LC:M SS16 Round up – flesh, buns, crop tops, lace & leather
The men’s crop top has arrived! The look is a continuation from previous seasons, where the muscled models showed a lot of flesh. Bobby Abley and J W Anderson gave us spacey crop tops in their own idiosyncratic way: J. W Anderson with space station patches mixed with his high waisted trousers, shiny shoes, bells and whistles trinkets and fur pieces. Bobby Abley went full on fun with Star Wars subversions (‘Princess Slayer’, ‘Chewy’ slogans and his teddy bear motif in his trusty spaceship print). Midriff was on show in the form of Darth Vader-inspired crop tops… How to butch up crop top 101: add a super-villain to it!
JW Anderson
The Sibling trio kept the flesh showing going with their jocks and (male) cheerleaders – there was butt crack on show (think jocks in jock straps, hairy cracks and cheeky moons) as well as pom-poms and corsets. The nipple had been freed, and was well and truly out in many forms: J.W Anderson had sheer tops; Rory Parnell-Mooney had them peeking out with angular cut outs at the MAN show and Nasir Mazhar went for sheer ribbed tops and utility vests all with flesh showing through.
Nasir Mazhar
Sibling
But on to clothes: Burberry Prorsum showed off a delicate romance with Christopher Bailey producing plenty of lace and silk (and once again, a hint of a nipple) – whether it be shirts or vests or simple detailing, the lace crept in to almost every look. The trademark trenches were paired with silk tops and joggers gave a soft and subtle beauty to the collection as the models walked down the runway to Rhodes performing with a robust orchestra. Burberry dipped its toe into loungewear too, with some great jogging bottoms that were elevated by lace shirts, tailoring and layering giving plenty of depth to this great collection.
Burberry’s touch on sportswear continued with plenty of other brands: Topman Design opened proceedings at LC:M by extending their 70’s theme from past collections up North complete with Royal Tenenbaum-esque sportswear. Bright sweaters with white stripes, zip-up sports jackets and super striped and super short sports shorts mixed with matching utility hoodies. Whether or not Topman are leaving the seventies behind remains to be seen, but there were definite nods to the early 80s with patches and Billy Idol references. Mesh tops, studs and yet more subculture slogan patches mixed in with billowing wide leg trousers – there was plenty to grab on to, that’s for sure.
Topman Design
While Christopher Shannon kept with the short shorts, he went for a different subculture: Brits abroad. He opted for lighter motifs with ‘Needy’ and ‘Damaged’ written on them, bikini tops hanging over the male models’ clothes, and all the boys looking like they had been to a foam party. The sportswear came in the form of tracksuit and bombers, with plenty of zips – undone, of course. With the boys walking out to Sisqo’s ‘Thong Song’ to close the show, there was no shortage of fun to Shannon’s Spring Summer 16.
Christopher Shannon
Joseph came up with some luxe sportswear, with leather jogging bottoms and ‘sweaters’ as well as some gloriously streamlined panelled pieces- mixing in pinks and patterns with upgraded pieces with sporty elements throughout. The fits were unstructured and loose which gave a beautiful relaxation to the collection – it definitely felt fresh. The clever styling mixed plenty of show pieces with more wearable elements. We were definitely feeling this collection.
Joseph
Alexander McQueen marched to the beat of its own drum, opting for nautical nuances in every form: Mermaids? Check! Anchors? Check! Compasses? Waves? Wet models? Check! Sailor stripes (oversized and off kilter) came in bold strokes down the runway. The boys hair was wet and plastered to their faces, as if they had been bracing the deck during a tumultuous storm. As the collection came to its closing looks, the ocean prints turned violent and fiery.
Alexander McQueen
There was plenty of fun to be had at LC:M – Katie Eary had My Little Ponys with not so little packages peeking out, Tommy Hilfiger had a locker room full of men in pants (we’ll get to that in our next update) and Agi & Sam brought out the stars and stripes in a suitably Agi and Sam manner, stencilled into the models’ faces.
Next up: on to Milan…