LONDON FASHION WEEK S/S2011 – LOU DALTON 

Kicking off menswear day it what seemed like her rightful 9am spot - after last season's diversion to the Fashion East installation - Lou Dalton reinterpreted a nomadic, gypsy spirit through her always refined eye. Fulfilling the oft applied epithet of 'the British Lanvin', the first exit - bleach blonde Thomas Penfound in a black shorts suit consisting of just-above-the-knee shorts and matching, workwear inspired blazer – gave a nuanced, subtle nod to utility when finished with gold zipper and embroidered patch embellishments.

Tonal panelling, raw, exposed seams, saddle back pockets and shorn off sleeves across blazers, slimline chinos, and shorts hitting mid thigh broached a polished, make-do-and-mend treatment, and an ineffably formal functionality, Dalton's dandies of the previous summer hardened but still dab handed with a needle and thread. Indicative of dusted, textural vistas and offering rustic, organic warmth against twilight winds, honeycomb and waffle knits in wheat - one backed in flat gray another interspersed with burgundy yarn and finished with exposed, dropped stitches - complemented a subtly combative palette of khaki, cream, camel and navy.

Introducing the collection's non-conformist, Romany conceit, a burgeoning peacock appliqué burst first across a buttoned-up chambray shirt before appearing as a refrained print across panelled t-shirts. Impacting upon a graphic cartoon print upon formal shorts and teamed with chunky, woven metallic jewellery, Lou Dalton - drawing on a wide range of travels from India, Europe and South Africa - began the day's proceedings with an eclectic elegance typical of London.

Photos by Duilio Marconi

Posted by Luke Raymond

LONDON FASHION WEEK S/S2011 – NEW POWER STUDIO 

 

Cryptic and concise, the show notes to New Power Studio's second showing under the MAN banner offered little but a bout of contrasts; "Connection vs Isolation, Spontaneity vs Schedule". Detailing dissatisfaction with the wider world, "Outside - Bad, Inside - Good" and whether interior monologue, a rallying rebuttal of enforced constraints or a heady combination of both, designer Thom Murphy led the audience on a free-reign gambol through sportswear, skewed suiting and spectacle.

Menswear day gradually enveloped by an increasing focus upon scally inspired casualwear - see Christopher Shannon and Martine Rose - panelled shirts in baby blue - cut neither oversized nor slimline - and elasticated joggers in stealthy, battleship gray donned by shaven headed models in Reebok classics commenced the collection with a charged air of anti-fashion nonchalance. Taking in bomber and funnelled necked jackets in black, camel and silver, t-shirts punctuated falling sharp crystallized prints and a bin bag tracksuit - literal in iridescent black nylon, parachute shoulders and a yellow drawstring waist, New Power Studio strove a defiantly individual and interrogative path.

A brief interlude - four dancers draped in toilet roll, donning stellar print sweatshirts and matching jogging bottoms in lunar coral and azure - lead into an avian hoodie and rucksack - toddler included - plumage rendered in rubber gloves. Concluding with relaxed suiting in chocolate brown, seams and lining exposed at reverse and a towelling two piece - sweatshirt and jogging bottoms in bucolic wheat tones, New Power Studio's joyous, primarily wearable performance finished the MAN show on a high note. No question.

Photos by Duilio Marconi

Posted by Luke Raymond

LONDON FASHION WEEK S/S2011 – JAMES LONG

Endowed with the foreboding title 'They Died Too Young', James Long - inspired by the desolate, tumbleweed landscapes and drifting, unstable protagonists of Midnight Cowboy and My Own Private Idado - presented a barrage of rebellious River Phoenix characters. Flawed and free-spirited, egotistic yet anxious, a clash of print, pattern and material at once articulated and reconciled the conflicting emotions of youth.

Addressing both the workwear and painterly conceits that continue to pervade menswear, bleeding blots and swirling pools of lilac, blush pink and azure spill across cuffed shorts, slender trousers, shirting and sleeveless jackets, an initial spate of all over styling soon making way for aforementioned patch work - achieved not in individual garments but through a combination of singular, separate pieces. From space-dyed knits across twin-sets and oversized cardigans to loose, Seditionaries yarns and James' perennial, undulating, iridescent threads in near-coral, sullied knitwear provided couched comfort whilst informing the collection's damaged aesthetic.

Offering neutral respite, desert dried denim in the palest of Alice blues came deployed across familiar, resilient shapes - a short boiler suit with exposed zip, cuffed shorts, a half placket tunic and a sleeveless jacket - whilst the introduction of cow pelt in liquorice and tobacco tones and a dark, bordering on Gothic look worn by Cole Mohr (leather shorts and a knitted twinset in insidious violet and blood red) embodied a tussle between external and the internal.

Posted by Luke Raymond

LONDON FASHION WEEK S/S2011 – CAROLYN MASSEY 

Transitioning from several seasons showing on the catwalk to The Portico Rooms presentation space, newly intimate proceedings allowed a valuable focus upon Carolyn Massey's classically elegant yet boundary broaching aesthetic. Inspired by the natural attitude to masculine dressing portrayed in Tibor Lakman's 'Un-Fashion' and Jackie Nickerson's 'Farm', Carolyn once again addressed menswear with a never overwrought ease, producing pieces both statement and staple that most - nigh on every - man would happily monopolise.

A signature focus upon the forces moving from the armed to the naval, a palette of cream, stone, mustard, rust, ink, Prussian blue and navy, informed a revitalized riff on nautical. From cuffed, slender chinos to panelled pinstripe shirts, hypnotic bretons to knee length shorts, funnel necked reefers to cropped and long line parkas, tweaked cuts - an aforementioned longer line, a flap pocket at the torso, removed collars and wider sleeves cinched at the wrist - complemented a pitch-perfect play with colour.

Quintessentially English - heightened by a cast of fresh faces and tousled locks - wrapped skirts and layered leggings lying slightly loose rather than second skin tight introduced an organic Eastern accent, Massey's subtle evolution of the classics ever continuing.

Photos by Duilio Marconi

Posted by Luke Raymond

LONDON FASHION WEEK S/S2011 – MARTINE ROSE

Dissuading any doubters who may have expected a slew of signature shirting, Martine Rose turned her customary fusion of subcultural streetwear and classic, gallant tailoring to a full apparel collection, aptly titled cut-and-paste. In line with her intelligent, graphic and transformative re-appropriation of the humble shirt, separates and outerwear referenced multiple origins, whilst standing resolutely progressive.

A juxtaposition of hard and soft, machismo swagger undercut by ornate feminine finishes, military inspired bullet proof vests and funnel neck outerwear rendered in decadent brocade; a full skirt in bottle green high shine nylon flaring from the base, tonal velcro straps drawing it close to the body and defining a masculine waist. On paper incongruous, under Martine's touch invigorating, desirable and irrefutably current, the tale of juxtapositions continued to introduce Nineties punk - slimline vinyl trousers and chaps - of the same era Hip Hop - blocked branded sweatshirts and bombers in searing brights - and tasselled, tactile accessories from picture postcard baseball caps to pom-pom necklaces.

Never erring close to pat-revivalism, a chapter of shirting - spanning crisp white cottons finished with drawstring and zip detailing and athletic military green and high-vis amber technical panelling, long line medicinal variations falling to the knee and segmented via three dimensional plackets and layered flap pockets, and a pure, classic white take - referenced Martine's past whilst acting as foundation for a refreshing, and much deserved, future.

Photos by Duilio Marconi

Posted by Luke Raymond