MAN SHOWS, LFW REVIEWS
MAN
KATIE EARY
A recent graduate of the Royal College, Katie Eary has previously taken George Orwell’s controversial Animal Farm as a starting point for her firebrand vision of menswear. For summer she moves to another seminal writer, William Burroughs, and his texts that monitor the abuse of body and mind through drug addiction.
Thus her collection dissects the male body image, quite literally: the anatomical and the animistic are used here as ferocious leitmotifs. Imagine a mob of animal rights protesters emerging from combat, brandishing the remains of a dismembered cavalry regiment. Zombie like, her men sport flesh toned body suits printed with trompe l’oeil bones or musculature that give foundation to fox fur capes over stunning chain mail ‘knitwear’. Metallic crocodile skins are patched into drummer boy shorts. Rib-cages, hanging like jewellery, are realized in pearls to adorn biker jackets, whilst blood red cordings simulate exposed arteries via Victorian military embellishments. Whilst an improbable style influence, her work draws the mind to the bloodshed reported daily from current world conflicts- the specific colonial references in her distressed uniforms may suggest the use of military operation as outdated barbarism.
Nevertheless, purely as clothing, Eary’s work may risk falling into the theatrical, and will face the issue of how men will wear these extrovert creations. The use of period military uniform particularly evokes prior eras rather than a modern evaluation of men’s fashion. However, like her counter-cultural literary heroes, her commitment is to fleshing out her unorthodox fantasies with painstaking craftsmanship, not commercial constraints, and for this Eary must be celebrated and encouraged.
J W ANDERSON:
Like a ceasefire following conflict, JW Anderson’s nomadic protagonist appears sleek and shadow-like, a masculinity that wanders the horizons between what is modern and urban, and pagan and traditional. A procession of spear like male silhouettes resemble a tribal collective, though re-imagined through an unsettlingly clinical Kubrick-like vernacular. A cropped haired man-boy strides in the most masculine of garments, a pair of dungarees, but executed so simply in a black double woven silk; it’s cut perfectly slim that it’s obvious luxury is reversed into a silent statement of modesty.
Further looks revolve around two key stylings: a loose, fluid volume on top teamed with leggings, and then flipped, so high waisted trousers drape about the legs, with long sleeved Lycra tops expressing the models’ wiry torsos. These graphic shapes come in black, white, sand or a beautiful regal blue and ornamented by dazzling tribal beading, appearing as over-sized bracelets and glossy cuffs, or fez style hats – part sci-fi scene, part Sudanese. In juxtaposition, a technical utilitarianism surfaces in a nylon bomber jacket or a towelling ruck-sack, enhancing the designer’s themes of survival, exploration and self-protection. One model roams barefoot with a quiet, dignified savagery, wearing an exquisite skirt composed of falling lines of hand beading, a leather vest and huge hoop earrings, throwing expectations of gender, ethnicity and dress aside in the name of divining an updated proposal for what the man of today ( and tomorrow) can wear.
CHRISTOPHER SHANNON:
Unlike the preceding two designers, Shannon’s fascinations lie in a more everyday area. He has knowingly discussed a ‘refined scallyism’ in prior collections, and his work focuses on the casual sportswear attire of the English working class male, albeit reworked through offbeat, Colgate-cool colour combinations, quirky detailing and luxe fabrications. As a trance remix of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ hazily reverberates, and the show lights dance over the hi-gloss finish of his collection you can’t help feel seduced.
His boys empower the athletic styling (back and ankle packs courtesy of Eastpak, limited edition Reeboks, layered nylon track shorts) with a cocksure urban swagger, which belies their eye popping pastels and patent jogging pants – perhaps too fashion forward a recipe for the macho ‘chav’ Shannon draws his influence from. Yet, there is the legacy of the cult Moschino and Versace jeans diffusion lines of the 90’s in his all over prints of chains and jewellery on jeans jackets, that suggest his considered designs will find a receptive audience; he does walk a similar line of another influential London designer, Kim Jones, now the creative director at Dunhill, whose menswear design award Shannon has already won.
Shannon excels at revising classic garments with a new perspective, usually whimsical yet never laboured. A hoody so cropped it becomes a bib, felt an adventurous yet functional form of layering, as did a simple white bomber patch worked from strips of mesh and nylon. Whilst it will be important to see if Shannon can expand on the uniform of sweat pants and windbreakers, and find new ways of discussing these staples, his very English playfulness is clearly here to stay: white models were only partially bronzed with fake tan, leaving pale, pasty skin poking out from under shorts and necklines- the perfect image of a British summer.
TOPMAN DESIGN:
The Man showcase, and much of London Fashion Week, is underwritten by the retail behemoth of Topshop, and thus their most design led, and more expensive, menswear line, sold only in select Topman boutiques, is given a headline slot along with London’s bright new design talents.
Much of this collection focuses on sharp suiting- think the fresh cool of Paul Weller in his mod heyday, but somehow reworked via the 90’s (a current fixation for fashion revivalists) with a nod to the Austrian designer Helmut Lang or Miuccia Prada in the sportswear as formal-wear styling of an unassuming zip fronted bomber shirt, or the mix of silks against technical fabrics. Trousers came slim, with a cuffed hem, tailored to reveal bare ankles and the polish of a patent oxford. Overall, a slick showing for what is still a high street brand.
Words and illustration by Alex Mein