SS22

SS22 trend report: Bodycon, but make it body positive



Acielle street style SS22

To get a real sense of next season trends, I like to look at Acielle’s (Aka Style Du Monde) Fashion Month street style photography. Not so much the super-peacock types, but the ones wearing denim with interesting tops and choice accessories. That’s the best way to see a more ‘everyperson’ way of wearing fashion.

My big takeaway for SS22 is the almost universal appetite for barely-there, bodycon and cutaway clothing. It was first evident to me at Collina Strada and Eckhaus Latta at New York Fashion Week. What was interesting about those designers’ treatments was the body positivity expression. Eckhaus Latta especially took a 1990s influence and added a decidedly inclusive 2020s interpretation (below). (more…)



London Fashion Week: Margaret Howell SS22



Alas, no Margaret Howell SS22 show this LFW season so a showroom visit had to suffice. No great hardship there though, as the showroom is situated at the back of the beautiful Wigmore Street store. I averted my eyes from new season Shetland knits and cotton khakis to focus attention on the new collection. Recent seasons have seen Howell embracing slightly more adventurous proportions and styling cues, as well as more ‘editorial’-style photography. I love it. My top 5 takeaways…


ATHLETIC STYLING.
Athletic pieces that take influence from retro gym styling and fabrications. Particularly the dry loopback sweats that can only improve with age (more…)



SS22 menswear: Go to the nightclub with silk shirts on



Wales Bonner men ss22

The joy revolution that started to emerge during the SS21 collections last September is fully showing up for SS22. The most prominent menswear shows have been the ones with a message of optimistic hedonism expressed through colour, music and a throwback to rave culture.

For example I loved Dries van Noten’s Primal Scream soundtrack serenading us through the streets of Antwerp, with the lyrics of Loaded encouraging us to “be free to do what we wanna do!” Van Noten expressed the mood of his design team as “clothes to go and have fun in. Just enjoy things. Go to the night club with silk shirts on.” The shirts were the big highlight; big in every sense, printed with artwork by Rubens and Breughel, as well as photomontages depicting Antwerp city scenes, teamed with loud sunglasses and washed silk outerwear (more…)