LFWM AW20 Trend Report

Words by Edi Adegbola

Another season of London Fashion Week Men’s has been and gone. How quickly six months passes.

While the majority of us were gorging ourselves and trying to avoid arguments with relatives over Christmas, London’s menswear designers were hard at work, adding the finishing touches to their collections, ready to display at LFWM, effectively launching show season. But now that the fashion community has met once more to compare notes, let’s take a look at the common threads (pun intended) that ran through LFWM’s shows and presentations.

Here are five key styles from LFWM Autumn/Winter 2020:

ORANGE

Citrus hued fabrics made their way into collections from several designers. Popping up in hats and hoodies from Band of Outsiders and coats from JordanLuca, as well as in several street style outfits outside the shows, it seems orange really is the new black this season.

Flashes of neon orange featured in Vinti Andrews’ offering, while Astrid Andersen embraced the colour wholeheartedly in her collection. From tangerine trousers to carrot-coloured puffer jackets, orange took centre stage; the standout item, of course, being the knee length coat in fur the colour of a traffic cone.

LEATHER

Once reserved for bikers and BDSM enthusiasts (more on that later), this season, leather showed up in several collections. Jordanluca’s outerwear featured leather hoods and leather ruffles around the waist, and thigh-high waders stomped out of Martine Rose’s collection in black leather, but it was John Lawrence Sullivan’s textured leather suit that stole the show this season.

Notably, 1X1’s S&M-inspired collection featured leather heavily on all sorts of garments from trousers to harnesses, while the most striking use was in an ensemble featuring a plaited shirt, boots and a pair of speedos, all kitted out in leather. Fittingly, the majority of the collection came in either black or one of the 50 or so shades of grey.

SUSTAINABILITY

No longer just a buzzword, this season saw many designers make a concerted effort to diminish the negative effects that fashion can have on the environment.

That said, this focus has always been front and centre for the likes of Martine Rose, who’s colourful wide trousers and patchwork jackets were made from old bell tents and waste material from a toy factory. Additionally, Priya Ahluwalia has always taken joy in bringing new life to old garments and her debut LFWM show was no different, featuring psychedelic 60s inspired clothes made from Adidias’ deadstock and reused textiles from her own previous projects

On top of that, E. Tautz, who’s show notes actively encouraged customers to buy fewer clothes and repair as much as possible, fashioned their relaxed tailoring this season mostly from textiles found in clothes bins. And with the forest fires still raging in Australia, their decree that there’ll be “no more fiddling while Rome burns” felt a fitting message to open show season with.

SHOUTERWEAR

Not for the faint-hearted, Vinti Andrews and Astrid Andersen showed off jackets in lurid highlighter colours, while Jordanluca sent model after model down the runway in an array of hooded coats from oversized orange camouflage puffers to gothic capes.

At 1X1, a grey latex and wool trench coat was outshone only by an accompanying latex overcoat covered in a knitted diamond-shaped motif while, nodding towards the current logomania trend, In Gold We Trust proudly emblazoned their name on the backs of check bomber jackets.

REBELLIOUS TAILORING

With London’s tailoring heritage, suits are always going to be a big part of LFWM. This season however, designers decided to tear up the rule book with collections that would make Saville Row blush.

Kaushik Velendra gave his audience a taste of Hollywood glamour with his red carpet-inspired collection. But with removable shoulder pads, exposed midriffs and a blazer that was cut in half diagonally from shoulder to hem, this definitely isn’t what you’d find at the Oscars.

Additionally, John Lawrence Sullivan displayed leather tailoring and Martine Rose’s wide lapelled jackets were paired with floral denim bottoms, while Seoul based MÜNN experimented with deconstructed suits, cutting out the shoulder sections of blazers and attaching to the front panel a tweed scarf that drapes to the floor. Suits you, Sir.