In London, (the unofficial) Men’s Fashion Week couldn’t begin in a more astounding, ecclesiastically-euphoric way. At St. Bartholomew the Great, London’s oldest parish church, with air heavy with incense, John Alexander Skelton had his triumphant return to the runway. For autumn-winter 2024, the designer -took inspiration from the gothic aesthetic and intangible emotions that This Mortal Coil, an ’80s dream pop collective, elicited. “It’s my emotional response to the music“, he said. That took shape in romantic longline coats, tailored suiting, knitwear and shirting, with Skelton’s signature horn buttons dotted throughout, and sported by stately models clutching lit candles in hand. Regal, but chic; mystical, but not whimsy.
Inky blacks composed the majority of this season’s palette, a choice Skelton attributed to examining 15th-century portraiture in which wearing black was “generally thought of as a power symbol,” he explained. It was contrasted with a drop of blood-red ruby, which took the form of meaty velvets. While John Alexander Skelton is often inclined to spin a rich and theatrical yarn around his collections, the essence of his appeal lies in the clothes themselves – just hold one of his shirts or tailored trousers in your hands, and the extraordinary craftsmanship and timeless textiles look and feel just as arresting as any of his runway spectacles.
Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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