. “But the community I built around cycling really helped me settle into London. It became home once I’d found that community, it helped me meet people who I never would have met otherwise, it helped me make friendships and bond with people.”


That focus on community is shared by NN07, which takes inspiration from people and communities across the world. Cerrone, too, embodies that ethos, and is keen to spread those values to the people around him. This includes his run club in Glasgow, something that proved a vital resource after he relocated to the city three years ago. “It’s helped me meet people in Glasgow and build my own group of friends,” he says. Through this community, Cerrone is able to introduce others to running – and share the sport’s positive impact with people who may not be familiar with it. “A lot of people have said coming to the club has been one of the best things they’ve done; they’ve found their own communities within the group.”
With his diverse range of interests, jobs and sports, Cerrone needs clothes that can be worn every day and everywhere, no matter what he’s doing. Understandably, then, there’s a focus on pieces that he can wear in different ways and in different contexts. “What I look for is clothing that you can wear in more than one way, whether you’re dressing it up or down,” he says. That means wearing lightweight suits teamed with a pair of sneakers, for instance, or relaxed shirts thrown over a white tee.

With its AW24 collection, NN07 has set out to make clothes that can be worn wherever you are – and whatever you’re doing – following through with the very core values that formed its foundations. The label has a far-sighted approach to style. It’s committed to designing clothing that lasts and will still be wearable in the future. For Cerrone, this is a key part of his personal style. “It’s about pieces that stand the test of time, that have longevity – not about following flash-in-the-pan trends that are here today and gone tomorrow,” he says.
“It’s about pieces that stand the test of time – not about trends that are here today and gone tomorrow”
NN07’s latest collection is a perfect example of that, with its focus on a modern and adaptable “workleisure wardrobe” of clothes that can be worn whether you’re at the office or completely off-duty. There are patterns such as pinstripe and paisley, high-quality materials, ranging from traceable Scandinavian leather to recycled wool and even an alpaca knit made at a family-owned Italian fabric mill. The collection’s colour palette ranges from muted tarmac and greige tones to hits of colour in the form of burnt orange and azure blue. The result is an adaptable collection, filled with reinterpreted essentials that can be worn by anyone, anywhere.


As well as the requirement that his clothes can be multifunctional, Cerrone brings elements from his own history into the way he dresses. There’s the influence of family, his dad’s interest in football and various subcultures he’s passionate about, from the Blue Note era of jazz to the mod scene. One of the strongest influences, though, is also one of the earliest. “Both my grandfathers came from an era where they never wore a pair of jeans, it was always trousers and shoes,” Cerrone says. “They always looked really smart – and that influenced how I dress.”
Having worked in fashion for nearly two decades, clothing and getting dressed is still important to Cerrone’s self expression. “It’s a confidence thing,” he explains. “When you feel good and you think you look good, that shows. Clothes have become a part of me – and they’re a big part of how I express myself and put my mark on things.”
Cerrone’s approach to fashion is based on his diverse influences and his diverse passions. And although his personal style may be inspired by many of them, he sees it as pretty simple.
“As I’ve got older, I’ve learnt that you should just do what you want,” he says. “I try not to get influenced as much, I try to put my own spin on things and try not to be afraid of not following the crowd. I think you just do your own thing, be yourself and try not to worry about being what people tell you you should be. Just find your own lane and do what works for you.”