8 posts tagged "Shaun Samson"
London’s Lean Mean Fashion Machine
London is jam-packed with emerging fashion talents. And now you can find all of them (or, at least, a lot of them) in one place. On February 17, Machine-A, a concept store founded by Stavros Karelis, will open permanently on 13 Brewer Street (it existed a few years ago, in an experimental capacity). Working with rainbow-haired stylist Anna Trevelyan, who serves as the store’s fashion director, Karelis will stock clothes by brand-new designers (Ashley Williams, Shaun Samson, Agi & Sam) and bright young stars (Louise Gray, Christopher Raeburn, Sibling), alongside wares by established labels like Raf Simons, Chalayan, and Mugler. Karelis hopes that Machine-A will serve as a platform to help promising youngsters establish an early retail presence. In addition to simply selling new designers’ collections, Machine-A will work with up-and-comers on collaborations and in-store installations, the first of which will feature Alex Mattsson. “My personal aim is to [offer] inspirational collections, innovative products, and comfortable high-quality clothes,” says Karelis, who also notes that Trevelyan’s input and keen eye for the next big thing have been invaluable. Case in point: the Spring ’13 ad campaign Trevelyan styled for the shop. Style.com has an exclusive look at the Meinke Klein-lensed images, which feature Machine-A’s Spring stock from Louise Gray (above) and Ashley Williams (below).
Machine-A, located at 13 Brewer Street in London, will open on February 17.
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″ »
At London’s MAN Day, A Dance With Decadence And Repentance
Jo-Ann Furniss reports on the highs and lows of London fashion week’s dedicated menswear day.
Fat Tuesday swiftly followed by Ash Wednesday, excess followed by penance. London fashion week’s MAN Day had the luck to fall on the latter this season. After the heady womenswear week closing on Tuesday, was it the turn of the sackcloth and ashes of menswear for Wednesday? Not quite; there were still some traces of carnival in the first day of Lent, even if at times they looked like the discarded remnants.
Earlier in the week, knit line Sibling’s carnival-referencing women’s collection, Sister, had been presented, alongside a few looks from the men’s—it made their best outing yet. But for the full men’s presentation on MAN Day, the party was over: Designers Joe Bates, Sid Bryan, and Cozette McCreery created an installation (pictured, above) in the form of a prison visiting room with a clever film by Sam Renwick and Thomas Bryant. It was in the shape of a triptych echoing the visiting booths, complete with telephone connections to the sound. “It’s where a matriarch might visit a son. Or vice versa,” Bates said. Yet the clothes were still their bright, excessive selves even behind bars. Called Marked Man, with designs based partly on prison tattoos, there was as much of the matriarch in the collection as there was the jailbird. An institutional bright orange was combined with pink ocelot spots in a men’s twinset. Their signature Fair Isle knits were further warped with the seamless addition of a skull with pompom ears blended into the traditional patterns. (It reflected the pompom-decorated full face masks and beanies also on view.) At once sinister and sweet, carnivalesque and penitential, there was something quite Leigh Bowery and Trojan in these proceedings that felt very true to the spirit of London. At the same time, Sibling’s output is so accomplished as to hold a global audience with ease.
Christopher Shannon’s catwalk was the first thing you noticed at his show. The brilliant backdrop was by the all-round creative and too-many-credits-to-mention Julie Verhoeven. “Creatively, I trust her implicitly,” said Shannon backstage. “I did want that inside of a Hoover bag vibe.” That’s certainly what he got. The set featured old tires, strewn pink net curtains with bricks caught in them, abandoned foil balloons in the shape of love hearts, and the bottom half of a female shop dummy, among other violent after-party detritus. At their best, the clothes and accessories had something of this random perversity, too; a broderie anglaise shirt with a ruffled back, a jacket covered in the designer’s swing tags, and a rucksack decorated with innumerable key rings. “We started excessive and pared back,” said the designer, yet there was maybe a bit too much paring back or, ultimately, the simple color palette of navy, white, sand, and black was a little too conservative or too flat to really help make some of the interesting points he was driving at. Continue Reading “At London’s MAN Day, A Dance With Decadence And Repentance” »
Selfridges’ Bright Young Things
Selfridges has announced the latest round of designers for its Bright Young Things initiative, a project it launched last year (with emerging designers Simone Rocha, Kirsty Ward, and Alex Noble in the mix) to support young designers in London. This year’s 15 Bright Young Things include womenswear designers Maarten van der Horst (the recent Central Saint Martins grad who made a big splash at Fashion East with his Hawaiian prints), Alice Lee, Adam Andrascik, Sorcha O’Raghallaigh (who has worked with Lady Gaga and Nicola Formichetti), and MASC; menswear designers Shaun Samson, Astrid Andersen, William Richard Green, and Alex Mattson; and accessories designers Oliver Ruuger and T. lipop. The group also includes photographers, graphic illustrators, interior designers, and prop makers.
As part of the program, which launches today and runs through the end of February, the designers will get to showcase their work in the retailer’s Oxford Street or Duke Street windows, and their collections will be for sale on Selfridges.com and in three pop-up shops.