2016, as you probably are well aware, was a bit shit. A fact referenced in the press release for Christopher Shannon’s AW17 show this morning – “this is the first collection created post Brexit, post Trump,” it read. Shannon chose to explore this new world through ripped up flags that sat over the boy’s faces, made in collaboration with Rottingdean Bazaar (who will show with Fashion East later today) – can we call them face flags? – because what were those were events about but nationhood, borders, divisions? He said they were inspired by the face paint at football matches, changed here, as the notes said, to “create a sense of unity, rather than division.” The clothes themselves continued Christopher Shannon’s exploration of men’s wardrobe staples – rendered here in vivid, sometimes fluoro, colour (he cited also the COLORS, the pioneering magazine by Oliviero Toscani as a reference) or in the “real fake” logos that sat upon sweatshirts and joggers – Timberland became Tumbleweed, the Calvin Klein logo Constant Stress and BOSS = LOSS. A powerful show from Mr Shannon, one of London’s finest provocateurs.
Photographs by Jason Lloyd-Evans
