menswear

And finally: London Fashion Week ss11 – Day 6 highlights



The last day of LFW is menswear day. Some see this as not worth bothering with but I beg to differ. As much as I appreciate good design and admire the work of our young womenswear designers, most of them are far too polished and feminine to appeal to me as a consumer. Being all about the perfect jean and a well-cut sweater, when I look at the mens shows, I look at them with a female ‘what can I steal for myself?’ eye. Thankfully, some of the menswear designers also show womenswear (thank you J.W. Anderson), while others come up small enough for women to steal (Topman and Mr Hare). Sibling tell me that their imminent womens line for Topshop will still have the boyish flavour of the menswear, but to suit girls.

Another plus point of the mens shows is it’s a generally smaller, friendlier, less stressy affair. The Fashion East hut was like a full-on garden party by lunch time, with scorching sun, booze and a live jazz band in the midst of it all. My favourite bits:

*Sibling designer Sid’s Mr Hare cuban heel boots. Their knitwear wasn’t bad either, with its signature pop-art graphics and a new collab with art stars Tim Noble and Sue Webster. There was also a rather fine accompanying Alasdair McLellan video…

*Katie Eary’s riot of mohair stripes, animal-print, tartan and studs, all wrapped up in a live boxing match with Olympic gold medallist boxer James Degale. Bruce Weber shoot, anyone?

 

*J.W.Anderson’s layered, embellished, pinned-together, youth-obsessed collection

*Marc Hare’s dandyish footwear (which starts at a size five, so with the help of an insole or two I reckon I could just about pull off). SS11 is heavy on ‘replenishable skins’, including ostrich, salmonskin and eelskin

*Boyo fanzine pop-up shop. Pardon me for not being au faitwith Boyo, a fanzine created by Patrick Waugh, the very affable creative director of Pop. His vanity project resulted in a one day pop-up shop showcasing the fanzines, his T-shirt collection and some bandanas. Because, well, why on earth not?

CHECK OUT THE REST OF MY LONDON FASHION WEEK COVERAGE ON THE STYLECOMPARE BLOG



Mrporter.com hires staff



News is trickling in of hires at Net-a-Porter’s sibling site, Mr Porter. Toby Bateman, currently buying manager at Selfridges has been appointed by Natalie Massenet as buying director for the new menswear site which launches in January. Working alongside Bateman will be buyer Katja Delaloye, previously at Brunschwig & Cie and Hofstetter Sports.

I’m very interested to see who will make the grade for Mr Porter’s editorial division. Net-a-porter is as well known for its magazine (made up of mostly ex-Elle staffers) as its buying and it will be fascinating to see what kind of content is deemed appropriate for the Mr Porter man. Incidentally, the editor hasn’t been appointed yet so if you fancy your chances, apply here!



A dieu Dior?



Interesting news that Hedi Slimane has left Dior Homme. The genius designer has been making too many demands on LVMH and so they’ve passed the baton to Kris van Assche from Belgium. Like the demise of Helmut Lang and Jil Sander, this marks the end of an era. Even if Slimane decides to launch his own label I doubt it will be remembered in the same way as Hedi Slimane For Dior Homme. During his time at Dior, Slimane pioneered a whole new lean and youthful silhouette for men, much like Giorgio Armani did with his unstructured menswear in the eighties. Collectors, best start snapping up those remaining bits of Dior Homme, they will be like gold dust from now on.