Tag Archives: London Collections: Men

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From Our View – London Collections: Mens Spring/Summer 2017

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The front row in the fast lane.

You’ve gone backstage, and followed all our favorite looks on Instagram. Show tunes? Oh right, check, you did that. But just in case anything might have slipped through the cracks, here we recap our favorite snaps from London Collections: Mens Spring/Summer 2017.

Phoebe English

In her first menswear presentation, luxury designer Phoebe English translates her attention to construction and textile choice for a capsule collection that offers a fresh take on minimalism.

Xander Zhou

Xander Zhou presents a recklessly diverse collection that includes witty plays on the baggy-pant-exposed-boxer combo and the destroyed sneaker, echoing a design sentiment that is ever-tip-toeing the line between street and high-fashion.

YMC

YMC’s latest effort exudes easy cool, with matching sets in breezy fabrics and contrasting patterns that make for purposeful but uncomplicated outfits.

Edward Crutchley

Edward Crutchley updates summer patterns with unexpected latex fabrications, seen as high-necked shirts and knee-high socks, eliminating the need for shoes.

Lou Dalton

Making functional look fashionable, Lou Dalton‘s re-imagines staples like the rain coat and bomber jacket fitting for summer.

Belstaff

Belstaff’s Spring/Summer 2017 collection embodies the style of the American road movie, conjuring up images of Marlon Brando and Steve McQueen as clear inspirations with leather motorcycle jackets and tunics.

Katie Eary

Katie Eary brings stars and stripes (and barracudas) to the mix, just in time for the Fourth, with a focused color-palette and debatably summer-appropriate textiles.

Hardy Aimes

Continuing its tradition of stream-lined, timeless shapes, this time Hardy Amies presents fresh linens and bright checks perfect for the season.

Follow ESSENTIAL HOMME on Instagram at @EssentialHomme.
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LCM: Reviewing J.W. Anderson SS15

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Image: J.W. Anderson.

This past Tuesday was a busy day for Jonathan Anderson. Not only did the designer launch a brand new e-commerce add-on to his website, but he also presented J.W. Anderson‘s Spring/Summer 2015 menswear line at 10 AM that morning. Dreamed a collection that “evolved to commandeer and pervert men’s traditional silhouettes,” this season’s offering was everything we’ve come to expect from the Dalston-based designer.

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Image: J.W. Anderson.

If you recall Anderson’s earlier work, Tuesday took a familiar lead from yet another feminine character, this time focusing on a bourgeois woman, and finished with the hard shape of the archetypal male. Featuring knitted tank tops, off the shoulder cuts, and pussy bow necklines, styles commonly associated with the “feminine” aesthetic were paired with loose tailored trousers, and enforced Anderson’s commitment to blurring the boundary between gender stereotypes.

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Image: J.W. Anderson.

For SS15 the overall shape was slender, with clothing seen cut diagonally across models’ bodies and employing the asymmetry the brand famously pionereed. Tailoring was relaxed and pieces appeared as though they could seductively fall off the models at any moment, in some form of “sleepy eroticism.” With the beachside summer holiday another clear influence, nautical stripes made several appearances, and knitted jumpers resembling tapestries depicted coastal scenes. Anderson also featured an array of color-block jackets and polo shirts to fully cater to any customer be they of different sexes, worlds, or of just schools of taste.

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Image: J.W. Anderson.

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LCM: Backstage Topman Design SS15

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Image: Ieva Blaževičiūtė.

Woodstock meets Mexico in Topman Design‘s Spring/Summer 2015 collection, an amalgamation of pastel tailoring, printed trainers, and patchwork parks. Read our full show review here, and then see how the psychedelic production all came together with our behind the scenes photography below.

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Image: Ieva Blaževičiūtė.

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Image: Ieva Blaževičiūtė.

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LCM: Reviewing Kent and Curwen AW14

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This week, Kent and Curwen presented their first collection under the eye of newly appointed creative Director Simon Spurr at London Collections: Men. Like a group of friends reuniting for high school nostalgia only to find that one member had remarkably blossomed, the Autumn/Winter 2014 Collection was unlike anything we’ve ever seen from the British heritage brand. And that wasn’t a particularly bad thing.

On the runway the new Kent and Curwen man appeared younger and more complex than ever, referencing notes from modern as well as traditional elements of menswear to create a juxtaposition of style. Instead of classic cricket sweaters, motorcycle jackets, channel quilted at the lapel, were paired with tuxedo trousers and set again exploded fairisle jumpers, whilst Duffle coats are updated with Aran sleeves, and reversible cricket sweaters are offered in a range of brilliant colors.

Fit, as Spurr is known for, was everything.

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Materials ranged from the brand’s original 1920’s sourcing, to modern clothes such as wool/silk tweeds in monochromatic gray and flannel suiting. But perhaps equally important, were the accessories, takeaways for a younger generation, including hand luggage, portfolio cases, iPad cases, wallets, belts, driving gloves, ties, hats, and scarves.

If this is Spurr’s first taste of reinventing the classics, we’re excited for the next course.

Images courtesy of Kent and Curwen.

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LCM: Reviewing KTZ AW14

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Climbing at haute altitudes, the cool-as-ice collection from KTZ gave us the same level of eccentricity we’ve come to expect from the Japanese brand.

Models showed faces painted grey with harsh angular contouring and wore only  blacks and whites with touches of metallic. It was an army of Himalayan snow storm warriors, as if a movie from a colorless television screen with a sharp focus.

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On the heads of the KTZ men were geometric headpieces hinting at snow googles and Buddhist-inspired turbans in metallic and fur. Jewelry was also worn over garments, with silver necklaces with intricate details and pointed tribal earrings. Quilted biker jackets made several appearances beside carry-on bags, both elements of protection. Layering was also key, with long fur coats worn over other coats and shirts with high niece lines. The hostility came through during the final line up, though, as models walked out and stood in perfectly organised formation. They were un-human and able to survive the harshest conditions.

Images courtesy of KTZ.

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LCM: Reviewing Agi & Sam AW14

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Referred to as a “deeply personal” collection for Agi & Sam, this season the designers shrugged off any expectations of vibrant and dapper eclecticism, presenting a new point of view inspired by Agi’s recent travels. Titled Watu nguvu, meaning “people power” in Swahili, Agi & Sam Autumn/Winter 2014 called us to action by blurring lines between first and third world.

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As we entered the historically-British building, we were greeted by models in rigid formation, holding black and white advertisements similar to those placed in Africa. Suddenly, the live drums began, and so did the beginning of the show, largely a deconstruction of key western attire to mimic that of African work wear. There were tailored coats with dropped lining, quilted blazers worn over loosely fitted trousers with reflective material at the bottom, and traditional Masai check transformed into hooded parkas. On their heads, models wore felt hats made in collaboration with Yashkathor, and at their feet woolen slip-ons made by Ugg Australia.

The monochromatic pallet not only reflected the workwear in both Western and African worlds, but also focussed our attention on the message behind the Watu nguvu logo, a black and a white fist clenched united and powerful. As well, the all black model casting critiqued the fashion industry’s limited diversity, something which Agi & Sam have also touched on in previous castings.

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Despite the strong message behind the collection, the quirky sense of humor we have come to love about the brand was still evident on shirts printed with oil company logos, reading “dick oil.” These were the only colorful pieces in the collection and point to the horribly juxtaposed capitalism within poverty stricken Africa. Quintessentially this season, Agi and Sam were surprising refreshing, and demonstrated their growing ability as a brand.

Images courtesy of Agi & Sam. 

 

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LCM: Reviewing Alexander McQueen AW14

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Retrospective of the early Alexander McQueen shows, the Welsh chapel of Soho, London made a perfect macabre backdrop for the brand’s AW14 menswear show. Gaunt and heavy-lidded models drifted down the runway to the eyrie sounds of Bauhaus’s “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” Crow’s feathers tangled within their matted tresses, these human zombies wore suits cut sharp enough to rival a razor blade. It was the look of the surrealist vampire.

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Although predominantly monochromatic, elements of luxurious gold appeared over black. A full Lee McQueen three piece suit—jacket, kilt, and trousers—was finished in a flamingo pink tartan: a brief and gentle nostalgic nod to the late master himself.

Zips extended vertically down the length of  coats and blazers, and optical illusion lines in contrasting colors continued unbroken over jacket details. Shirts with high Cossack collars brought the darkness from the heavy block shoes to the jaw line. The collection was elegantly distorting the length of the wearer, playing mind games on those watching.

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Creative Director Sarah Burton kept the collars sharp, but subtle. Some featured the occasional embroidered word peace, referencing a war poem as well as the strangely ethereal calamity of the show. A few Shirts and jackets beared John Deakins photographs of a youthful Lucian Freud printed across them.

It is these dark surrealist elements, as well as focus on strong silhouettes, that has captured the uncanny beauty we’ve come to expect from McQueen.

Images courtesy of Alexander McQueen.