London Fashion Week Men's SS19: THE HIGHLIGHTS

June 11, 2018 by Christos Christou

Another season without ''the big'' British names on the schedule and things were alright- again. I suppose it was another opportunity for the young designers to 'shine' for another one season.

Three days full of shows, presentations and parties... three days full of fashion; and before the final shows of today and the beggining of Milan's Fashion Week, here are some of our favourite highlights and fashion moments.

DANIEL W. FLETCHER debuts SS19 COLLECTION AT LFW:M

With his first ever runway show in London Fashion Week, Daniel W. Fletcher was one of the names that you could hear everywhere during the weekend.

For SS19, the British Designer chose a luxe palette of grey, brown, black, and white and he moved considerably further away from the themes of British heritage and schoolboy-nostalgia that have informed his previous designs.

Monochromatic androgyny looks, along with some some gender subversion elements were some of the highlights of the collection, plus THE prints which was a collaboration with artist Caitlin Keogh.

JOHN LAWRENCE SULLIVAN

One of our favourite collections inspired by the societal outliers of the Swiss punk movement, new wave and Dave Gahan, lead singer of synth-pop icons Depeche Mode

Strong contemporary tailoring and pieces in a pallet of black, white, red and a shade of green amazed the fashionistas. Tight-fitting shorts styled with oversized blazers and crop tops giving us some of our favourite looks for SS19.

OLIVER SPENCER

Classy and classic, the SS19 of Oliver Spencer has taken classic tailoring to another level.

The colour pallet was in grey and ice blue tones and the fifty shades of... pink. The tailored pieces were beautifuly combined with oversized coats or polo t-shirts bringing out a floral-spring mood, without floral patterns at all.. Well except the notable cinematic intro imagery with spring fields and flowers.

It's worth mentioning the noteworthy model names who walked for Oliver Spencer's SS19 show, with our favourite one, Richard Biedul leading the runway.

Ben Sherman

The Ben Sherman SS19 collection was inspired by young rock and roll icons of the 60s and from the time period when the designer first visited America to build the identity of the brand.

Iconic checks and candy stripes fused together with a unique twist, blending rock and roll style with preppy ivy leagues looks to create the ideal Ben Sherman style. Colour pallets are rooted in different blues, silver pink and tomato cream. Dark Red and Olive Green become the new neutrals and a collaboration with HOUSE OF HOLLAND for the second season has as a result of several colours and prints.

ALEX MULLINS

This season Mullins showcased 27 looks, in a series of 9 triptychs in a perfect symmetry. The SS19 collection opened with a series of suits in khaki, black and tan all with contrasting coloured cut out vests more suited to a 90s rave pulled taut across the jackets, playing with proportion and genre.

Some of the highlight looks consist of ribbed knitted jumpers, white sweatshirts emblazoned with ‘Alex Mullins’ appealed to the logomania trend, metallics (yes; for the summer period!), standout pink and white suiting and Japanese inspired prints.

LFW AW18: Burberry

February 19, 2018 by Rey Magazine

For the last time, Christopher Bailey presented his collection for Burberry AW18 in a show entitled Time. Held in the historical venue of the Dimco Buildings in West London, guests were met with an experience of past, present and future.

The show was dedicated to LGBTQ+ organisations, with the brand donating to three charities. It was certainly a moment of pride for Bailey, much like every aspect of the show championing the six colours of the Pride flag. The rainbow – a symbol of hope, happiness and inclusivity featured heavily throughout the show, whether it be from the reinvented check now incorporated with the colours (the Rainbow check), or Cara Delevingne’s floor-length cloak which she swept and swayed along the runway. The bright stripes appeared on sweaters, gilets and down one side of the oversized maxi skirt of Adwoa Aboah.

source: theglassmagazine.com

London Fashion Week Men's AW18 - REVIEW

January 12, 2018 by Rey Magazine

Words by Stephen George

The schedule’s short! Menswear is in turmoil!! Fashion week is falling apart at the seams!!! THE BEES ARE DISAPPEARING!!!! The bees disappearing have nothing to do with fashion week but they do share something in common – they represent the current state of the (fashion) industry today.

We’ve seen the schedules become tighter and smaller - London Fashion Week: Mens neé London Collections: Men was the caped crusader of menswear; at one point spanning five days has been reduced to 3 days for the Autumn/Winter 2018-19 season. Gone are the big hitters – Burberry, J.W. Anderson who have now chosen to follow the same model as Gucci and Balenciaga to show their men’s and women’s collections together. Additionally fashion darling Martine Rose and stalwart are also absent from the schedule.

All together these changes and absences led to a very underwhelming season with a few notable highlights and moments of genius. One plus side of having a very skimpy and light fashion week schedule it makes designers present some of their best work but also the crowd is on high alert for something brilliant and beautiful to come down the runway and take their breath away. For a moment when the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and you put away your phone and enjoy what is being shown in front of you.

John Lawrence Sullivan kicked off the first day of London Fashion Week: Mens by presenting a collection drawing its inspiration from psychopathic thriller movies like Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Lynch’s Twin Peaks. The Arashi Yanagawa translated this in looks that featured indigo blue jeans mixed with black leather on the legs, worn leather gilets and jackets that tied on the sides like straight jackets. Yanagawa expanded on his signature palette of black and grey with licks of lavender purples and emerald greens. Plaid printed coats and a leopard print overcoat riffed on Hedi Slimane’s Saint Laurent which played into the cowboy western theme. John Lawrence Sullivan is what Vetements wants to be but more authentic and less consumer and appealing to the masses.

The spaghetti western American cowboy inspiration was evident at Astrid Andersen. Despite not being alive for the Buffalo movement she managed to captured and replicate the look with a modern, street wear edge that her brand has been founded on.
All the Andersen signatures were there – lace and logo t-shirts and hoodies, ornate and check printed baggy trousers and shorts sent out to a hip-hop soundtrack and Nike trainers. She added the Buffalo spirit through accessorising looks with Stetson hats, lashings of tweed and shaggy wool.

The standout of day two came at the end of day two from Charles Jeffrey’s Loverboy. Charles Jeffrey is currently riding a momentous career wave. Hailed as London’s contemporary Galliano for this generation he’s coming off the back of winning the award for Emerging Menswear Designer at the British Fashion Awards last month presented by John Galliano himself. He was one of highlights of the MAN show for the three seasons he showed before going it alone. Since then he’s gone from strength to strength with a team comprising of the infamous Gary Card. He’s managed to bring the young gay community collectively together, gave them a space to bring their theatre, drama and performance back to fashion shows, educated the young and unwashed about club kid culture but through it all manage to put a grin on the coldest hearted individual in the room.

Jeffrey’s shows have a way of transporting you to another place and making you feel some kind of emotion – this year it was anger and fear. Waiting for the show to start figures dressed in dirty, dusty clothes and chalky white faces came out and began screaming; a woman sat next to me jumped out her skin. No one expected it and for over 10 minutes these figures roamed around the runway screaming and yelling at each other and at guests as they were being seated. Like angry, disgruntle toddlers they threw a tantrum!

When the show started it kicked off with a live band playing a heavy rock version of The Prodigy’s Firestarter instantly transporting us back to the angsty moody teenagers blaring this song out of our bedrooms angry at the world for no reason. As the drums kicked in and heartbeats raced the face model pounded down the runway in a moth eaten double-breasted navy suit fastened with an oversized safety pin – the most wearable look of the collection. Other looks featured an red and blue argyle sweater ballooned and cinched at the waist and a graffiti swiggle print logo long sleeved tee shirt and high waisted light blue trousers with red side stripe on a male model who’s face was painted to resemble Naomi Campbell and a strut to match. The whole time the figures from earlier berate, applaud and react as they walk past.
New to Jeffrey’s vocabulary was the inclusion of tartan midi length skirt suit cinched at the waist and flared at the knee with beret to match or the long length tartan jacket with cropped trouser. All of which were inspired by Jeffrey’s trip to his hometown in Scotland and his Scottish heritage.

This feeling of grunge and the 90s rave culture was evident at Liam Hodges. Styled with cartoon flora green hair and extreme makeup featuring X’s on the eyes and a downturned smile on the lips of some of the models. Models took to the checkerboard runway in cartoon graphics of daisies and ghosts t-shirts layered over thin black and white striped long sleeved t-shirts, bleached striped denim matching jacket and trousers complete with FILA sneaker-boots. Hodges drove home his message of youth and enjoying it while it lasted with a finale that had Baz Luhrman’s Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen).

‘Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth
oh nevermind;
you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself
And recall in a way you can’t grasp now how the possibility lay before
you and how fabulous you really looked…’

London Fashion Week: Mens a few years later; older and wiser still manages to intrigue, entertain and tug at the heart strings.