Showing posts with label spring 2017. Show all posts

Short Read: Menswear Needs An Antidepressant



For the past few seasons I've slowly started to fall out of love with fashion week. Not only do "seasons" feel somewhat antiquated but there's seems to be an increasing level of pomp and circumstance and more of focus on sales rather than artistry, resulting in a drought of talent or as André Leon Talley would call it, "A famine of beauty!".

While many new creative directors are still easing themselves into their roles, we're still waiting for a big bang moment, which may well come next season when some of them debut their collections.

That aside, designers seem to be phoning it in a little. Not only is artistry suffering but also quality and above all - fantasy! Regardless of what you might think of their work, when it comes to the big names, designers Alessandro Michele, Jeremy Scott, Marc Jacobs and Thom Browne seem to be the only ones having fun. When did fashion become so serious?! Mens fashion in particular is in dire need of cheering up. Models are stick thin, ghostly pale and draped in ill-fitting, dark clothing, stomping down the runway looking positively mortified at what their mates down the pub would say if they saw them dressed like this.


NYFW S/S 2017 New Directions: DvF, Coach and Oscar de la Renta





The fashion industry is in a complete state of flux at the moment. So much change in such little time. The revolving door of creative directors keeps on spinning and many brands are still ironing out the logistics of their newly adopted "see now, buy now" format.

Some immediate edits to the industry came to light during New York Fashion Week. Jonathan Saunders for example debuted his first collection as creative director of Diane von Furstenburg, Coach continued to cement their massively overhauled more "urban" aesthetic and Oscar de la Renta showcased their latest collection before Monse's Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia take over as creative directors next season. So let's see how these collections have set the brands up for next season.

NYFW Trend: The (Mostly) Monochrome Texture Mash-Up ft. Victoria Beckham, Christian Siriano, Prabal Gurung and Rodarte

This season's New York Fashion Week has been ridden with change. Not only has the fashion industry seen a flux of changes in creative directors but a noticeable change is apparent from merely looking at the clothes - a shift in priorities from silhouette to texture. This season is a lot more about how a woman feels in her clothes rather than how she looks in them. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to design elements, the focus has been to offer pieces which seem familiar, but in an unexpected fabric and coupled with other pieces in starkly contrasting fabrics.

Best of the Rest: A round-up of my favourite looks this season


And there it is - another menswear micro-season wrapped up. We've seen 70s hippies at Moschino, 90s psychedelia at Gucci, naked kings at Commes des Garçons, British heritage marrying Parisian elegance at Dior and a celebration of the British seaside at Topman Design. What a trip! 

While this has probably been the best set of collections I've seen in years, there's still a long way for menswear to go when it comes to experimentation and boundary pushing.

Here, I've pulled together some of my favourite looks from some of my favourite brands which deserve shout out for showing something different, playing around with proportion, print and generally being less conservative and more experimental. Something the world is in dire need of - bravo!


African-inspired prints, perfect pattern clashing and global jet-set chic at Louis Vuitton (Kim Jones I love you please dress me every day k thanx bye) 


REVIEW: Gucci Menswear - Spring 2017

Ever wondered what it would be like if Bryan Fuller and Wes Anderson designed menswear? Me neither, but now, we don't have to! 


In a clear digression from its Brit-punk infused Cruise collection where Britain's melting pot cultured was realised in all its kaleidoscopic splendour, Gucci's Spring 2017 Menswear show was a worldly, multicultural myriad of geek-chic and historic-looking Chinese silks. 

PUMP UP THE VOLUME: This season's standout trend


Left: MSGM Resort 2017 Right: BOSS Resort 2017

Every season I study countless images of runways, presentations, trade shows and street style shots from all over the world to see what's going on in the world, you might say that even though it has been longer than I care to admit since I graduated, you never really stop being a fashion student.  This season, one thing has been inescapable - volume. Usually I get caught up in the types of fabric shown, how they're used and manipulated, but this season the one standout theme is the sheer amount of fabric. 

Oversized, super long, voluminous, long line, ill-fitting, baggy, however you may refer to it, in this post-recession era brands are being wholly unapologetic for their decadence. Gone are the minimalist, streamlined, clean lines of season past and here we have enough fabric in one garment to make a head to toe look.

A heavily denim-clad Pitti Uomo attendee shot by Phil Oh 

REVIEW: Topman Design Spring/Summer 2017





"Miami Vice meets Margate" isn't a sentence I thought I'd write when making notes on a menswear collection (or ever for that matter) and yet, here we are.

This season Topman Design showcased a brazen celebration of Britishness, the British seaside to be precise. Whether your sentiments towards British summers are that of looking out onto perfectly cloudless skies, above a glistening navy sea while you lap up a brilliant white ice cream, or of grey skies, howling winds, rickety death-defying fairground rides and eating shit fish and chips, there was something in this collection for everyone.

REVIEW: Moschino Menswear : Spring 2017



With Jeremy Scott at the helm, Moschino has gone from Italian fashion's neglected step child to one of fashion week's most talked about shows; and one of the decade's most divisive brands. Love it or loathe it, Moschino receives column inches other brands can only dream of and its divisiveness only adds to the much-hyped conversation. Better that people have a strong opinion, positive or otherwise, than no opinion at all. Right?