By Owen Moss-Proctor
Another innovative year for menswear at London Fashion Week.
The beauty of menswear day at London fashion week is the freedom to express without the competition from the more “classic” brands just as Rag and Bone, DKNY MEN & Tommy Hilfiger which we seen the week before in New York and as we’re not in direct contest with Parisian menswear; London continues to seize a great opportunity to release a creativity & style that’s become their greatest strength.
This year we saw London represent the Man in many different ways from weird & wonderful to civilised & classic.
Starting with the most interesting of the collections was the ‘MAN’ collection a collaboration between Topman & Fashion East.
The whole collection is deigned by Agi & Son, Shaun Samson & Astrid Anderson and it's the best place for emerging menswear talent. The collection was largely made up of bold print & patterns.
Agi & Son started the range which was made up of prints, lots of prints, from sweet-esque patterns to large orange check, all placed over formal menswear in a variety of blazers & trousers. The collection boldly ploughed on into Astrid Anderson’s variety of oversized boiler suits, a series of cropped t-shirts & puffa jackets. The final third came from Shaun Samson, an interesting range within itself; Shaun’s compilation has a New Yorker feel about it. An American style of heavy layering, cropped trousers & timberland-style boots it also included a variety of meshed t-shirts equipped with hair extensions.
From the connection to Topman it moves us on nicely to the collections of J.W.Anderson, Christopher Shannon & James Long, three designers who all showed in the MAN show in previous years, and now three well-established designers in their own right. With three very different collections.
Firstly, J.W.Anderson with his ‘blast from the past’ style collection. With heavy vibes of early eras such as the 70’s, Anderson’s models wore clean swept haircuts, bell-bottom trousers & materials of leather & quilt.
Christopher Shannon’s collection to me had an image that reflected a runway of French fashion house, Givenchy. The collection narrowly ventured away from black, white & navy with a lot of checkered shirts & and a few pairs of self titled “Christopher Shannon” joggers. It had a sportswear vibe surrounding it.
Lastly, James Long. James sent out the most ‘commercial’ of the three collections and for me, it was the range that I could most see adapted to the man who’s currently shopping today’s high street market. The 21 look collection was full of life & texture with a variation of jackets, some faux fur, some sheepskin and others sporting denim. I really liked the overall styling to the range and it is probably the one that I’ll be rocking come September!
The most anticipated collection of menswear day at LFW was Topman Design and they weren’t to disappoint. Whilst watching the collection I couldn’t help but feel that this wasn’t the most exciting collection Topman have produced BUT Topman have stuck to what they do best. The classic twist tailored chic. Models sported well-gelled yet unstructured hairstyles, their outfits were modern and chic, all with subtle vibes to rock & roll. I was pleased to see key details to the looks such as double breasted coats/blazers, wet looked trousers, single studded belts and thin dog collar necklaces. The thing I enjoyed most though was the printed shirts & jumpers, a great move on for the guys who have been wearing printed shirts throughout spring/summer.
Matthew Miller proved that good things come in small packages, with his short and concise collection, which featured 14 looks. It was a runway for the man who isn’t afraid of print! And each pattern was so different to the previous look. From antique coloured suits through to rocket man chic and then a graffiti suit that Banksy would be proud of, Miller created one of the most exciting and innovative collections shown. He left me very intrigued and I’m looking forward to seeing more of his work!
Oliver Spencer produced the most ‘everyday’ of the designers collections, with his ready-to-wear style. Autumnal colours featured throughout the looks. Khaki, grey, brown and dark coral were featured on Pea coats, waistcoats, blazers and baggy-legged trousers.
And lastly, Lou Dalton. When you look at the collection, straight away it gives you a military vibe which is mainly triggered by the military style caps. Caps and hats will be a key feature going forward into autumn/winter and have featured in runways for Louis Vuitton, Christian Lacroix & Vivienne Westwood. Along with the cadet hats, Lou Dalton featured tailored jackets in military associated colours of khaki and beige. But what I loved the most was the injections of colour with glass blue and burnt orange sitting easily with the rest Lou’s colour palette.
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