Men’s fashion: London kicks off the spring/summer 2015 season

By

Florent Gilles

Published
Jun 12, 2014

London will unveil about 60 menswear collections during three days of fashion shows and presentations, starting Sunday. As always, up-and-coming designers will be showcased via platforms created by Topshop, the British Fashion Council and the Fashion East initiative to guarantee maximum exposure for their new ideas in menswear.

Beginning Sunday, the BFC will present Christophe Shannon’s catwalk show, celebrating the inaugural winner of the new BFC/GQ Designer Menswear Fund prize, sponsored by Vertu. Modeled after the BFC/Vogue Fashion Fund prize, and presented for the first time this year, the prize includes a grant of £150,000 and one year of professional mentoring, valued at £50,000. Also of note on the program is Moschino, whose new artistic director, Jeremy Scott, has returned his menswear collection to the London event. One of the successors to Jeremy Scott’s style, Danish designer Astrid Andersen will show the first day. Her capsule collection for Topshop launches this weekend.

Prestigious must-see designers
What with Alexander McQueen, Burberry, Savile Row tailors and modern designers such as E. Tautz, Christoper Kane and J.W. Anderson, there will be no shortage of highlights, despite a tightly crowded schedule serving up nearly twenty presentations each day. The younger talents no one wants to miss will be there as well, including Craig Green, Sibling, Shaun Samson and Christopher Raeburn.

The rise of men’s accessories
London’s menswear event will witness several fashion houses specializing in men’s accessories showcasing their men’s lines. On Sunday morning, one of LVMH’s latest acquisitions, Nicolas Kirkwood, will offer a new collection of men’s shoes, as will John Lobb and Louis Leeman (the 15th) and Solange Azagury-Partridge and Jimmy Choo (the 16th).

Contemporary designers grow in importance
American label DKNY (owned by LVMH) will celebrate its first London catwalk show on Sunday evening, taking advantage of the renewed hype generated by its successful collaboration with Opening Ceremony. But several other premium-priced “contemporary” brands will also be heard from during the three days of shows, including collections from YMC, Hentsch Man and of course, Topman Design.

In particular, following its launch last season, the second men’s collection from Joseph will appear, with artistic direction by ex-Neil Barrett designer Mark Thomas. He will revisit the basics, balancing Parisian chic and British flair. HunterGather also offers a new twist on the classics. The new design collective, already much sought-after internationally, has successfully launched its own online sales site (Editor’s Note: there’s also a women’s line).

One of the Scandinavian stars in this sector, Tiger of Sweden, has seized the opportunity and returned to London this season to benefit from all the media coverage. The brand intends to enter the French market starting this autumn.