“I know where you’re going! You going to New Oxford Street where them men’s shows are, aren’t you?” asked one black cab driver as I jumped in. “Oh actually I’m going to Victoria for another men’s show but very well observed!” I say. “Oh I thought all the shows were all in one place,” he continued. “Anyway, you look blooming lovely by the way.” Way to sway me in the ongoing battle between Uber and black cabs. Compliment aside, this bit of black cabbie banter was definitely one indicator that London Collections: Men is on even more established ground. Another was the fact that there seemed to be so many more international buyers and press in attendance, paying their own way to come to London as opposed to having their flights and accommodation subsidised by the British Fashion Council. The general consensus on the ground seemed to be that LC:M is becoming increasingly unmissable, not just because Burberry Prorsum and Alexander McQueen’s shows look to be permanent London fixtures but also that the schedule itself “What was once a fledgling week has taken flight,” writes Matthew Schneier for the New York Times.
That said, Schneier also cautions over “institutional cheerleading” and the need for more “clear-eyed critique” with regard to selection designers for catwalk shows and so it is that we – as in fash-obssessed Londoners who are often friends with many of the designers involved – need to take a step back and look at LC:M with some degree of frankness.
I hate being an “armchair” commentator but other commitments prevented me from attending every single LC:M show so I’m highlighting mostly the ones I’ve seen and a handful are judged on pictures and hearsay only.
J.W. Anderson was one of those that I regretfully had to miss. And it turns out I missed a good un’. Anderson is one of those designers that for me, even if it doesn’t aesthetically hit the spot every time at the very least he has to be commended for pushing things forward. No, not because he is a “gender bender” – as I said on Twitter, I’m officially bored of lazy journalists creating storms of controversy around Anderson with that precise phrase. Anderson pushes menswear forward with a proposition of choice by not relying on the conventional menswear tropes. Menswear designers often cite the fact that there are boundaries and codes to respect as a reason for why they are attracted to menswear. Anderson isn’t one of those designers. He believes that the language for menswear should be broadened. This particular show wasn’t meant to out-and-out provoke though. Instead he gently seduces you with his off-the-shoulder tops, scarf-bow shirts and coats and gentle carpeted landscape tops created with pastoral craftsman John Allen. The rounded mary jane shoes reminiscent of Japanese dolly-kei footwear padded out on pale pale pink carpet. Counterbalanced with straightforward polo shirts and baseball-nodding tops and you have a collection that once again is about choice – or rather, choices for those that perhaps aren’t just hardcore J.W. Anderson fanboys but those that want to ginger wade in to his directional sphere.
J.W. Anderson
There were a set of designers who showed collections that shored up what they’re about. We, the fashion aficionado might know what Christopher Shannon is about but what of the wider public? Shannon scooping the inaugural BFC/GQ Designer Menswear Fund sent out one message that he is serious about building a business (I’m told his presentation of his business plan impressed the panel) and so rather than rocking the boat, he sent out an assertive collection affirming why he deserved that award. Shannon’s take on youth culture and a particular British type of nostalgia has inspired latter generations of young menswear designers to do the same. Inspired by teenagers “mooching” around in their bedrooms with joss sticks, dreamcatchers and dolphin posters, Shannon’s stickered, plastered and collaged over his familiar nylon anoraks, denim ensembles and sporty sweatshirts.
Christopher Shannon
Unsurprisingly that particular strand of spiritual 90s nostalgia chimed in with what was going on elsewhere at LC:M. James Long‘s Thai boxing kit meets hippie baja stripes felt like the “world” section of Camden Market at Stables had been recontextualised and made luxurious. Katie Eary had a more kitsch and straightforward take on hippie attire with her peace signs, sunset hues and hyper-dressed cowboys. Topman Design also tapped into a 70s filtered through the 90s mood and so it is that finally, my particular experience of the 90s – Britpop in all its not-cool-but-sorta-cool glory gets the spotlight.
James Long
Katie Eary
Topman Design
Jeremy Scott brought Moschino to LC:M and it fit right in as though Scott was back doing his shows under his own label. He’s only been at Moschino for less than a year and already has caused a ruckus, particularly with his first womenswear show in Milan in February (I wrote a lengthy feature for Style.com magazine if you want to revisit that palava). Now we sort of know what to expect and Scott’s “schtick” is selling like hotcakes. Happy-go-lucky 90s acid house reference and humorous logo-bending were on the agenda and you get the feeling that Scott isn’t out to provoke but instead to sell cheeky surfaces for their easy-to-read value. For the Moschino purists, there’ll still be an element of tutting and disapproval. But how many of them are out there that can remember it the first time round? They’re not the ones who’ll be buying this stuff in their droves that’s for sure…
Who else is shoring up their brand and doing it convincingly? I was gutted to have missed Astrid Andersen‘s show. Even from a blur of Instagram pics, the rich and luxurious textures stood out immediately. That’s what you get when you go to Japan for inspiration. Sumo wrestling, kimonos and a lush colour scheme that gradiated from orange to purple made for an alluring take on her usual logo-ed garments. Andersen’s belief in this rich and emboldened masculinity is palpable. And when you see men in the audience wearing her clothes, they do so with conviction. What pushed the lace shorts, sweatshirts and trackie bottoms forward were the addition of boxing robes and the kesho-mawashi aprons worn like a towel around the waist hoiked up on the body. Ridicule the concept at your peril. Andersen believes, as do I.
Astrid Andersen
Sibling’s show was about asserting their place in both menswear and womenswear and that they lay claim to be the primary rebellious knitwear designers operating in London at the moment. Rebellion for rebellion’s sake can be weary and here Sibling sometimes over-laboured the point with the bone necklaces and mohicans, which sometimes obscured new developments like the hole-punched denim pieces and technically accomplished “hair” draped tunics. They launched their womens resort collection with crochet cardi and skirts, sequinned leopard and “Fanclub” sweaters that read like buyer friendly staples. Their most rebellious moment was a triumphant one when at the end, they sent down two flaming red raffia walking mohicans, bristling with energy. Sure they’re purely meant for editorial but those moments are few and far between when every ensemble that comes down the runway has a selling strategy behind it.
Sibling
Nasir Mazhar‘s assured brand building was evidenced by the sheer number of people branded and emblazoned with Mazhar’s now familiar black logo-ed striping. People are loving it loving loving it and it goes beyond fashion and Mazhar’s clothes are touching a crowd that aren’t necessarily ardent followers of high fashion. And so it is that Mazhar has licence to repeat, refine and hone in on what’s working for him. He went for white ‘n’ fresh in the opening passage and ended with more of those hi-shine fabrics. It was a tight collection if not particularly revelatory. Mazhar’s fans were applauding like mad. They want more of the same and he served it up with aplomb.
Nasir Mazhar
Kit Neale is also honing in on what his brand is about. He latched on to a good thing with Perfectly Fried Chicken from Peckham two seasons ago and hasn’t looked back since as he exercises his verve for cartoonish prints. London might have been his primary point of inspiration for the past two seasons but this time for S/S 15, he went on a very British sort of summer holiday. It’s Club Med seen through the lens of Martin Parr. Coca Cola, cacti and airplane safety cards are Neale’s motifs of choice and they make you beam regardless of whether you’re into prints or not.
Kit Neale
Womenswear stalwarts who were then turned onto menswear later asserted that fact by showing both their mens and womenswear together. Richard Nicoll did it at his show as did Jonathan Saunders in a 50:50 menswear/womenswear split. That’s the power of womens resort collections creeping up on LC:M. On a catwalk show, I’m finding it can confuse your perspective of a menswear collection. For designers like Nicoll and Saunders though, where the two go hand in hand with each other very naturally, it makes sense. Crinkly metallic-threaded fabrics and plasticised shibori tie-dye were Nicoll’s texture specialities. The collection emphasised techy technique as opposed to feeling and emotion. He’s in the business of making clothes that people will wear, as opposed to lofty story arcs. That showed.
Saunders likewise didn’t really have a narrative or an “artsy-fartsy” inspiration point as he showed us his tableau of men and women looking at ease in a perfectly judged palette from sunshine gold through to dusky pinks to icy blues. I liked the his ‘n’ her pairings that Saunders proposed as he explained that he often designs both menswear and resort in tandem with one another. On the rails it looked even more like Saunders was thinking about range and something for everyone. Perhaps having done a range for Debenhams has given Saunders a taste for dressing to a wider appeal. “Everyman” dressing need not mean a sacrifice in quality or interesting details. The knitwear for instance had propelled forward as has his tailoring.
Richard Nicoll
Jonathan Saunders
For the “blokes” who don’t want to faff about with “forward thinking” ideas or obscure inspiration points, Casely-Hayford are a sure bet. Not that they don’t mention artists (John Baldessari) or talk about things like “art intervention”. It doesn’t really matter when “blokes” will look at a white shirt with a zipper detail and think, “I recognise that as a white shirt but it has something different going on. Great.” That thread ran throughout the collection as the father and son duo’s knowledge and prowess in interesting fabrics and Savile Row-descended tailoring juxtaposes with their type of soft anarchy.
Caseley Hayford
Christopher Raeburn does the sort of clothes which would intrigue and enthuse “blokes” because of his geek-out references. His collection is a little boy’s dream of aviation and engines. Parachute-laced bomber jackets, prints of fighter planes on blazers and camouflage floral prints all skew military but not in the lazy way that military often manifests itself in fashion.
Christopher Raeburn
Two designers who have emerged from the MAN scheme in recent seasons are finding their way in the menswear world – changing and developing as opposed to remaining static. Matthew Miller‘s collection had an aggressive tagline – “Anti War, Anti Social, Anti You” but the resulting collection was anything but as navy pinstripe was reiterated in romantic and sometimes even sensual, forms. Inspired by WW2 “demob” suits, worn in demobilisation phase, Miller patched and taped up his disparate army with this uniform of sorts. Grosgrain straps with those aforementioned words can be moved around to create new meaning. I was also swayed by the womenswear looks too as pinstripe took a sentimental turn.
Matthew Miller
Britpop pin-ups reared their head again in Agi & Sam‘s collection but it was their loosely Japanese-inspired silhouettes and pleated construction that were a leap forward for the duo, who were once known for their penchant for the kitsch. Screen printed surfaces with texturised swirled brush strokes were about the only surface decoration that the duo indulged in. Still young and teeming with promise though, Agi & Sam can afford to experiment and try new things. They shouldn’t be boxed in just yet.
Agi & Sam
I didn’t make it to the Fashion East installations but I did hear two verdicts – one person said it was great that the line-up was super edited and another said there weren’t enough outfits to see. What seemed to work though was the interplay between old and new. Martine Rose, Marques Almeida and Shaun Samson (glad to see him back after his visa issues) showed select silhouettes. Newcomer Edward Crutchley – a textiles specialist – showed more to bring people into his well travelled artisanal print story. And jewellery designer Alan Crocetti showed that accessories can be modelled to great effect as opposed to being displayed on dull perspex plinths.
Edward Crutchley
Marques Almeida
Shaun Samson
Alan Crocetti
Sebastiaan Pieter showed off-schedule (yes LC:M is developing its own off-schedule scene) but is quietly impressing with a type of subverted menswear that is rooted in other designers but still has something to say with his blush pink bombers and slinky satins mixed with more masculine fabrics.
At the MAN show, featuring two newcomers and one “veteran”, it was perhaps a show that needed finer critique. Nicomede Talavera‘s Muslim robes adorned with Louise Bourgeois patterns and colours, impressed as a cohesive collection and I liked the personal referencing (unashamedly love the way Muslim teenagers mix their robes with sportswear in London). It’s difficult to get away from the references to Raf Simons and J.W. Anderson in silhouettes and attitude but of course Talavera wouldn’t be the only offender in that category. There’s something there but it should be coaxed into something that is truly his own. Bobby Abley went for Insta-gold with his references to Little Mermaid (Sebastian and Ursula sweatshirt anyone?) hybrided with skater boys. Don’t get me wrong. I love a Disney reference. But that surface-only approach just doesn’t run very deep and yet it resonates out there in the open. What got the most number of Instagram likes/comments over the course of LC:M? Those bloody sweatshirts. Is that a happy state of affairs? I’m not sure. Liam Hodges kicked things up with his paganistic take on scouts and explorers. Even if the final result wasn’t a refined one, the inspiration points intrigued you and made you think about something deeper. At this early stage of these menswear designers, you’re after depth of thought and rich ideas. In that respect, MAN perhaps collectively fell a little short.
Nicomede Talavera
Liam Hodges
Bobby Abley
From that negative note, we move to a starkly contrasting positive, a MAN success story if ever there was one. Craig Green – AKA the “moment” that lit up LC:M, nay fashion. Green has been illuminated as one of the starry starry menswear talents to have emerged from London in the past few seasons. He has shocked and impressed in equal measure and any critics that he did have in the beginning have been duly quietened because there is no arguing that he has managed to balance concept and commerce deftly – trying to do something new and managing to sell some clothes at the same time. Score! And with his first solo show, he has played with our emotions too as he left many in the front row dabbing their eyes for real. I can’t speak for other people but I got teary for a number of reasons – I thought of Louise Wilson and the immense talent she has nurtured, evidenced by Green’s show. I thought of the purity that Green had shown – so different and opposing to most of the “schticky” things that we’d seen at LC:M. Oh, and Enya as an ending soundtrack had its own rousing effects. Zen, silent protest and the bannermen leading “a mass exodus toward the brink of abandon” were the overarching constructs and themes. What it really boiled down to was an explicable poetry in these loose silhouettes, tied and connected with string ties running throughout. The physical parts of the collection were simple and complex at the same time and together as bannermen led white into black into pale blue into chemical blue and finally to dark denim, we were taken on the journey too. If that sounds like spiritual clap-trap then so be it. It was a moment and maybe you had to be there to really get it. The beauty of it all is that on the rails in Dover Street Market, one of Green’s primary supporters, it will still resonate.
Backstage photography by Piczo for i-D, Philip Trengrove and Russ McClintock for Dazed Digital