It's long been a paradox: how come Britain's most important contribution to fashion is an item of menswear - the suit - and yet its fashion week has been entirely dedicated to women? For the past 25 years, London Fashion Week (LFW) has nurtured a stream of womenswear designers to international fame, but its menswear designers didn't get a look in. It's not been a healthy state of affairs.
But now all this has changed. At this month's LFW - which runs from 19 to 23 February - the new menswear day will present its strongest field yet. Grown from a half-day experiment at the end of the schedule this time last year, British menswear now has an official outlet, and its designers have impressed with the strength, volume and validity of their work.
The need for a menswear day has been obvious for some time. Savile Row has long struggled with how to represent itself, while some menswear designers occasionally had the guts to take their place on the womenswear schedule. Kim Jones was one, showing menswear under his own name at LFW in 2003. But it was Lulu Kennedy of Fashion East who got the ball rolling. With the support of Topman and a slot on the women's schedule, she launched MAN, which since 2005 has shown the work of young designers alongside new collections from Topman Design.
What's clear about the new menswear day at LFW is that its organisers, the British Fashion Council, want it to represent as much of men's fashion in the capital as possible. Already Patrick Grant of Savile Row's Norton & Sons has shown his ready-to-wear E Tautz line on the schedule, which will hopefully give other tailors ideas on how to present their work. One of London menswear's most-watched, Aitor Throup, will be revealing his new clothing concept, while the all-important accessories designers will present their work on the same day.
There is a long way to go before menswear is level-pegging with women's at LFW: designers must learn how to translate their creativity into sales, and international buyers need to see London as an equal to Milan and Paris. But these things will come with time, planning and foresight. (Article taken from Style News - GQ UK)
I strongly agreed with everything said in that article and I'm so happy to say that I've seen about two collections that I can't wait to review for you...and I'll get on it right away...Topman Design and James Long.
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