With the success of his womenswear line and that upcoming collaboration with Topshop on everyone's minds, you'll be forgiven for forgetting that JW Anderson started as a menswear designer. It's only relatively recently that he was so kind as to offer something for us female fans of the brand desperate to get in on the action.
For S/S13 he definitely made sure that his menswear offerings stand out and don't fall into the shadows. As always the collection isn't for the faint hearted. Take the series of teddy bear printed t-shirts that he showed. While it's more than likely that they will go down well at retail, it definitely takes a certain man to dare to wear them. The same is true for a hot pink asymmetric blazer that came styled Lady Gaga-style without anything underneath.
It's with pieces like these that Anderson sometimes goes down a more effeminate route but that being said, he always manages to reign it in and not go too far so as to alienate his more cautious customer. Besides, the collection featured enough core staple pieces like tailored trousers (and bell bottoms!) and ribbed knits to make sure that all bases are covered next season.
When it comes to menswear, us Brits are known for our tailoring and Hackett London delivered that in droves this week. The collection featured a wide selection of three piece suits, often coming with what looked like golf shoes along with the usual pocket squares and ties. While the dandy English gentleman look is something that Hackett have always done well, it all felt a bit stale. Rather than updating the look and doing something different with it as Christopher Bailey did at Burberry last season, the aesthetic hadn't developed.
The models were not always suited and booted though. If the Hackett man goes all out on the tailoring during the week, come weekend he likes to unwind. Okay, so the off-duty look was still a lot more polished than what you would see the average man wearing but nonetheless, it did help to break up the stiffness. Trousers came in casual styles and rolled up to flash a little bit of ankle teamed with brogues, simple tees and deconstructed blazers.
Today's Pringle of Scotland show was bittersweet. When Alistair Carr presented his debut menswear collection for the house, it was met with mixed reviews. Last season saw him take a huge step in the right direction and today he really seemed to come into his own. The only downside is that today marked his final collection as the brand's creative director before they take it in-house. On a more positive note, it was definitely a strong exit and not a bad way to leave.
One of the biggest challenges that Carr has always faced is the brand's knitwear heritage. In the past he's seemed overwhelmed by it leading him to rely on the archive rather than reworking the classic styles and taking them forward. Today was the day that he finally did that. The elongated diamonds incorporated into stripes felt fresh and helped breathe life into the knits and the lightweight neutral toned styles worked well too. Rather than it just being about the knitwear, the tailoring was equally as strong especially on single breasted summer suits, colour blocked trousers and boxy jackets.
Margaret Howell has always be press shy so it came as no surprise when she didn't come out to take a bow after presenting her menswear collection this morning. Far from being over-exposed like many brands sadly are today, like her clothes Howell is refreshingly subdued and let's them doing the talking.
Today's men's collection was typically Howell. Rather than attempting to reinvent the wheel she delivered an assortment of pragmatic looks that were as appealing for the men in the audience as they were for the women. Fabrics were uber lightweight and therefore perfect for the warmer months and the rolled up sleeves on shirts, simple ribbed knits and midnight blue city shorts encapsulated the brand's no fuss mantra perfectly.
When Emma Stone's July cover of US Vogue hit the net last week, I wasn't convinced. Stone is probably one of the most exciting young actresses at the moment as far as style is concerned so the feminine chemise styled with the Nina Ricci skirt suit felt a bit safe, especially since her cover was so highly anticipated.
You'll be pleased to know that the accompanying shoot titled 'Comic Relief' more than makes up for it. The 23 year-old appears sporting some of the statement printed suits from Prada and Dries Van Noten.
