As graduates of the respected Royal Academy of Fine Art in Antwerp, the creative brains behind men’s fashion label Les Hommes Tom Notte and Bart Vandebosch, have developed a strong visual language. It’s one that can reference anything from sport to dance hall culture to hiking to Savile Row tailoring and meld it all together. This, in turn, creates a mood board of ideas to inspire their seasonal collections. The Les Hommes boys are fashion’s magpies: collecting the best shiny bits, which catch their eyes and meld them together with an astute understanding of runway menswear now.
For their spring ‘20 show, this morning, the duo took a taxi to mid-80s, and all the way up to mid-90s clubland, in what was probably their best collection to date. The clues were in the invitation: an old 45-record and sleeve covered in graphic patterns and the word ‘RAVE’. Get it.
And the clothes? Metallic blousons, tailored black shorts; voile shirts and shirts worn as jackets in super-brights and some seriously beautiful abstract floral prints: this thing was a trip (and probably dropped in the toilets in Schoom beforehand…) Printed on the back of a cycling top were the words ‘Made in Belgium’ on the back of another ‘Techno Les Hommes RAVE.BE’ (the website doesn’t exist – we checked). These were great. It became increasingly fast-paced, when the styling (skilful) married Prince of Wales check double-breasted jackets and trousers with rave-wear and chunky sneakers with fluoro “go faster” flashes. The soundtrack was brilliant. Brilliant.
Photographs by Jason Lloyd-Evans
