London Fashion Week is over. The streets are free of camera flashes and cabbies resisting the urge to run over influencers taking photos on the road. The dust is settling. And I have
some thoughts. |
Fashion Week can feel like one long fever dream. Not to complain (and I shan't!), but if you stack your calendar with 10+ shows a day, and spend those days hurtling between venues, armed only with coffee and a willing heart, things get hectic. But now my watch has ended. And while editors flock off to Milan for round three, I'm sifting through my inbox - tears in my eyes! - and collecting my thoughts.
Would you like to hear them? Course you would.
1. Why don't I own more supportive footwear? Do I need to visit a podiatrist? What is a podiatrist?
2. Getting men over their fear of wearing pink should be one of society and the government's highest priorities. Backstage at his show, Aaron Esh told me that guys should "absolutely" be wearing more of it. And it comes in the fuschia leather jackets, pussybow blouses and crewneck sweatshirts he showed on Friday, which should be good propaganda. |
3. The Ahluwalia Man is still the coolest guy in London. At Fashion Week, the factions become real obvious. If you go to the Simone Rocha show, you will see people in bows and pearls and lace and puffs. There will be alt baddies at the Chopova Lowena show. Venture to Aaron Esh, you'll see hoards of dudes in leather jackets chain-smoking rollies and not making eye contact with you. At Ahluwalia, the guys - both on the runway and off - looked sick in bright colours, texture and sports references. The courtyard of the venue, the Rosewood hotel, was briefly the only place to be in London.
4. Lime Bike would make a killing if they hired people to set up bikes outside of shows for rushing editors. Just an idea!
5. Toga's printed and feathered menswear? Good. The show being interrupted by, like, a 400-person marching band blasting the shit out of some John Philip Sousa on Victoria Embankment? Also quite good.
6. Charlie Constantinou is still one of London's best new talents. His show was low key - no bells and/or whistles - but the design stacked up. It was like if teenagers managed to live through the apocalypse but still wanted to have that shit on: techy jackets, cropped cargos, Miyake-ish pleating, with unexpected gradients throughout. Concise and directional. No hype needed. |
7. Walking out of Mithridate was hard, only because it was pitch black in the basement of Space House and I went face-first into a wall. But once I did, all I could think about was old-timey formalwear. Daniel Fletcher's collection was fun and pop-y, but the best bits were when he took menswear relics - sleeve garters, cummerbunds, wing-tipped collars - and remixed them. Genuinely cool.
8. Who cleans the (fake?!) breast milk out of the Di Petsa show carpet?
9. Can more men wear bloomers? Oscar Ouyang's show went heavy on the Renaissance vibes and short shorts, all pleated and ruffled. I would like to see it!
10. You should be able to tell street-style photographers, "OMG no I look sooo ugly in that, ew deleeete." And they should listen to you.
11. I am, once again, advocating for chaps. Stefan Cooke presented denim-on-denim versions in its lookbook and I will be putting in an order. Join me.
12. Seán McGirr hosted McQueen's grand return to the London calendar in a literal crypt. The whole thing was vampiric and ghoulish and delicious. I went to view the tailoring up close at the re-see on Monday and the metal-embellished jacket is mind-boggling.
13. I need a nap. And Chinese food.
Images courtesy of Getty
Big style reads of the week
Harry Styles really, really likes these niche £72 running shorts
You don't need a garden to wear YMC's new gardening gear
Every possible jean showed up at London Fashion Week |
"Liverpool has been obsessed with the Nike Air Max 95 for more than 30 years. Like, properly obsessed. The city renamed it, collected it, hunted down obscure colourways, and generally treated it like it was specifically for Scousers in the first place. Well, the Swoosh has finally taken the hint: Liverpool officially has an Air Max 95 to call its own." -Adam Cheung, style writer |
|
|
"I wore these Chimi sunglasses so much during Fashion Week, I'm considering having them surgically attached to my face for ease. Great for making your street-style shots look less busted. Going to buy every colour." -MCh |
|
|
|
