This London Collections: Men's fashion week, the lovely style blogger SUSIE BUBBLE reports, just for OC!
"I find the idea of looking into what is 'right' for men and women very stale. I don't think my womenswear would be where it is without the menswear," said Jonathan Anderson backstage after his thought-provoking menswear show, when asked whether he was toying with gender. Daily Mail and the like will continue to have a lambasting field day with the designer's supposed provocations, but those with a shrewder eye will understand that he is merely proposing something different. Anderson sees his clothes as a fluid dialogue between menswear and womenswear; one seamlessly segues into the other without the need for boundaries.
Case in point: this season, he took inspiration from the stately pomp of grandiose portraits (think King Louis XIV) and the way they loom over you with their perceived size. And why restrict height, frills, and decoration to women? Anderson re-imagined platform shoes––once the mark of aristocratic power––in shiny finishes of patent and tortoise shell. They were the talking point at the show, as well as the oversized flora-flage jacquard jackets and cropped trousers. Small touches, such as boxy hard clutches and circular cuffs, made maximum impact too.
Anderson loves sending matching looks in sets of three down the runway to make a point. Here he showed trios of strong knitwear, like ribbed color-blocked tabards and arm-restricting, abstract-print polo necks. Plays on proportions have come to define a J.W. Anderson collection, giving it that feeling of "awkwardness and fragility", which was accentuated by little quirks such as jacket tails folded over the waistband of cropped trousers, rolled-up sleeves of crew neck jumpers, and open backs on buttoned-up shirts.
Sure, it’s the sort of stuff that will still have the regimental, gendered clothing-police shaking their heads and tutting away. Let them tut. It’s Anderson who is reaping the rewards of pushing people’s buttons. And ours for the pleasure of getting to wear his wares.
Photos by Susie Bubble | E-mail us to be notified once the Fall/Winter 2014 collection hits OC!![]()
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"I find the idea of looking into what is 'right' for men and women very stale. I don't think my womenswear would be where it is without the menswear," said Jonathan Anderson backstage after his thought-provoking menswear show, when asked whether he was toying with gender. Daily Mail and the like will continue to have a lambasting field day with the designer's supposed provocations, but those with a shrewder eye will understand that he is merely proposing something different. Anderson sees his clothes as a fluid dialogue between menswear and womenswear; one seamlessly segues into the other without the need for boundaries.
Case in point: this season, he took inspiration from the stately pomp of grandiose portraits (think King Louis XIV) and the way they loom over you with their perceived size. And why restrict height, frills, and decoration to women? Anderson re-imagined platform shoes––once the mark of aristocratic power––in shiny finishes of patent and tortoise shell. They were the talking point at the show, as well as the oversized flora-flage jacquard jackets and cropped trousers. Small touches, such as boxy hard clutches and circular cuffs, made maximum impact too.
Anderson loves sending matching looks in sets of three down the runway to make a point. Here he showed trios of strong knitwear, like ribbed color-blocked tabards and arm-restricting, abstract-print polo necks. Plays on proportions have come to define a J.W. Anderson collection, giving it that feeling of "awkwardness and fragility", which was accentuated by little quirks such as jacket tails folded over the waistband of cropped trousers, rolled-up sleeves of crew neck jumpers, and open backs on buttoned-up shirts.
Sure, it’s the sort of stuff that will still have the regimental, gendered clothing-police shaking their heads and tutting away. Let them tut. It’s Anderson who is reaping the rewards of pushing people’s buttons. And ours for the pleasure of getting to wear his wares.
Photos by Susie Bubble | E-mail us to be notified once the Fall/Winter 2014 collection hits OC!
