7 posts tagged "MAN"
Looking to London: Menswear Designers to Watch
London’s second men’s week is upon us (our coverage begins when the shows do, on January 7), and while the Brits are buzzing about Tom Ford’s and Alexander McQueen’s shows (both designers are new additions to the schedule), it is London’s ever-growing crop of young talent that makes the city tick. We checked in with some of the city’s most intriguing new menswear designers about what they have in store for the Fall ’13 season. And our picks have lofty aspirations. The general consensus was that each talent, in his own way, hopes his designs will contribute to a London menswear evolution—aesthetically, conceptually, and otherwise. “It’s the right time in fashion to take risks,” says spotlighted designer Craig Green. All four emerging talents are doing just that. Below, they tell us how.
Craig Green
Since launching his line with Fashion East last season, 26-year-old Central Saint Martins MA graduate Craig Green has struck an impressive balance between conceptual and wearable design. “Even with my sculptural pieces [like the wood and canvas frames he showed at the Saint Martins show last February], I place an importance on masculinity—although, I sometimes play with it in an androgynous way,” explains Green. Last season, the designer put forth a covetable and approachable collection that included screen-printed calico separates and rubber-dipped sweaters (left). For Fall ’13, Green earned a spot showing with the prestigious MAN initiative. “My inspiration is all about shadows and reflections, which is something I’ve played with a lot since the MA,” says Green. Featuring crinkle pleating and a toile-like simplicity, the cotton, felt, and suede wares include hand-painted prints and build on the ease of last season’s clothes. However, Green’s high-concept edge will come through in his presentation via a few dramatic, sculpted looks. “I think a show should be a show!” says Green of his penchant for grand fashion-week displays. (For his debut last season, he showed his collection alongside a full-on art installation.) “That’s what makes fashion so exciting.”
Craig Green is available in several specialty stores in Japan, including Kink and Cement, and will feature in the MAN show on January 7.
Joseph Turvey
With an MA from the London College of Fashion, 24-year-old Joseph Turvey will show his second collection (his third, if you count his Grey Gardens-inspired graduate line) during Lulu Kennedy’s Fashion East Installations. With a focus on illustration (last season’s looks were printed with sketches of men wearing vibrant trompe l’oeil floral outfits), Turvey’s mesh and heavy lace Fall wares are inspired by his new jet-black cockapoo. (“She’s like a little teddy bear,” he coos.) Crafted in a muted, primarily black palette, Turvey’s collection (which, like last season, will feature illustration) aims to smash through the traditional menswear mold. “I find that menswear has a lot of rules, as far as tailoring, and I want to take what I’ve learned from [those rules] and break them,” he explains. As for the dog inspiration, Turvey asserts that Givenchy’s Rottweilers were not at the forefront of his mind. “These clothes are much softer and more friendly,” he says, adding that “fun” is a key element of his aesthetic. “I just want people to be happy when they see my work.”
Joseph Turvey is available in Japan at Candy and online at www.theunconventional.co.uk. He will show his menswear collection during the Fashion East Installations on January 7.
Matthew Miller
Thirty-one-year-old Matthew Miller will show his fifth collection in London this January. The NEWGEN-sponsored designer focuses on clean tailoring and complex digital prints (the fractured patterns seen on his smart suits and separates in seasons past have stemmed from such inspirations as things he found on the street and London’s Bauhaus council flats). “Everything I do has to have a meaning—every stitch and every line. Otherwise, it’s pointless,” says Miller. For Fall ’13, the designer was influenced by digitalism and his belief that his generation has failed to produce any revolutionary music or art. “I think they’re endangered species, really,” he explains. This notion prompted him to use crocodile-stamped leathers that reference an endangered breed of the reptile. Miller’s Fall ’13 will also feature black wool twill, cotton poplin, and high-tech polypropylene raincoats. “Everything is really simple,” says Miller. “I think I’ve come up with something relatable, that still questions what people believe and what people want to wear.”
Matthew Miller is available at www.mrporter.com and will show on Wednesday, January 9.
Maarten van der Horst
Thirty-year-old Central Saint Martins MA graduate Maarten van der Horst is best known for his three-season-old womenswear line full of vibrant prints, playful, feminine details, and slick silhouettes. But last season the Dutch designer decided to team up with Fashion East and test the waters in the menswear department with some heavy-metal-inspired T-shirts (think: Iron Maiden, Metallica, and Slayer). For Fall, van der Horst will continue with his metal menswear, this time concentrating on scarves. “I’m drawn to heavy-metal bands not because I like the music but because of their extreme cult followings. Achieving that kind of status is a goal for a young designer,” says van der Horst of his muses. The designer asserts that he’s exploring more facets of men’s ready-to-wear in his Fall range. But as for the scarf focus, he explains, “Every season I try to develop a specific concept. So if I have a really exciting idea for scarves, why not focus on that? I want to make objects of desire.”
Maarten van der Horst will show his menswear collection during the Fashion East Installations on January 7.
Arrrgh, Real Monsters!
Next February, ARRRGH! Monstres de Mode, an exhibition presented by Greek collective Atopos CVC that highlights designers who distort and mask the human form with their fantastically frightening, sometimes grotesque garments, will land in Paris. Having debuted in Athens last year, the Vassilis Zidianakis-curated show is an extension of the book, Not a Toy, Fashioning Radical Characters, and highlights such shocking shape-shifters as Alexander McQueen, Gareth Pugh, Maison Martin Margiela, Charlie Le Mindu, and Walter van Beirendonck, as well as lesser-known young talents like Alex Mattsson and Leutton Postle. Emerging British menswear designer, Craig Green—who’s set to show his second collection in London next month with the MAN initiative—was tapped to create the identity of the exhibition. Green brought Atopos’ definition of monsters—described as “everything strange”—to life with four green and yellow figures that vaguely recall Pac-Man. “I wanted to make something that resembled a lo-fi graphic,” explained Green. The designer, who’s begun to make a name for himself with his art-meets-fashion concoctions, crafted his curious critters from wooden frames and stretched canvas. “They’re meant to be a family,” says Green. “So they fit together like male and female forms; they’re couples in love,” he explains.
Twenty-six-year-old Green, a Central Saint Martins graduate, has pieces from his 2012 M.A. collection, as well as a sculptural garment from his upcoming Fall 2013 collection, in the show. “I feel very fortunate to be featured alongside these mega designers, as well as small ones that I greatly respect.”
ARRRGH! Monstres de Monde opens on February 13 at La Gaîté Lyrique, located at 3bis, Rue Papin in Paris’ 3rd arrondissement.
London’s Nascent Menswear Week Picks Up Steam
London’s fashion boom has been a particular boon for menswear, and as of last June, the city inaugurated its own menswear weekend to recognize it. I was glad to be in the early guard of editors who made the trip, alongside Style.com’s Tim Blanks, who serves on the Menswear Committee of the event, and came away impressed with the energy and individualism of the city’s designers. Even the youngest—the trio of Agi & Sam, Shaun Samson, and Astrid Andersen, who showed collectively as part of the MAN show—had more courage of their convictions than many far more seasoned labels in New York or elsewhere. And while everyone agreed that the start was an auspicious one, the unofficial consensus among the attendees I spoke to was that the week could use a few tentpoles from the big-time ranks to solidify its position and round out its offerings. The provisional schedule, announced today by the BFC, suggests it is getting just that. London is still extremely supportive of its emerging set—eBay and the mayor of London are teaming up for a Fashion Forward sponsorship, which will be extended as in seasons past to Christopher Shannon, E.Tautz, and J.W. Anderson, and for the first time, to the promising Lou Dalton—but several more established houses are planning to show as well. Alexander McQueen (a look from the Spring ’13 collection is at left) and Tom Ford, both of whom previously presented by appointment in Milan, will show in London; Savile Row’s own Hardy Amies, which showed in Paris, joins as well. More to follow? To be seen. In the meantime, to catch up on London’s Spring 2013 show coverage on Style.com, click here.
Letter from London:
The Men’s Collections, Day 2
After a more leisurely opening day, London ramped up the action considerably for Day 2 of its nascent London Collections: Men. Sibling’s first runway show had bodies in the seats at the unfriendly hour of 9 a.m., a requirement that proved worth it when their gold-flecked riot gear took the stage. E. Tautz’s Patrick Grant required a firm commitment from his guests, too, with a Wapping show space—his new studio#8212;farther afield than most. Once showgoers did secure cabs and made the journey out east, their perseverance was rewarded with a show about, appropriately enough, an explorer in foreign lands.
Traveling man segued into MAN, London’s group show for select up-and-comers. London is now quite good at supporting its young, and the heartening thing is, its young are quite good at supporting it. Happily, the three labels of MAN—Astrid Andersen, Agi & Sam, and Shaun Samson—were three of the most exciting of any seen so far. Andersen’s dark, sensual take on sportswear—as in, for sports—included sheer jerseys paneled with fur and boxing shorts worn over lace tights, mixing masculinity, sensuality, and exoticism is a way that at times recalled Riccardo Tisci. Her collection (pictured), she said backstage, owes something to the calm of her native Copenhagen and something to the turbulence of her adopted London—”and it’ll sell in Tokyo,” she added with a laugh. Shaun Samson, the most developed of the bunch, looked more than ready for his own show next season. The California native and Central Saint Martins grad added subtlety to the pieces he’s known for, like the felted and needlepunched chimera tunics, here worn over complementary pants. They gave way to low-slung, baggy shorts embellished in disco-ball silver with hand-embroidered tops whose silver beading made them look like gorgeous motherboards. There was a nineties flavor to the sagging plaids and ironic T-shirts—printed with Kawaii kittens, some sporting piercings to undermine the effect—and backstage, Samson cited Clueless as a point of reference. Continue Reading “Letter from London:
The Men’s Collections, Day 2″ »
The Men Of MAN
Menswear hit the catwalk in London today for LFW’s dedicated MAN by Topman day. For those of you who weren’t able to make it to the U.K., Style.com is exclusively debuting three short films from Fashion East and Hidden Agency showcasing the Spring ’12 collections by designers Shaun Samson, Matthew Miller, and Martine Rose. And check back tomorrow for more on the best of London menswear.
Shaun Samson
Samson looked to California and the early-nineties surf/grunge culture for both the video and his collection. In the film, the long-haired surfer boy, clad in Samson’s Mexican blanket print clothes, is on his way to his utopia: the beach, of course.