You can’t argue with London’s “soft power”. For a relatively small global city, we punch well above our weight. The capital’s creative voice, and the influence it commands, is respected (and envied) by cities around the world. But it’s the current crop of London’s fashion designers (showing this weekend, as part of London Fashion Week Men’s), who are creating some seriously exciting ripples of influence. The crowds outside designer Charles Jeffrey’s Wapping show, this evening, were testament to the current buzz generated by the St Martins grad.
For AW19, Jeffrey’s Loverboy offering riffed on “the ruffians from Lord of the Flies and The Lost Boys,” he said. Much of the gender-neutral collection played with the long elongated lines of the 1920s bright young things with some seriously beautiful drop-waist frocks. Plus immaculately tailored jackets daubed in bright, splashy prints; and a new-style cotton suit with patch pockets and combat trousers, as well as the crafty footwear created in collaboration with Roker. Deconstructed fisherman’s knits, a cropped cagoule-alike jacket and a printed fleece with hood (complete with sticky-up ears) were best. Bonkers? Of course! And his fashion student fans, and the big department store buyers, in town with millions of dollars to spend, love him for it.
Photo by Jason Lloyd-Evans.
