Fashion Week is at an impasse. Or so it seems. Over the last seasons, men’s collections have generally decreased in quality. When analyzing and going through the runway outings of both the big four and small FWs, one cannot help but notice a strong downward direction in terms of quality of design. Several years ago, doing something out of the ordinary, deconstructed or “anti-fashion” à la Tigran Avetisyan (who we featured in our InCompany by Attire Club magazine) was new, fresh and bold, but it seems that these days, it has become the norm. In any art, going against the grain is a bold move and a statement, but once the statement has been made, it makes no sense to keep saying it. Even more so, if everyone else is saying it. In many ways, runway fashion has become a “preaching to the choir” type of situation: an echo-chamber, if you will. In most cases, it’s hard to even make pertinent commentary on the garments… The fact that most “artsy” menswear is a continuous conveyor belt of the same would not be such a big problem if the aesthetic quality of the garments was there, but it simply is not. A shredded piece of fabric, regardless of how deep and intelligent you think you are is not pleasing visually. Surely, many people who are deeply nihilistic will like it, others, who lack general knowledge and creative references will think it’s highly artistic and most people will applaud simply because that’s what everyone else does à la “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. But in fact, these garments are not the pinnacle of sartorial elegance and most consumers and experts alike know it. They are bad. However, there is one good thing about them, namely that they reflect the mental state of (Western) society, they reflect the condition of art and are a clear expression of the inflation of artists and of the fact that non-values are promoted as values.
Surely, there are a handful of people who don’t get fooled. This is why, many fashion houses, especially the big ones, still create clothes and accessories that people are going to like and enjoy wearing. Other propose a mix of “artsy” pieces and wearable clothes, which can also work.
The latest installment of London Fashion Week, which took place not so long ago, was a good reflection of this phenomenon, but we did manage to find some looks and collections that were noteworthy from the outings for the spring-summer 2020 season. Here they are:
Danshan
Overall, the Danshan collection was not the strongest thing we’ve ever seen, but we did like this particular look, which brought the circus to the bedroom. It was a bit of an odd mix, which is why it worked well.
Alexander McQueen
The new Alexander McQueen collection really stood out this season because of the multi-pleated garments the label put out. We loved the pleats, fake layers and everything in between: not only were the proportions amazing, but the overall designs were innovative and fun. They are outstanding and wearable, which is quite the rarity in menswear these days!
Chalayan
Pleats and fake layers were also visible on the spring-summer collection by Chalayan. This label is usually on our radar, and, while we did see better from them, we did like many of the new styles they proposed for next year.
Fashion East
This look from Fashion East was interesting because it used a shade of blue which is quite feminine on a rather masculine silhouette, which worked well, but also because of the gloves. We really liked the idea of long cutout gloves, which would normally be a women’s accessory, but which in this case translated as very sporty, masculine and strong (even though the model did help a lot). Great idea overall.
Overall, there is not much to say about most clothes presented during this edition of London Fashion Week Spring-Summer 2020. Besides the pleats and other details we liked, the general trend was either scraps or simple, off-the-rack mall clothes, which makes little sense to be presented in a fashion show as high art. The question is: is this what highly fashionable men want? The answer is probably “no”, based on the peacocking one can see in high-priced resorts and at the Pitti shows.
Another big trend that was highly represented during this edition of LFW was zombies, with John Lawrence Sullivan and Art School marching strongly on this theme (Liam Hodges and Charles Jeffrey Loverboy also had some borderline-living models walk the runway). We’re seeing an overall zombie, decay approach to fashion, but at the same time, it seems that some brands want to offer more than this.
In our trend forecast, we did express the fact that we will see a big anti-fashion/nihilism trend, so the collections were not completely surprising. We’re definitely going to look forward to what will come next – it’s definitely going to be interesting to see how all this will develop over the next seasons.
Fraquoh and Franchomme
P.S. We want to hear from you! What do you make of today’s runway fashions? Should there be more of this decadence trend? Why? Share your feedback, questions or thoughts in the comments below! For more articles on style, fashion tips and cultural insights, you can subscribe to Attire Club via e-mail or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!