What we learned at LFWM
Updated: Jan 18, 2020
Well, London Fashion Week Men – more catchily known as LFWM – is in the can. The glitterati of the fashion world kick off the year’s work while most of us are still shaking off the Christmas stupor and the fashion week train has now rolled into Italy for its second leg.
As ever, LFWM gave us a host of street style and runway shots to pick through and try to discern what is a viable trend for those of us not in fashion’s upper echelon and what is the mark of a peacock extraordinaire. There were some stunning outfits on show just from those strutting in to watch the models and most of them supported the trends we have been forewarned of going into the week.
Photo from: (clockwise from left) Teo van den Broeke, Mathias Le Fevre, Mr Luke Hodges, Style and Error (featuring William Gilchrist and Jeremy Hackett) & NCL Gallery
Big coats and boots dominated – and appropriately too as London is finally getting into the swing of being its drizzly, cold, winter self. The relaxed take on tailoring is here to stay too, so I’ll be hanging onto those slightly looser suit jackets to use them as layering coats for the months ahead.
All this is much as expected. The folks heading into the shows just do it with more panache and flash than the rest of us. On the runways, however, the buzzwords were not trickling from high fashion down to us as much as from the wider world into the fashion consciousness.
Sustainability has been one of the world’s top terms for a while now and is not abating as the Twenties roll into town. General consensus among those who know much more about this than I do is that 2020 is the year fashion really gets behind this idea.
Photos from E.Tautz
Shows like Per Götesson and E. Tautz explored the concept in depth, with reused materials shaped and crafted to earn new life as a new look. Patches dominated and the message came through clear: Sustainability, wearability and reuse are the ideals for this season.
Photos from Per Götesson
As mentioned, they are not new concepts, but if they start to dominate fashion then that is good news for the rest of us. I remember reading once that Bill Nighy is the master of maintaining his suits and giving them new life – and he’s painfully fashionable. So many of us are developing a look these days that having one you can keep and develop into something new when needed is good for both you and the wider world.
Stylist and GQ Fashion Director Luke Day put it far better than I am.
“Invest wisely and make good life decisions. Buy less better. Be better consumers. Be more conscious.”
For what it is worth, for the shorter men among us, a move to vintage shops is something we should welcome with open arms. These shops are filled with the clothes taller people have grown out of or moved on from and can be a treasure trove of great items perfectly sized for those of us who struggle off the peg.
Do you know of a great vintage store? Let me know in the comments below.
Credited photos courtesy of Instagram. Main image courtesy of British Fashion Council.