Men’s Collections: London revisits its classics

By

Florent Gilles

Published
Jun 19, 2014

London Collections: Men ushered in the spring/summer 2015 menswear shows, taking place from June 15 to 17, with gusto, confirming the return of several major trends in menswear identified during recent seasons.

Sports have also continued to obsess a contingent of British designers now that the World Cup has begun. Nasir Mazhar and Astrid Andersen spun it off in a sexually ambiguous direction, launching their first collaboration with Topman, worn during shows by… the topping Jourdan Dunn.

More convincing were experiments in materials by Christopher Raeburn, who employed recycled military fabrics. Meanwhile, there were a great deal of hybrid looks falling somewhere between the soccer stadium and the city among new designers at DKNY and Tiger of Sweden.

The "arty" trend continues on the London catwalks, appearing in presentations by luxury houses like Alexander McQueen and Burberry, whose collection paid homage to old English books without seeming drab thanks to a range of lively colors and desirable pieces. The collection included multi-colored sneakers and a lot of denim and wool. The Burberry spring/summer collection should become available in stores by November (!).

Several designers have shaken up classic menswear conventions by playing upon certain clichés such as tennis stripes, for example, found in abundance at Casely-Hayford, E.Tautz, and Tiger of Sweden, the Swedish contemporary slim-fit brand that is opening a second flagship in London and soon to arrive in France.

Volumes were exaggerated to the extreme with XXL high-waisted pants by E.Tautz, Alexander McQueen and the duo Agi & Sam, which although more conventional than usual, has gone for an unusual use of pleats by Issey Miyake on gigantic, androgynous pants.

The British Fashion Council has put together a schedule of more than sixty presentations over three days, and published new encouraging figures at the opening, noting that the menswear market jumped by 18% in the UK between 2008 and 2013 to over 16 billion euros in 2013.