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- Vada goes to Graduate Fashion Week - 4 June, 2014
As London Collections: Men S/S ’15 comes to a close, we have been left with a whole lot of stuff to reflect on. Our city’s major menswear event has gone from strength to strength every season, and this week was no different, with LC:M cementing its place as a major stop on the menswear fashion calendar. LFW’s more chilled out brother did what it does best and proved once again that the industry’s largest growing sector has its spiritual home in London.
There have been some major moments that have given anyone of a stylish mind a lot to think over; this season felt like a turning point in menswear history. At times it was quite an emotional experience, capable of leaving even the most stone faced fashion editor having a Mean Girls ‘I just have a lot of feelings’ moment. If you weren’t lucky enough to make it along, here’s a round up of the key talking points from the three day celebration of men’s style that was London Collections: Men.
New Kid on the Block: Hello Moschino
The latest in a wave of designers finally recognising London’s menswear prowess, creative director Jeremy Scott debuted Moschino’s standalone men’s line at LC:M on Monday. Doing what he does best, Scott brought humour, irony and bare faced cheek to the catwalk in a display of unserious early 90’s excess. Cleverly parodying revered icons from rival brands, seeing Chanel’s interlocking Cs morphed into acid happy smiley faces tapped into the mood of the moment. However, best of all was the ‘MO$CHINO’ trophy sweat that is truly worth maxing a credit card out for.
Class, Elegance and Grace: Duchamp Does it Right
This season, classic English tailoring definitely got a fresh new vibe thanks to Duchamp. With new creative director Gianni Colarossi at the helm, this season’s collection featured cool blues and whites that had a major Riviera vibe. If Moschino is new money kids at warehouse party in Hackney Wick, Duchamp is old money gents living it up in the south of France. Subtly stylish and oh-so low key, the collection proved that real style doesn’t shout, it whispers. Similarly, the presentation defined what classic English glamour should be, with High Holborn’s refined Rosewood hotel proving a location as suave as the clothes, as well as offering a much needed cocktail hour. Duchamp proved to everyone that London is the world capital of tailoring.
So Many Emotions: Everyone Cried at Craig Green
In a catwalk show that left many lost for words, Craig Green brought a poetic level of emotion, leaving many in tears. As his first standalone catwalk show, expectations were already high, especially in light of the designer’s well received previous collections. However, nobody could predict the challenging, beautiful and heartfelt fashion to come. With sharply angular wooden framework on the backs on models, the emphasis was on fabric in a basic colour palette (or lack thereof) and how it draped, knotted and complexly fell about the body.
Start Doing Crunches Now: Astrid Andersen Strips Down
Sometimes in life it feels like I’m the only one flying the flag for crop tops on men, so imagine my elation when Astrid Andersen sends naked male torso down the catwalk. Although yes, this is a look that has been attempted before, Andersen served it with palpable conviction. The designer’s tried and tested sportswear vibe was ever present, with a slightly feminine California sunset colour palette that softened the collection’s unashamed macho sex appeal. Last week, Andersen launched a collaboration with Topman, and please be assured that it is major. Textured fabrics, pops of metallic and structured co-ords are winning ingredients in the latest of the high street retailer’s young designer endeavours. A very successful couple of weeks for AA indeed.
Genderfucked: JW Anderson Mixes It Up
The wider theme of subverting and playing with the notion of gender through menswear has as usual found its way to JW Anderson, with his collection’s feminine charm offering a polar opposite to the harshly masculine sportswear on show elsewhere. Citing “the personality of the bourgeois woman” as inspiration, it was a typically JW affair, with the word ‘odd’ ringing in the mouths of many. Not in a negative sense of course, what the Scottish designer does best is provide food for thought, blurring expectations of what a man should wear. The slash necklines and loose trousers looked wearable and alluring, in a colour palette that calmed the soul, overall proving that the designer has secured his place as one of London’s major menswear players.
