Now that London Collections: Men has come to an end, let us look back and reflect on some of the top trends for SS16.
Nudity
There was plenty of male flesh on show during London Collections, but it
was the exposed nipple, an ongoing dilemma of acceptable nudity on social
media, that broke new terrority for British designers. As seen at
Christopher Shannon, Nazir Mazhar, and Craig Green, there were knitted tank
tops and jumpers with cut away spheres, sportswear with undone bikini tops
as necklaces, and sheer long sleeve tops, a staple at J.W. Anderson. There
was a further baring of flesh at Sibling, where knitted jockstraps were
worn under couture-stitched football gear, with models bums on show,
although this look was unique.
Block Stripes
The nautical theme got an update, with stripes shown big, bold, contrasting
and blocked. Oversized stripes of colour were seen across the board at the
London shows, but the most wearable versions offered white contrasted with
either blue or black. As seen on jumpers; diagonal stipres at Alexander
McQueen, horizonal layers at Lou Dalton. Tailoring got the treatment too,
with contrast pinstripe suiting with horizonal pockets at Agi & Sam and
softly tailored jackets at Oliver Spencer.
Art Meets Fashion
The masters, both old and modern, have cropped up in nearly every SS16
collection, from paint splash graphics à la Jackson Pollock at Charles
Jeffrey, to the colour palette at Topman Design hinting at the surrealist
style of Salvador Dalí. Elsewhere there was Piet Mondrian’s “Composition
with Blue” seen at Liam Hodges, J.W. Anderson made a reference to “Goya
Series” by John Baldessari, “William Marshall Cazalet” by John Singer
Sargent at Casely-Hayford, and Yves Klein’s “Relief Sponge” popped up at
Alex Mullins.
New Trouser Silhouette
The new trouser silhouette is generously cut to say the least and we can
safely say the wide-leg pant is back for spring summer 2016. While there
were plenty of examples of super-baggy styles at the likes of Topman
Design, Craig Green and E Tautz, a loosened-up shape was also seen in
suiting and shorts, as shown by Margaret Howell and Tiger of Sweden. A
utility version of the wide-leg trouser was seen at Universal Works.
Jungle is the new Camouflage
While London fashion week would be nothing without a good dose of print on
show, there were none that collectively stood out as a trend, with the
exception of Jungle, which seems to have taken over from camouflage. Camo
has been around since Autumn Winter 2012 and lasted until last summer, so
it was high time for an update. Jungle-inspired prints were noticed at YMC,
who showed palm prints, to safari animal skin patterns at Burberry Prorsum
and Coach, with bright tropical florals at Richard James.
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