Saying that London is a hub for young design talent has long become a platitude. There is, however, a less observed development in London’s fashion scene: the emergence of brilliant female designers who work in menswear. Grace Wales Bonner, who was awarded the prestigious LVMH Prize two years ago, Danish designer Astrid Andersen, and the buyers’ favourite Martine Rose have not only been setting trends in menswear, they’ve also been demonstrating that men’s fashion can be nuanced, multifaceted and intellectual.
At this week’s London Fashion Week Men’s, it was women again who stole the show: Rose with her sartorial ode to London, Andersen, who presented an elegant update on the tracksuit, and young designer Bianca Saunders with an intelligent collection exploring black masculine identity. Here we take a look at their innovative and thought-provoking SS19 collections and examine just what it is that makes these designers’ work so original.
Astrid Andersen
Andersen’s work is sometimes dubbed “luxury sportswear”, which is too narrow a definition for the designer’s ongoing exploration of the tracksuit. The Copenhagen-based designer, who first presented her work at LC:M in 2012, has always been interested in the idea of the tracksuit replacing the traditional suit as the ultimate menswear staple. Rather than refining sportswear — “my clothes are definitely not activewear,” she states — Andersen attempts to reinvent urban men’s fashion, to make it more innovative and less prescriptive. In Andersen’s SS19 presentation, the designer tried “to really get the tracksuit nailed down”. Against an orange-tinted, sci-fi-themed background, she showcased a collection that evoked André Courrèges’ futuristic fashion of the 1960s: streamlined sleeveless jackets; boxy tops; sweaters finished with de-centred zippers. The modernist references had a softer edge: the fabrics were lush and lightweight, while the elongated knitted pieces had an unexpectedly bohemian feel. Has the designer succeeded in rendering the tracksuit the new suit? Perhaps not yet, but SS19 was definitely a landmark in her research of menswear.
Martine Rose
That Rose, a 36-year old designer, is a consultant on Balenciaga’s menswear line is not surprising. In 2014, the designer stood at the forefront of fashion’s normcore movement with her collections comprising oversized leather jackets and baggy trackpants. Rose finds the poetic in the mundane, and has an meticulous eye for detail. Her looks, as a result, are graceful and impeccably assembled versions of what historically has been considered low fashion. The designer held her SS19 catwalk presentation on a dead-end street in Camden, inviting — in a Margiela-esque manner — the local residents to see the show along with Virgil Abloh (a loyal fan) and Luka Sabbat. The collection — “all classic things but twisted” — was an eclectic assemblage of reggae and punk elements, nods to rave and Mod cultures, and seemed to contain lots of allusions to nearby Camden market. Our absolute favourite was the oversized quilted jacket worn with subtly flared jeans and a pair of loafers — an outfit both hip and dreamily vagabond at the same time. If not the best designer in the world (as her Instagram bio claims), Martine Rose is definitely one of the most fascinating working in menswear right now.
Bianca Saunders
Like LVMH darling Grace Wales Bonner (who this year bowed out of this year’s LC:M in favour of private appointments), Bianca Saunders, recent graduate of Royal College of Art, investigates black masculinity in her thoughtful and eye-opening collections. By casting non-binary black models to sport her SS19 collection, entitled “Gestures”, Saunders’ presentation was a subtle yet powerful coup to overthrow the stereotypes surrounding black male identity. Inspired by her friends and the people around her, Saunders eschews categorisations and celebrates individuality. Since one’s uniqueness is most eloquently expressed through gestures, the designer devoted her collection to body language and individual mannerisms. Sculpted from fabrics that are deliberately prone to creasing, Saunders’ clothes ingeniously record the wearer’s movements; this poetic statement is intended to encapsulate the wearer’s emotion — be it shyness, anxiety, excitement or joy — at a particular moment in time. All in all, “Gestures” was one of those rare collections that combines a highly conceptual approach with wearability. It’s unsurprising, then, that the recent graduate is one of the BFC’s “Ones to watch” — we’re certainly keeping our eyes on her.