London Collections: MEN As we’re approaching to the womenswear collections fashion weeks,

London Collections: MEN

As we’re approaching to the womenswear collections fashion weeks, Men are showing throughout Europe, and the male parade started in the city where, more than anywhere else, menswear was born: London. London Collections is becoming more and more important in the fashion business for its ability to reunite promising designers with innovative ideas in a sector of the business which has always been seen as conservative. I don’t think the mens market has reached its full potential, but I agree on the fact we’ve seen many good ideas during this first menswear fashion week, coming from both established names and newbies. In general, black was (of course) the key colour - always present in every man’s wardrobe - and the inspirations came from different areas: of course 70s, which we so much saw during the womenswear Spring collections in September/October - so much that I’m going to throw up if I see another pair of bell-bottoms or hippy inspired looks - but thank god it was much softer and defused for man; the military inspiration, often the starting point for new ideas in mens fashion; gender crossing.

Day 1

Topman Design had the pleasure - or is it bad luck? - to show as the very first brand at London Collections, but it was a good opening in perfect Topshop style: great variety, not vey far from what the market offers - it’s a high-end brand anyway after all - going 70s swiftly transitioning from ethnic to urban style. I personally loved the return of the three-button jacket, disappeared from the catwalks - except for some scattered references - for years.

London was also the place where the finale of the International Woolmark Prize took place; Public School took the award for its innovative use of wool and originality in design - basically this is always the reason given for the awards by the juries.

Coach delivered a collection for a very cold winter, where coats and windbreakers were the centerpieces. Leather and sheepskin as king materials also for trousers and shoes. Different kinds of leather were also mixed with printed textiles in leopard or with extremely soft-looking jersey. Alex Mullins brought to the table another interesting collection for its androgynous atmosphere, with trousers which I would define as EXTRA LARGE - and I’m not talking about the size -, A-line silhouettes - for men, yes! - translated into bell-bottoms taken to their extreme, and shapes extremely developed in length. Velvet gave every look an old-fashioned vibe which was fascinating and made the collection look like coming from another era.

For the event MAN, in collab with Topman and Fashion East, three designers showed their collections this season, and I was particularly happy with Nicomede Talavera’s work (photo 1). The looks were made of layers of different outfits, representing a perfect armour for the urban boy of today, and every piece had an Oriental quality to their cut which was interestingly melted with a vague reference to hip-hop street style. 

Christopher Shannon (photo 2) had an attention-grabbing collection as well, which I would definitely compare, in art, to Malevic’s suprematism, with the insertion of colourful geometrical shapes showing a great deal of research on the subject to reach, just like the Russian artist, purity of form. The fabrics were borrowed from activewear, with hi-tech materials and the overall impression was that of a strong reference to recycling - what about the plastic bags onto the models’ heads?

Todd Lynn developed the idea of eliminating the distinction between male and female wardrobe - as you can see if you look at the whole line, there was basically no difference between the two, and even the models as of styling, face, hair etc. looked exactly the same. The colour palette was essential, made of black, grey, white and some sparkle of mustard yellow - which I greatly appreciated - and there was in every look an essentiality which brings you back to the 60s, with that touch of optical effect characterising that decade. 

Day 2

Lee Roach (photo 3) presented the kimono in a new light which I hadn’t considered before: that of tender manliness. Yes, it can sound like an oxymoron - that is actually - but this is the reason why it’s all so fascinating, and it perfectly suited the essential minimalism of pieces like the top made of one single patch of fabric in raw cut. 

Patchwork was a very big team this season - as we’re going to see in a few lines as well - and Maharishi chose to collage different types of quilted fabric to create its windbreakers in the green tones of the camouflage. Astrid Andersen (photo 4) was possibly one of the most interesting collections shown in London, because the designer managed in an extremely difficult task: make hip-hop culture look polished. The palette was basic, with black being the focus, the materials were hi-tech and had a shine which made them look rich, but there was also suede, which brought you a step higher than the usual blingy style of street fashion.

Shaun Samson reminded me of firemen uniforms - well, after all, most of the models were basically half naked wearing bermudas and Timberland-like boots. I appreciated the interesting take on the checked flannel woodman shirt - it seems he took inspiration from every sexual cliché about men at work - which was delivered in different new versions, even as chemisier - for man.

Fashion East was again held during London Collections, and this time I absolutely loved loved loved the mini collection delivered by Grace Wales Bonner if not for the clothes in itself - which were interesting and new in their ‘oldness’ - at least for the inspiration, which seemed to me coming from a melting pot of elements I’ve never seen well-represented in fashion, at least not all together: 70s - black - homosexual. Loved the high waist trousers and the African contamination - fringes which made me think of Morocco - in a urban version.

Agi & Sam seemed to merge art history all in one single collection: there was a little bit of Picasso, a little bit of Kandinskij, even a little bit of Mondrian, and yet, even if the colours were so beautiful and made me think of contemporary art in such a strong way, still I thought their brightness distracted from the overall look - that’s why my favourite part was the total black outfits.

Hardy Amies (photo 6) proved there’s always market for classic-looking but young and fresh looks. Everything was magical in its perfection and the prints, the cool palette of yellows (lemon) and blues (electric) made everything lighter and youth-appealing. 

If there was a collection I’ve heard about during this menswear fashion week, it was Sibling’s. After pink has been introduced and accepted, as a colour, in the male wardrobe - for several years - now, after Jeremy Scott for Moschino brought Barbie to the catwalk for S/S 2015, Sibling’s designers decided it was time to put her male counterpart - Ken - under the limelight. Everything was shocking pink in the most 'Schiaparelli’ sense of the term, and the male models were even accompanied by stuffed animals and teddy bears during their walk. The collection in general sort of made me smile more than everything else. I didn’t like the faux fur pieces, while the strongest ones were, in my opinion, the knitted outfits.

Day 3

J. W. Anderson (photo 7) is an ever-rising star of fashion heaven, and even if it brought to the runway the usual, so-often-seen-that-I’m-going-to-throw-up 70s style, he did it in such an interesting way that you can’t but love it. There was a curious mix between menswear and womenswear, using the same shapes, the same fabrics (cowhide, leather), same giant buttons - made of what looks like mother of pearl - but also bustier shapes in men’s pullovers and other jerseys, bicoloured, inspired by cowboy shirts.

Margaret Howell really made me think of Armani - or better, a sort of English twin of Mr Armani - for her polished quality and the classic evergreen look of the outfits. Joseph (photo 8) proposed oversize proportions, knitwear basically everywhere - have you seen the total knit look in the photo? - and ethnic patchwork.

James Long decided to take over a challenge long faced by the fashion world: making jeans couture. He tried with insertion of lace but also by tearing the fabric apart, which instead of reading cheap and predictable, gave the looks an air of rich decadence.

And then, there it was: Moschino. It’s like that very moment I wait for during fashion weeks - especially after Jeremy Scott took the helm of the creative process. Yet, apart from the snowy mountain setting, which immediately conveyed the idea Scott wanted to communicate - yes, winter, cold, fur, warm clothes, bla bla bla - the patchwork pieces - I told you collage was big this season - and tartan prints - the most successful part of the collection IMHO - I wasn’t exactly mesmerised by the overall collection. Guess I’ll have to wait until womenswear fashion week in Milan to be shocked again by the mythological figures brought to life by Mr Scott.

In fashion weeks, there are always those brands, know by very few people, who deliver very little collections which are usually noticed by basically nobody, and Kilgour was one of them, but thank god, I noticed. There were something like eight, even less, looks, but the detailing was so precise and interesting, which I couldn’t help deciding to talk about it in my blog. The same innovative, new lines were repeated in the cut of jackets, shirts and coats, showing that you don’t need to change very big things in order to convey fresh ideas.

Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton (photo 9) was very smart in taking inspiration from a very actual topic, making the red poppy a constant decorative motive in this collection after the Tower of London was covered in poppies to remember the 100th anniversary of World War I. Apart from the blood red of the flowers, the outfits were total black, with some hint of military green. And military was also the inspiration - it linked to WWI after all - behind the coats - I absolutely loved the bright blue trenchcoat.

To finish the day, KTZ’s inspiration was not an easy one to digest, but it was definitely strong: violence, Clockwork Orange, dystopian views of the world were the elements of their collection, which even if efficiently delivered, were not cohesive enough.

Day 4

Paul Smith was possibly the smartest designer of them all, showing that even after many years in the fashion industry you can still come up with amazing ideas. It was not a collection: he just presented one single simple classic suit. A black suit. The stroke of genius was another, summed up by the name of the 'event’: A suit to travel in. In a performance between theatre and circus, some models all dressed with the same classic suit showed how you could basically do anything - from walking to dancing acrobatic rock - and still have a perfectly polished and not wrinkled classic black suit. Craig Green (photo 10) is one of the new names in fashion which are going to have a fantastic career, and you could see it immediately after just few collections. Yes, the colour palette was one of the most classic (black, white, red) but the outfits were an explosion of creativity: some of them look like being inspired by parachutes - ever thought parachutes could be cool? - as well as bulletproof vests in unexpected cuts. Liked the long-sleeved t-shirts with pulled strings in front.

Katie Eary was all about three-dimensional prints and knitwear in awesome colours - I particularly loved the detail of the strings in the trousers croach - while Burberry Prorsum went for 70s coming up with a nice wearable collection - and yes, this time wearable goes very close to meaning 'boring’.

Among the talents from Asia, this time my attention was caught by Xander Zhou, of whom I loved the manipulation of the denim as well as the optical effects given by the fur applied over the coats looking like cowhide and the geometrical patterns of the leather decorating the last looks.

Stay tuned now for John Galliano’s return with Maison Margiela and the rest of menswear fashion weeks: Pitti Uomo, Milan, Paris.

xxx