With London Collections: Men SS16 officially under way, British luxury department store Selfridges has cherry-picked its Class of 2015. Honouring some of London’s most esteemed emerging and long established menswear brands, Selfridges’ Class of 2015 features exclusive interviews with the designers ahead of their hotly anticipated shows. Read on to discover which designer is set to show a straight-to-retail offering and who believes women designing menswear makes perfect sense.
The King Of British Menswear: Paul Smith
One of London’s menswear stalwarts, Paul Smith makes a welcome return to the roster this season. Since debuting his first men’s collection in 1976, Smith has steadily grown a veritable design empire, building an instantly recognisable brand on cornerstones like vibrant prints and bold colours. Last season, inspired by his own fast-paced globetrotting, Smith presented A Suit To Travel In. Crafted from natural wool fibres and featuring a high-twist yarn, the suit was refreshingly styled with a T-shirt and put through its paces by a team of gymnasts led by Olympic medallist Max Whitlock. Here’s hoping this season offers something equally innovative.
The New Kid On The Block: House Of Holland
A brand new addition to the LC:M schedule, House of Holland founder Henry Holland debuts his eponymous menswear offering this season. Having originally made his name producing bold slogan T-shirts featuring witty jibes at fashion’s most formidable – from models to creative directors – Holland has since expanded his label to include more refined styles that still reverberate with the same irreverent attitude he built his reputation on. This season, House of Holland is set to show a straight-to-retail offering, meaning you can snap up your personal favourites post-show exclusively in store and online at selfridges.com.
The Bright Young Thing: Craig Green
Few up-and-coming designers manage to bring their audience to tears with their first solo show, but London-born Craig Green is an exception. Hailed as menswear’s new visionary, Green founded his eponymous label on graduating from Central Saint Martins’ prestigious MA Fashion course, and continues to add his own unique perspective to menswear staples each season. Inspired by notions of uniform and utility, Green’s shows each include a subtly different take on the worker jacket. Autumn/winter 2015 took its cues from institutions like schools and the military with looks deftly combining body-conscious and billowing shapes, so we’re looking out for an all-new take on modern menswear come Friday morning.
The Woman In A Man’s World: Astrid Andersen
With a finger firmly on the pulse of contemporary culture, Danish-born Astrid Andersen fuses influences from the street, sports and the military to create clothing that redefines what it means to be masculine. Last season saw the Royal College of Art graduate show Swakara furs and military berets mixed with logo-printed casualwear in coral pink – a ballsy mish-mash of an aesthetic that happily rejects conventional labels like ‘classically masculine’. The only female designer to make Selfridges’ Class of 2015, we’re sure Andersen’s upcoming Saturday show will proffer more proof as to just why women making menswear makes perfect sense.
Final Word
With a solid track record in bringing menswear’s most-watched designers to market, Selfridges knows a thing or two about talent. You can shop the latest men’s collections in store and online at selfridges.com now.
