Topshop always deliver amazing collaborations. Over the years they've teamed up with everyone from Michael van der Ham to Mary Katrantzou and now the fruits of their partnership with JW Anderson are about to drop.
Today images from the designer's women's collection for the store were released online ahead of the launch on September 14 to coincide with the start of London Fashion Week and the line is everything we hoped for. Rather than being a watered down version of his mainline, Anderson made it clear that he wanted the collection to feel like more of a continuation of what he does best. 'It's for the same girl and is based upon the same idea. I feel collaborations should be a reflection, not something that veers off into another zone,' he revealed. The high street and luxury market are inherently close. Without one the other doesn't exist. I feel like that is modernity now.'
'For me, Topshop is integral to London Fashion Week,' Anderson told Vogue. 'It's everything that sums it up. I have worked on this collection with my sister in mind because I wanted it to be accessible. I feel like we are at a time where we want a fanfare; something fun, accessible and easy,' so expect fun prints and his signature pieces alongside classic shirts, footwear and stationary pieces too.
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.
Topshop are a busy bunch. Fresh off the announcement of their make-up partnership with Louise Gray and bridal line with Richard Nicoll, yesterday the high street retailer confirmed that they are working with JW Anderson on a capsule collection.
The collection, which is set to drop in September, features everything from denim to outerwear to memory sticks, photography books and pencils. 'I am very excited to collaborate with Topshop. It gives me the opportunity to reach a much wider audience with my designs,' Anderson said in a statement. 'It has always been very important to me that my collections are made accessible to anyone interested in fashion and design.'
Clothes-wise, the collection is said to offer the 'best of all his design ideas to date, a sort of must have wardrobe of covetable pieces,' the press release reads. How the stationary and books work into that isn't clear.
This season's London Fashion Week is a special one for Topshop as it marks the tenth year that the retailer has been sponsoring NEWGEN, an intitative to fund the shows of London's best design talent. To celebrate the anniversary they have teamed up with twenty designers that they have worked with, past and present, - including Holly Fulton, Christopher Kane and Mary Katrantzou - to create a special line of t-shirts that will be available in strores and online from Friday February 17 to Tuesday February 22.
Today the British Fashion Councilannounced the winners of the BFC NEWGEN MEN scheme sponsored by Topman. The designers, who will receive sponsorship from the system, include: Christopher Shannon, James Long, and JW Anderson on the catwalk, Carolyn Massey, Lou Dalton and Sibling for presentations and Christopher Raeburn, James Small, Katie Eary and Omar Kashoura with installations.
BFC NEWGEN MEN was launched in 2009, developing from 'MAN', the menswear day held at London Fashion Week, and will provide up and coming menswear talent with the official BFC Catwalk Show Space at Somerset House, as well as funding to raise their profile. The initiative will run from the 17th to the 22nd of September, while Carolyn Massey, Christopher Raeburn, James Long, Katie Eary, Lou Dalton and Omar Kashoura will also show in Paris with sponsorship from LONDON showROOMS between the 24th and 27th of June.
Guys all over the world were jealous when Gap launched their women's Design Edition White Shirts designed by the likes of Band of Outsiders. Don't worry guys, you can trust Topman to be on the case. Yersterday, the high street shop held a private viewing of cool, customised basic tops by designers Richard Chai, Phillip Lim, Christopher Shannon, Juun J, JW Anderson and Henry Holland.
