Men’s – Francesco Risso. Marni AW17

January 15, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

In the fashion industry, and precisely in Milan, there are two types of debuts. Like Alessandro Michele at Gucci, where he scored ten marks out of ten from the editors and buyers; and like, for example, at Roberto Cavalli or Jil Sander, where even the term ‘debut’ doesn’t make anyone ecctatic. Francesco Risso‘s debut collection at Marni falls into the latter camp – in fact, some of the least-informed guests could have thought it’s just another great Marni collection, without any big changes going on. A Prada alumni, who was raised on Miuccia Prada’s and Consuelo Castiglioni’s (Marni’s founder) neo-Italian aesthetic, presented his first collection for the conceptual brand in form of a menswear show. Lanky-looking models with long hair wore fluffy shearling coats, checked sweatpants, too-big trousers and 70s striped knits. Lemon-yellow sweatshirt with a fur lining looked equally Marni-geek, as the colourful beanies and pajama shirts. You can’t judge a designer by his first collection, but I’m quite sure Risso’s Marni won’t go through collossal rebranding and major advertising campaign, like Gucci or Balenciaga did in the past months. It’s quintessentially Marni – and who doesn’t love Marni as it is?

Men’s – Kaliningrad. Gosha Rubchinskiy AW17

January 13, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

During men’s fashion month, Florence’ Pitti Uomo and Milan are the sure go-to destinations after London. However, the new-gen designers coming from the former Soviet Union are here to break fashion’s conventions. Gosha Rubchinskiy, skater-loving photographer and designer from the bloc, used to present his collections in Paris; for spring-summer 2017 he took us to Italy; and for autumn-winter 2017, he invited a couple of key editors and buyers to Kaliningrad. If someone’s unsure about the geographical position of the show’s location, that’s the capital of Russian province divided by Lithuania and Poland.

While Soccer World Cup 2018 is taking place here, Rubchinskiy had a perfect reason to take the industry to this rather off-fashion’s-radar place. Now, streetwear fanatics, prepare for jaw-dropping news: Gosha presented his Adidas Football collaboration, which is purely symbolic in regards of the country’s Cold War-era black market history, and Russian’s football team gear. The collaboration consists of pieces ranging from football shirts to hoodies and accessories, all baring the world ‘football’ in Cyrillic script. The clothes were styled in a classical, Gosha way – skate-fit sportswear, boy-from-the-hood tracksuits and ironically masculine suits. Synthetic-white sneakers and a blue shirt – Russian guy look from the 90s, just like the geometric, post-modern prints on the slouchy knits. So, are you in the team?

Men’s – Seven Sisters Bankers. Martine Rose AW17

January 11, 2017January 24, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Martine Rose took London’s fashion scene to an indoor market in Seven Sisters, presenting her first runway collection, with nail salons and vegetable stalls in the background. Martine’s day-to-day job is consultancy at Balenciaga under Demna Gvasalia, but for her eponymous menswear line, she takes a fresh look at clothing essentials. For autumn-winter 2017, the daring designer explored different, quite unusual for the fashion industry male characters – the banker, the bus driver, the office worker to name just a few. People, who rather don’t care about fashion, and their unawareness of how they look lead Rose to reinterpreting tailored jackets, dresscode-wise shirts and voluminous suit trousers. With their hands in pockets, the models seemed to come straight from a some kind of subverted reality. Minutes after the show, Martine told Dazed & Confused that her idea was focused on “polished, mid-town, almost American Psycho-style bankers”. Instead of taking her aesthetically-forward bank boys to a CBD location, she took another path. “I’ve been in Tottenham for ten years, so it was time to do something here – I wanted people to come to the market to see how amazing it is. But I really enjoy when things are slightly off – so I wanted to have this weird show inside it.”

Men’s – Melting Pot. Wales Bonner AW17

January 10, 2017January 10, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

In my previous post on J.W. Anderson’s medieval-cool collection for men, I’ve mentioned Grace Wales Bonner as another example of a designer, who makes men’s London Fashion Week far, far more exciting. It isn’t a secret that London is Europe’s most celebrated melting pot of cultures, customs, dialects – no wonder why creatives from the whole world come here, to start their businesses. Wales Bonner‘s autumn-winter 2017 colllection is a continuation of her nearly poetic take on the topic of ‘spiritualism’.

“It was about the return of these spiritual characters who have existed in the Wales Bonner language before, it was about making them the heroes and looking at the street in an elevated way – and looking at it at different time periods. It was about bringing this sense of richness and depth to street language,” is the way she explained her latest outing of diverse boys (and girls).

Since the very beginnings of her own label, the Central Saint Martins graduate finds inspiration in her childhood memories – being a mixed-race girl brought up in south London was an experience, which left a significant mark on Bonner’s aesthetical point of view. The clothes presented by Grace clearly showed her interest in intriguing, African culture. Inspired with the unexplored street culture of Dakar, Wales Bonner sent out a line of leather patchwork pants, crinkled shirts with slouchy tailoring and velvet ties – as if the looks emerged out of Patrick Cariou’s photographs from his trip to Senegal.

Patrick Cariou

Tops covered in authentic Masai beading; stunning leather jackets trimmed with Dalmatian-intarsia mink – those are just some of the striking pieces coming straight from Wales Bonner runway. For the collection, the designer invited two, supremely-talented creatives, who are often associated with British fashion – first, Manolo Blahnik, who reinterpreted African sandals and boots. Second, Stephen Jones, who produced a limited number of Rasta caps with white mink stripes (Grace picked London’s Kingston neighborhood as a reference) and Pashtun caps. Bravo.

Photography Chloé Le Drezen

Men’s – Charming Crotchet. JW Anderson AW17

January 9, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

“Pagan knights in shining armor. Layers on layers as a defense mechanism. Something knitty and cozy—the epitome of British craft.” That’s how Jonathan Anderson described his autumn-winter 2017 collection for men at his eponymous label. From granny-crotchet details (!) to XXL-scarves in bold orange and purple, the designer reminded every editor and buyer why London Collections MAN is still worth observing. Big brands like Burberry decided to combine menswear with womenswear due to financial reasons, while young designers… well, British menswear is struggling (except Wales Bonner, of course). But J.W. Anderson is a brand that’s always ahead of the rest in regards of a concept. Yesterday in the morning, Anderson presented a collection designed for a modern-day prince ~~charming~~, collage-ing medieval references (voluminous tops with big tabard sleevess, patches depicting stained glass windows on knitwear and jeans). In the evening, he and Alasdair McLellan launched an event at J.W. Anderson Workshop in London, selling highly-NSFW double-sided posters. In other words, expect the unexpected from Anderson, wherever you’re, whatever you’re doing.