London Fashion Week Men's: Day 1 HIGHLIGHTS

The autumn/winter 2019 edition of London Fashion Week Men’s kicked off yesterday in its new home at Brick Lane’s Truman Brewery. Our style editor Martina Ghia and fashion journalist Stephen George have taken over our social media for the weekend and here are all the highlights from DAY 1:

Day one showcased what London has become today: Upcoming and international designer names on the schedule with creativity and diversity on their best.

BOBBY ABLEY

For Autumn-Winter 2019, Bobby Abley takes inspiration from his family and hometown of Scarborough, where he worked on the collection. Abley revisits his childhood; balaclavas, scarves and baby blankets are all replicated, hand knitted by his mother (and other relatives) and incorporated within the collection as one-off pieces. The family team of knitters also created cardigans and jumpers in fluorescent colours – a palette which recurs throughout the collection. The rest of the colours in the collection are inspired by Abley’s favourite characters from Pokémon.

ICEBERG:

90s and modern sport wear references were the main characteristics of ICEBERG AW19 show. Mickey became the protagonist of the apres-ski style of the collection which have been combined perfectly with the bold colours and the british punk references on grooming and styling.

JOHN LAWRENCE SULLIVAN:

Live music from London indie group Wild Daughter, a plethora of leopard print and heavy leather trench coats and trousers were some of the John Lawrence Sullivan’s fashion elements during his underground AW19 show. Strong textures and bold colours have been combined to create the new contemporary menswear.

Qasimi:

Amidst the current uncertain political and social climate, Qasimi’s urban nomad travels to the near future with a vision of hope within a utopian landscapefor autumn/winter 2019.

Utilitarian sportswear, bold colours with burgundy as the protagonist and protective layering are the three main trends that Qasimi is proposing for the next winter.

Concluding Day 1 it is worth to mention the British emerging talents who turned into tailoring with a twist for next winter.

EDWARD CRUTCHLEY

CHARLES JEFFREY LOVERBOY

London Fashion Week Men's SS19: THE TREND REPORT

The latest London Fashion Week Men's sets the bar for the Spring/Summer 2019 men's shows around the world. Here are the biggest new season menswear trends from the catwalks in the nation's capital.

Between John Lawrence Sullivan’s slim-cut leather biker suits, long-line leather overcoats and tiny nineties-style specs and Daniel W Fletcher’s slim-cut and be-harnessed trenches and skinny black tailored pieces the looks had strong references from 90s movies and trends .

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Daniel W Fletcher SS19

From the movie ‘Interview with a vampire’ to ‘Matrix, we have seen it all and especially in Matthew Miller show when the street style looks have been combine with nylon-metallic elements and fabric.

Then it was all about relaxed tailoring.

From tailored tracksuit bottoms and smart khaki pieces to oversized blazers combined with wide trousers or skinny shorts, search Qasimi  SS19 for more of the looks, we have seen from villagers country looks ( see Lou Dalton or Wood Wood presentations) to the vampires and the huntsmen.

Qasimi SS19

More oriental vibes with floral or embelished ''versace'' inspired patterns and aesthetic, and relaxed shirt combinations you could see in shows like Oliver Spencer and Edward Crutchley.  (The music background supported the presentations and the fashion 'journey')

I know we should note all the bright colours and combinations for the spring/summer season but 2019 seems to be quite dark and moody. The strongest colour pallet within the collections was the burgundy - wine red - purple - cloud pink..sh one in all the tones and shades. Designers like Oliver Spencer or Ben Sherman used it in almost all the looks and others kept it more specific but as the colour for the hero pieces. ( check Kiko Kostadinov) 

Ben Sherman SS19

Kiko Kostadinov SS19

And last but not least.... THE CROPPED TOPS or as we all know ’crop tops’. Yes, crop tops were ‘a thing’ for SS19 presentations and it looks like it will be a strong trends on menswear collections next year. From John Lawrence to Astrid Andersen, the crop top trend has made its strongest entry ever for SS19 ( well, at least for the last 15 years)

ASTRID ANDERSEN SS19

JOHN LAWRENCE SULLIVAN SS19

EDWARD CRUTCHLEY SS19

Alex Mullins SS19

London Fashion Week Men's SS19: THE HIGHLIGHTS

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

London Fashion Week Men's AW18 - REVIEW

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 AW18

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.

Charles Jeffrey AW18

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.

Liam Hodges AW18

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.