A Guide To London Fashion Week Men’s
By Something CuratedIn January 2012, the British Fashion Council announced that it would dedicate an entire weekend to menswear fashion designers in the form of London Collections Men. Held twice a year in January and June, and rebranded as London Fashion Week Men’s last year, it is an occasion for designers to present upcoming collections to press, media, stylists, buyers, fashion influencers and, in some cases, the public. As ever, this season London Fashion Week Men’s showcases a breadth of exciting new and emerging talent, alongside established favourites, with a busy schedule of shows and events running until Monday 12 June. Breaking down the key designers involved, Something Curated takes a closer look at the menswear sages, pioneering veterans who have been around for decades, the new guard, including modern fashion innovators like Jonathan Anderson and Craig Green, as well as a number of London’s emergent stars.
Menswear Veterans
Vivienne Westwood || Vivienne Westwood & Andreas Kronthaler
By the end of the seventies Vivienne Westwood was already considered a symbol of the British avant-garde and for A/W 1981 she showed her first catwalk presentation at Olympia in London. Westwood then turned to traditional Savile Row tailoring techniques, using British fabrics and 17th and 18th Century art for inspiration. 1989 was the year that Vivienne met Andreas Kronthaler, who would later become her husband and long-time design partner, as well as Creative Director of the brand. Westwood continues to capture the imagination, and raise awareness of environmental and human rights issues.
Chalayan || Hussein Chalayan
Hussein Chalayan is known as a fashion’s storyteller, playing with narratives constructed around cultural identities and anthropology. His multidisciplinary approach bridges the gap between performance, art and technology; his ideas evolve around perception as well as realities of modern life. Chalayan continues to offer iconic collections featuring an innovative design, impeccable tailoring, elegant drapery and a minimalist aesthetic. Combining craftsmanship with current techniques, Chalayan explores a breadth of shapes and detailing. The Chalayan name is synonymous with fashion innovation, not only within the industry, but also with some of the most ubiquitous celebrities and tastemakers in the world.
Burberry || Christopher Bailey
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The brand’s innovative fabric was invented in 1879 by Thomas Burberry. Breathable and weatherproof, it revolutionised rainwear, which up until then had typically been heavy and uncomfortable to wear. Christopher Bailey joined Burberry as Design Director in May 2001 and from the outset his creative vision was applied to all aspects of the brand. Bailey and his team, who have garnered a mixed reputation for bringing the heritage label into the digital age, have led the way in an era of instant fashion, offering collections to the consumer soon after their presentation on the runway.
The New Guard
E. Tautz || Patrick Grant
In 2015 Patrick Grant won the BFC designer menswear fund, part of a twelve month mentoring programme for his transformation of the ready-to-wear line. Grant has accumulated numerous awards to his name, including the British Fashion Council’s Menswear Designer of the Year award in December 2010 for his work on E. Tautz. His label has become well known for its sharply collared polo shirts and tailoring, and, in Grant’s signature style, high-waisted and generously pleated trousers. The garments are roomy, and elegantly proportioned with an air of old-fashioned sophistication.
J.W.Anderson || Jonathan Anderson
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The success of Jonathan Anderson’s debut collection back in 2008 earned him both critical acclaim and commercial success. His label is now regarded as one of London’s most innovative and forward thinking brands. Its unique design aesthetic offers a modern interpretation of masculinity by creating thought-provoking silhouettes through a conscious cross-pollination between menswear and womenswear elements.
Craig Green || Craig Green
London-born designer Craig Green established his eponymous label in 2012, shortly after graduating from the Fashion Masters course at Central Saint Martins. He has since carved a unique position amongst the city’s most innovative menswear designers and continues to earn both critical and commercial success. Marrying concepts of uniform and utility Green’s vision has been a much-lauded fixture since AW13. Though well-known for their dramatic and emotive qualities, each show is firmly rooted in the steady development of simple signature garments. The clearest example of this is the worker jacket, which has appeared consecutively since the brand’s debut. Green’s distinct offering of substance within spectacle, has earned the label a firm customer base within some of the world’s most prestigious stores.
Wales Bonner || Grace Wales Bonner
Grace Wales Bonner graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2014, winning the L’Oreal Professionnel Talent Award for her student work. After her first season with Fashion East, she was asked to present her AW15 collection Ebonics at the V&A’s prestigious Fashion in Motion programme. Her idiom explores black male representation and is recognisable through its opulent use of embroidery, jewellery and hybrid of African craft and couture techniques. Last year, the designer spent a month at Thread, an artists’ residency in Senegal run by the Albers Foundation, where she researched weaving, textiles and crafts. Earning significant support from LVMH in 2016, the favoured status of the young designer’s label has been somewhat concretised.
Lou Dalton || Lou Dalton
One of a few female designers on the British menswear scene, Lou Dalton has fast become a figurehead for home-grown talent. Dalton left school at 16 to take up an apprenticeship in bespoke tailoring, after which she returned to education, graduating from the Royal College of Art in 1998. She cut her teeth at a variety of international brands, notably as a consultant for United Arrows Japan and Stone Island in Italy, before founding her eponymous label in 2008. Her collections are often inspired by the men in her life, including her father and her partner. Coupled with her Shropshire roots, this ensures Dalton’s collections continually remain grounded in wearable, while pulling on a variety of intriguing influences.
Martine Rose || Martine Rose
Over the past decade, Martine Rose has proven herself as somewhat of an anti-establishmentarian figure on the London menswear scene. Shunning for a long time the ubiquitous schedule, the designer showed her work sporadically through unusual formats, though this hasn’t always been the case. As well as designing under her eponymous label, Rose has also consulted at Balenciaga with Demna Gvasalia. Spanning queer culture and ravers, as well as influences from photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and post-punk rocker Mark E. Smith, her references are consistently deliberated and diverse.
Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY || Charles Jeffrey
Scottish-born designer, illustrator and creative Charles Jeffrey graduated from MA Fashion Design at Central Saint Martins in 2015. His brand Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY encompasses a fashion label and a cult club night, each informing the other. The LOVERBOY night forms the primary research for Jeffrey’s collections, with his tribe of friends and creative collaborators – artists, performers, musicians, drag queens and poets – contributing to the egalitarian spirit of the brand.
Seasoned Designers
COTTWEILER || Ben Cottrell & Matthew Dainty
Ben Cottrell and Matthew Dainty collectively known as COTTWEILER, are concept led designers who respond instinctively to their social environment. Forward thinking design and manufacturing are combined with an aspirational quality to form a relevant menswear label. In addition to producing seasonal collections stocked worldwide, COTTWEILER produce films and installations, which have been showcased at The Institute of Contemporary Arts London, Haus Der Kunst Munich and Alison Jacques Gallery London.
Liam Hodges || Liam Hodges
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Kent-born Liam Hodges’ signature aesthetic demonstrates playful shapes and workwear detailing, communicated through a strong graphic language presented on oversized garments, including boiler suits, t-shirts and knitwear. His influences range from hip-hop, pirate radio and punk. His work has won the support of Another Man and Showstudio, amongst others, and has been worn by eminent artists including Drake, Big Sean and FKA Twigs, to name a few.
Xander Zhou || Xander Zhou
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Xander Zhou was the first menswear designer from China to be part of London Fashion Week Men’s. In his work, Zhou explores the boundaries between form and function, as well as the unique qualities of the different fabrics he uses. He reconstructs classical forms by providing them with new contexts, occasionally blurring gender stereotypes in the process. Zhou’s collections, though ever evolving, have often been inspired by youth subcultures, combining elegance with a streetwear foundation.
Emergent Talent
Kiko Kostadinov || Kiko Kostadinov
Kiko Kostadinov studied BA and MA Fashion Design at Central Saint Martins, graduating in 2016. His celebrated collaborations with Stüssy sold out exclusively at Dover Street Market Ginza and New York. Kostadinov has been able to build a cult but global following for his designs, all before graduating. Much of Kostadinov’s work is informed by his family’s emigration, resulting in collections that explore physical and emotional detachment, integration and ultimately change.
Alex Mullins || Alex Mullins
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British designer Alex Mullins studied at Central Saint Martins, where he was runner up in the L’Oreal Professional Young Designer of the Year Award. He went onto complete an MA in Menswear at the Royal College of Art. After working for Alexander McQueen, Diane von Furstenberg, Jeremy Scott, Kanye West and Dirk Bikkembergs, Mullins set up his brand in spring 2013.
Rottingdean Bazaar || James Theseus Buck & Luke Brooks
Brighton-born James Theseus Buck graduated from Central Saint Martins’ MA Fashion course in 2015 and has worked freelance for brands including Ashish and J.W. Anderson. London-born Luke Brooks graduated from CSM’s MA Fashion course in 2012. Since then he has worked independently, creating non-seasonal collections, pop-up shops and commissions. Having begun collaborating in late 2015, the duo moved to the seaside village of Rottingdean, where their work has taken form around an inimitable use of textiles and found objects. The label is intended to be a showcase and eventually a shop, presenting clothes, accessories, homeware, artworks, installations and editorial stories made by the pair.
ART SCHOOL || Eden Loweth & Tom Barratt
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ART SCHOOL focuses on redefining the limitations of ready-to-wear fashion blurring the lines of menswear and womenswear to create a modern representation of unisex clothes. Directed by the creative partnership of Eden Loweth and Tom Barratt the label is informed by the designers’ backgrounds as menswear and art criticism graduates respectively. Loweth graduated from BA Fashion at Ravensbourne in 2016 specialising in menswear – his graduate collection received widespread praise for its portrayal of the evolving trans body. Barratt graduated from BA Art Criticism, Communication and Curation at Central Saint Martins in 2016. His studies focused on feminist film aesthetics and the communication of queer style within counter-culture.
Feature image: Craig Green details (via Le 21ème)