Miner chic inspires London menswear
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Your support makes all the difference.On the final day of London Fashion Week, which was dedicated to menswear, the designer Lou Dalton drew on seemingly disparate sources – the 1984 miners' strike and Matthew Bourne's 'menacing male ensemble' in the film, Swan Lake.
The hard edge of the turbulent early Eighties was reflected in her styling. The cuts were structured, with weighty, single-breasted jackets and tailored suits in white, navy and black.
Contrast panels called to mind the donkey jackets prevalent on the picket lines, while distressed, pure white denim was redolent of a swan's plumage and the use of crystal chain mail provided a flash of brilliance.
Earlier in the day, MAN provided a platform for three promising menswear designers with the support of Fashion East and Topman.
Kicking off the proceedings with CAT work boots – adorned with yellow tokens, friendship bracelets and labels – was Martine Rose, showing her third MAN collection. Inspired by the surf and skate scene in Seventies California, Rose's collection featured fitted translucent shirts and narrow trousers layered over neon brights.
Shaun Samson also credited surf scenes and grunge, this time those of Nineties California, for his debut MAN collection. Hand-loomed Mexican blankets in pigment-rich colours were seamlessly woven into separates: shirts and shorts in neutral cotton twill, which had a whiff of the post-Colonial police force about them.
Also on the roster was the Royal College of Art graduate Matthew Miller, who showed a collection of classic suits with a futuristic edge owed to the use of technical fabrics and blocks of neon colours against a palette of grey, navy and white. Other pieces were sportswear-inspired, reflecting a theme seen at many of the womenswear collections earlier in the week.
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