Day 3 had some of my favourite designers. All good things come to those who wait, eh? First big show of the day was James Long. His strong suit is knitwear so it’s always interesting to see what he’ll come up with for a Spring / Summer collection. The voluminous short, a big trend for this season, was almost formal here. The knitwear was sheer, perfect for Summer, and the prints were typically graphic in Long’s trademark style.
Next up was Christopher Raeburn, a designer whose work embodies the marriage of form and function. It’s been interesting watching Raeburn’s designs evolve over the years – I get the sense that Christopher strives to perfect the form while the function element might come naturally. There’s a good injection of artistry into garments that might otherwise be a little flat if not for some extra embellishment. There’s a deftness with the use of colour too – in anyone else’s hands the combination of beige and grey would be boring and dull but somehow Raeburn makes it chic and modern.
Christopher Shannon always seems to be a few strides ahead of everyone else, not just at LC: M but in terms of menswear as a whole. He seems to have an innate understanding of where streetwear crosses over into fashion. He treads a curious line between British working class lads style and a more overtly queer aesthetic. It’s a pretty subversive trick but also one that few people can really pull off, but it’s the juxtaposition of these two archetypal styles that makes it work. In combination they are much more than the sum of their parts. This collection is a technicolour affair, brash and shameless. The sociocultural juxtaposition extends into aesthetics with patent leather and sheer fabrics in lurid shades paired together for maximun textural effect. Note the 70’s style oversized collar that I predicted was overdue a resurgence a while ago. The voluminous short was more akin to a boxers short at Shannon, equal parts macho and homoerotic. Perfect.
The big surprise of the day for me was E. Tautz. As much as I love Patrick’s designs I’ve never really felt they were very ‘me‘. He’s a clever man and I don’t want to detract from his Savile Row tailoring skills but I never pictured myself in E. Tautz. This collection, however, was gorgeous, confident and modern. Where previous collections seemed to reference the classic British dandy aesthetic in a retro sense I feel like here Patrick has pushed it forward and really challenged that element of British menswear by making it sublimely modern. From the neon bright palette to the impressionistic graphic prints everything in this collection was b e a u t i f u l.
And that my friends, was that. I’m still recovering from LC: M to be honest. I’ve kept a few designers back to cover in more detail later so stay posted…