Given the global news cycle, you couldn’t fault anyone for wanting to retreat to their happy place.

For London designer Sinead Gorey, that’s a Friday out with her mates.

“I felt really uninspired this season with the world — it’s quite hard to be a designer at the moment,” she told WWD backstage. “I’ve been looking inwards to my own wardrobe and what I want to wear to the pub on a Friday night, and how that translates from the pub to the party.”

Out came micro miniskirts and slinky slips in plaid-print chain mail, Mongolian-style shearling coats and waist cinchers and bones tops. Drummer-boy military braiding climbed up the front of anything from denim jackets and second-skin dresses to tights. A collaboration with Kickers was thrown in for good measure.

And no matter how skimpy, these outfits read like armor. Her models paired them with challenging glances, popping off beer caps barehanded as they faced photographers.

Infused with touches from various eras — Victorian corsetry, hippy heydays, 18th century uniforms, Cool Britannia — they spoke of youthful anything-goes experiments that every generation goes through. For those old enough, it harkened to the Spice Girls-era girl power of the 1990s.

Given Gorey’s accessible price point, her lineup felt like catnip for those wanting that Brit Y2K vibe, minus the thrifting dive.